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Family Services Search this site: Maximizing the Effectiveness of the iPad for People with Autism iPads can be a great tool for individuals with autism of all ages. The following suggestions on how to use your iPad are written by Lauren Elder, PhD, clinical psychologist and Asst. Director of Dissemination Science at Autism Speaks.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), today released a school discipline guidance package that will assist states, districts and schools in developing practices and strategies to enhance school climate, and ensure those policies and practices comply with federal law. Even though incidents of school violence have decreased overall, too many schools are still struggling to create positive, safe environments. Schools can improve safety by making sure that climates are welcoming and that responses to misbehavior are fair, non-discriminatory and effective. Each year, significant numbers of students miss class due to suspensions and expulsions—even for minor infractions of school rules—and students of color and with disabilities are disproportionately impacted. The guidance package provides resources for creating safe and positive school climates, which are essential for boosting student academic success and closing achievement gaps.

The animated characters in your preschooler’s favorite TV show invite her to interact, play and learn. But is she learning? Only a little, according to a Vanderbilt study, which found that educational programming is minimally effective unless parents watch too—and engage the child. In a first-of-its-kind study, parents were trained to pause, ask questions and encourage the child to tell parts of the story while they watched educational videos together. When evaluated, the 3-year-olds whose parents used this simple technique—known as dialogic questioning—showed significant gains in vocabulary and comprehension over those who watched alone.

Autism NOW: The National Autism Resource and Information Center will be a dynamic and interactive, highly visible and effective central point of quality resources and information for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and other developmental disabilities, their families, and other targeted key stakeholders.

Over the course of 2013, there have been many videos about individuals with special needs that have made you laugh, cry or feel inspired. Here are favorite special needs videos from 2013.

Bullying doesn't wound students; it pours salt on a pre-existing injury, causing it to hurt even more. Most students who are bullied have already been hurt. They are wounded by exclusion when they find themselves without friends or allies. They are wounded when they fail in school, or when they don't gain the approval of their peers or, all too often, their teachers. They are wounded when they don't get the help they need. And they are wounded when they feel they have no place to go, or no one to talk to.

“Treating children at home whenever possible,” said Patrick Gardner, an attorney with Young Minds Advocacy Project, “is more humane, less costly, and more effective than institutionalization.” Under the agreement the state will establish a new program and approach for delivering mental health services called Wraparound with Intensive Services or “WISe.” The program will help prevent adverse outcomes for youth with serious mental illness such as hospitalization, long-­term institutionalization in psychiatric facilities, and placements in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. These are all experiences Smith has known personally and doesn’t want repeated for other kids. “This case,” says Smith, “was about doing something to make a difference so kids with illnesses like mine won’t have to go through the things I did.” Leecia Welch, Senior Attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, agrees. “Approval of this settlement has set the stage for increasing access to appropriate mental health services for Washington’s most vulnerable youth. Better access to care means better outcomes for kids like Phillip.”

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 required health plans that offer mental health and substance use disorder benefits to cover them to the same extent that they cover medical/surgical benefits. Among other things, it prohibits having treatment limits or financial coverage requirements such as copayments or deductibles that are more restrictive than a plan’s medical coverage. Interim regulations issued in 2010 clarified some issues about implementing the law.

The Complementary & Alternative Medicine for Mental Health Conditions program compiles evaluations of the CAM treatments most studied, recommended and used for mental health conditions, based on the ten principal sources. CAM encompasses a broad range of non-medical substances used for treatment or prevention, from yoga to SAM-e to fish oil.

Child Health USA is an annual report on the health status and service needs of America’s children. It provides graphical and textual summaries of secondary data on over 50 health-related indicators.

The RTI Action Network travels to schools across the nation to find examples of real people doing real work with RTI. These Virtual Visits offer you frontline perspectives combined with informative stories of schools implementing RTI with success and dedication.

An increasing number of physicians across the country are turning to their smart phones and tablets for clinical purposes that range from diagnosis to dictation.The mobile devices are revolutionizing the manner in which some physicians approach — and deliver — health care.Dr. Steven Arbogast, a neurologist at Billings Clinic, frequently uses his smart phone and a $2.99 application, Neuro Toolkit, to help assess stroke patients in the ER.