Since 2011, the Twitter party with the hashtag #youmightbeanautismparentif has been alive and kicking.  Every comment offers a little snapshot of the inner lives of families who love someone with autism.  At times the conversation is poignant, but in the last few weeks it’s been mostly humorous.  Here are 16 recent highlights from the party that never ends.

According to a recently completed report by the University of Montana, a Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) program that provides early intervention to children age 15 months to 5-years-old with autism is ‘on par with published results from the best national programs’ and has been ‘incredibly successful.’ The Montana’s Children’s Autism Waiver Report documents positive outcomes for the first 43 children who recently completed the intensive three-year program.

"I was lucky to have been born in the computer age. Without them, my life would have been miserable and my scientific career impossible," – the dramatic words of Professor Stephen Hawking expressed at last year's Technology4Good awards. But Hawking is not alone in his sentiment. My career path also bears testimony to the enormous changes that technology has wrought over the past 20 years. It is not an exaggeration to say that the future is here at last, bringing with it enormous potential to improve the lives of disabled people in infinite ways.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Researchers long have evaluated the roles parents play in children’s development. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that mothers’ directiveness, the extent to which they try to control the content and pace of young children’s play, varies based on the children’s ages and the mothers’ ethnicities. In addition, the study found that the more directive the mothers were during play, the less engaged children were with them and the more negative emotion the children displayed toward their mothers.

On Wednesday, Ruth O’Hara, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stanford University in California, discussed how sleep disturbances can help us better understand and treat autism. You can watch a complete replay of the session above.

This resource page addresses one aspect of development that’s important not to ignore with children with or without disabilities—the development of sexuality.  There’s so much to know and consider on this subject–what sexuality is, its meaning in adolescent and adult life, and the responsibilities that go along with exploring and experiencing one’s own sexuality. 

I became a typical father in 1979.  It was a dream come true—those magical first smiles, first steps, first words. Then in 1981, my son stopped talking, stopped playing normally, and began flapping his arms.  From those first red flags of autism until now, I have not stopped experiencing autism and the family—the central theme of my life and work—counseling, teaching, and writing about the impact of autism on families.

(GREAT FALLS, Mont.) - Senator Jon Tester is backing three bills to improve care for Montanans with mental illness and to reduce the state's suicide rate. In the wake of December's tragic shootings in Newtown, Conn., Tester is concerned about services available to individuals struggling with mental illness. His bipartisan Mental Health First Aid Act aims to help community leaders identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness.

We all know it takes a village to raise a child and to make sure that child receives a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE); the two most important components in making that happen are the parents and the school.  In order to do that, everyone needs to do be responsible for their role in educating that child as well as work together to address all their areas of need.  I know it’s not an easy task to accomplish; however, the student will have a better opportunity to receive FAPE if both parties work together instead of spending their time working against each other.  Here are some tips that might help to achieve a good working relationship between parents and schools.

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) is seeking comments on a set of proposed research priorities from the National Institute of on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The priorities relate to Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) on Community Living and Participation, Health and Function, and Employment of Individuals with Disabilities, on Health and Function of Individuals with Disabilities, and on Employment of Individuals with Disabilities. The priorities will likely become part of a grant competition in FY 2013, and possibly later years.

Many kids struggle with developmental problems at some point in their childhoods, and getting care for them can be costly and confusing. If your child isn’t babbling or sitting at nine months, for instance, struggles with stairs or speaks unclearly at age three, you might be worried about a developmental delay. Help is available to enable your child to catch up, but parents will need to navigate a complicated zone where health care rubs up against education—and kids sometimes fall through the cracks.

When a child exhibits behavior problems in school or doesn’t progress academically in line with peers, some parents might think of a developmental disability or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). First, says Margaret Skinner, M.D., consider getting the child’s hearing checked, especially if he or she has suffered repeated ear infections.“During an ear infection, there is fluid in the middle ear,” says Skinner, a Johns Hopkins pediatric otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat surgeon). “The infection can resolve but fluid may remain. That fluid is associated with mild but typically reversible hearing loss.”

With over a thousand apps now available to help individuals with special needs it has become increasingly difficult to find and choose the right special needs app. The Friendship Circle App Review gives you the ability to find the perfect special needs app for your child.

New popular technological advancements, such as the recent release of the iPhone 5, can cause excitement for different reasons. For the hearing world, it’s for the improvements and new gadgets that will entertain and increase convenience. For those deaf or hard of hearing, however, it can serve as a tool to communicate in ways never before possible.

Montana’s mental health safety net is full of holes.Stigma, lack of insurance, Medicaid restrictions and a shortage of mental health professionals all contribute to the “state of despair” that reporter Cindy Uken has been detailing in a Billings Gazette series on suicide. The state’s suicide rate — the highest among the 50 states and double the national average — is cause for alarm. Yet it isn’t the only terrible symptom of Montanan’s mental health care gap.

Students with learning disabilities (LD) may struggle with schoolwork in many different areas. While most are likely to have trouble with reading, others may have issues with math, memory, organization, or writing. Assistive technology (AT) can be a great way to minimize the extent to which they need to ask for help and to enable them to be more independent learners. Assistive technology (sometimes referred to as "adaptive technology") is a general term that describes the types of tools and devices that assist people to achieve greater independence. For individuals with LD, assistive technology can include such things as scanners and screen reading software, voice recognition software, calculators, highlighting and note-taking programs, electronic/digital organizers, and much more.

A recent study discussed people who were given autism diagnoses but later did not qualify for the diagnosis.  The study is Optimal outcome in individuals with a history of autism (full text online) and Emily Willingham has a discussion of it as Can People Really Grow Out of Autism? Since she’s discussed the study, I’ll focus on “optimal outcome”. At least my take on it.

In a report published in 2011, scientists pooled data from eight randomized studies of 24,000 children between the ages of 6 months and 7 years. They found that those who received the FluMist vaccine, a nasal spray made with live but weakened flu virus, had a significantly lower risk of acute ear infections compared with children who received a placebo. Among children who ultimately got the flu, those who had been vaccinated had a 40 percent reduction in ear infections compared with children who were given a placebo.

Overall, researchers found that families dealing with aggressive behavior struggled with social isolation, concerns about the safety of people and property, lack of respite care and limited professional supports as well as the added expense of repairs and home modifications. What’s more, the families were concerned about being able to find alternate housing for their child with autism as they aged, according to the study published online this month in the journal Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities. Though the study was small, researchers behind the report emphasized that little has been done to understand the daily experiences of families coping with autism and aggression. Their findings suggest that there’s far too little support for individuals with aggressive tendencies and those affected by them.

State education leaders will make changes to a set of proposals designed to shift student discipline practices in Maryland toward a more “rehabilitative” approach that would reduce suspensions, keep students in school and teach positive behavior. The Maryland State Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to withdraw proposed regulations and amend them in a way that officials said would not alter the spirit of the reforms but would address some complaints voiced in recent months.

The changes will revive regulatory language that recognizes “an environment of order and discipline necessary for effective learning” and add a preamble that points out the authority of local school boards to create district discipline policies.The board held firm in its emphasis on rehabilitative practices, as well as its revised definitions for out-of-school suspensions and its requirement that schools provide educational services for suspended students.