Andrea has autism, and socializing doesn't come naturally. For the past several weeks, she's gone to classes that teach the delicate ins and outs of making friends — an Emily Post rules of etiquette for autistic teens.

This brochure offers specific communication skills that may be helpful to parents as they develop and maintain partnerships with their child's school. Developed in partnership with the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY).

PBIS.org provides SWPBS video films in streaming and download formats. Please visit our video page. view details   PBIS.org provides multiple ways to find information and products. Please read the guidelines to find the best resources for you. view details The TA Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports has been established by the Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education to give schools capacity-building information and technical assistance for identifying, adapting, and sustaining effective school-wide disciplinary practices.

The TA Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports has been established by the Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education to give schools capacity-building information and technical assistance for identifying, adapting, and sustaining effective school-wide disciplinary practices.

Life has been hard on Dan, throwing all kinds of health problems at him since the day he was born.He had to undergo several surgeries in childhood and has had to struggle with everything from stuttering to kidney failure. He also suffered the unkind comments of school classmates and even some teachers because of his mental disability.Yet despite his hardships, Dan managed to hold down a job, to support himself, to live independently for 25 years and to make some very loyal friends.

Leaps and Bounds From Kindles to iPods, technology can help teach children with language-based learning disabilities

Initial positive results gleaned from intensive treatment of childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are unlikely to be sustained over the long term, according to a recent analysis of data from the NIMH-funded Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA). The study was published online ahead of print March 2009 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Volunteer Rachel Flynn helps Kelly McCowan of Scituate on the bike, while Kelly's mother, Sue, stands ready to lend a hand. (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

It wasn’t easy, but Dianne Sullivan was determined to keep her promise to her son. So last week, in a steamy school gymnasium in Scituate, the Woodbury, Minn., resident didn’t whoop it up, scream, or shed a tear when Thomas, 12, rode a two-wheeled bicycle independently for the first time. She held it in, just as he’d asked her to.

Most adults with Down syndrome unknowingly experience severe sleep apnea, according to new research published Saturday in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

Believe it or not, school is here once again. And for students with an individualized education plan (IEP) that means more than putting fresh pencils in a backpack and getting new clothes. Starting off on the right foot is all about a smooth transition from summertime relaxation to school time structure and Disability Scoop has all the tools you need to make it through.

The playground was designed to be a regional draw for the more than 1,600 children who are diagnosed with a disability in Jackson County."When we looked at how the PTO could help the school renovate its playground, one of the moms said, 'Don't forget about the disabled kids,' " said Pam Philips, head of the PTO playground campaign.While there is a similar playground at Walker Elementary School in Ashland and at Garfield Elementary School in Corvallis, Hoover's new playground is the first in Oregon to be certified as a "Boundless Playground" by the nonprofit National Center for Boundless Playgrounds, out of Bloomfield, Conn.

SAN DIEGO — Theoretical science is a field that's open and accessible to all. But lab work poses some real challenges to blind students interested in becoming chemists. A dozen blind San Diego teenagers visited a UC San Diego lab to feel and hear the results of some basic chemical experiments.

Castellino, like other parents of children with learning disabilities, had fallen into a jabberwocky world of legal, educational and psychological jargon that makes money for lawyers but leaves parents with headaches and empty bank accounts. Different evaluators might have different views of a child's needs. The laws are vague, although a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision gave parents more sway in such cases. School district evaluators -- good people placed in impossible situations -- might choose the option that costs the least money in hopes that will be enough. They know their budgets may not support much else.

The Riot! is an e-newsletter for self-advocates.  Self-advocates are people with disabilities who speak up for themselves and others. Self-advocates speak up with spoken words, sign language, language boards or in ways unique to each person.

This toolkit is not intended to be a curriculum for special education for students on the autism spectrum, but rather a support for the general education and administrative school staff who interact with students with autism in various capacities. However, it is envisioned that this tool kit will provide valuable information and resources that can be employed by special education and administrative staff in their efforts to plan for and support students in general education environments and involvement in the school community as a whole.

Overwhelmingly, these studies have not found evidence for a causal relationship between either thimerosal or the MMR vaccine and autism. At the same time, some parents have reported that the appearance of autism symptoms coincided with vaccination, and thus have advocated for more research on the potential role of vaccines in autism. As an organization that is committed to understanding all the potential causes of autism, we cannot dismiss the concerns of parents, especially since autism may be caused by distinct combinations of genetic and environmental factors that may each account for only a small percent of overall cases.

Many young people have found the GLADD approach to talking with health care professionals to be very helpful.

For many, web accessibility begins and ends with making a site accessible to a screen reader user. Most of the work in accessibility has been done in the area of visual disabilities/blindness (27; 23; 8). However, according to the US Census Bureau, 14.3 million Americans age 15 and over have a mental disability. This includes 1.9 million who have Alzheimer's disease, senility or dementia, and 3.5 million with a learning disability (35). Making the web accessible to this population has, for the most part, been overlooked. According to Hudson, Weakley & Firminger (9) (2005),"those with cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties, appear to have slipped through the cracks to a large extent when it comes to website accessibility."

AccessibleTech.org is a collaborative project developed and maintained by *Region 9 DBTAC Pacific ADA Center, Region 5 DBTAC Great Lakes ADA Center, and with financial assistance from Region 3 DBTAC Mid-Atlantic ADA Center.

Taking advantage of a change in federal law, the Bethlehem Area School District has sued a mother, claiming she has abused special education laws to ''drive up costs'' so high, it would be cheaper for the district to pay private school tuition for her intellectually gifted children.