PLUK eNews

The past decade has seen impressive growth in and commitment to helping more students graduate, fueled in part by a growing body of research on barriers. What has been missing from the current research, however, is a vibrant portrait of young people’s experiences gathered and reported in a way that deepens the national conversation about why some young people are still failing to graduate despite historic advances in graduation rates.

As the warm weather arrives, are you ready for summer camp? Children and adults of all ages may want to attend camp or summer programs. When people have seizures or other neurological problems, you will want to look carefully at the types of programs and the setting in relation to the person’s epilepsy. Can the camp manage seizures and safety appropriately?

Working and non-working parents alike are forced to scurry to school in the middle of the day to pick up children for issues that the school could have typically handled internally. These repeated pick-up calls beg the question as to whether the school can legally require parents to come get their special needs children before the school day concludes.

Here are 18 stores dedicated to providing a comfortable and stylish wardrobe for children and adults with special needs.

Traveling with disabilities is not only possible, it can also be a wonderful, life-changing experience. Whether you are visiting relatives or going on vacation, traveling can bring out many different reactions and emotions. However before you get to your final destination there is much planning that must be done. Traveling with a child that has special needs is not easy task. There are many details that should not be overlooked. To help you get to your destination as easily as possible we have created the Special Needs Travel Guide

Are current drug policies failing? According to Dr. Hart's book, yes. He explains why with his landmark, yet controversial studies of race, poverty,, and drugs as well as the relationship between drugs and pleasure, choice, and motivation, both in the brain and in society. Hart relates his own story that started in a tough Miami neighborhood and resulted in a career as a neuroscientist and Columbia University's first tenured African American professor in the sciences.

oday, Hart continues to challenge status quo assumptions about the frequency of addiction and how drug use affects people. He’s even held Eric Holder to task for calling heroin use in the country “an epidemic.” Instead, Hart argues that the number of true addicts is much smaller, and when addiction does occur, it’s often because of environmental factors, rather than hardwired doom in the brain. His conclusion: Much of what we’ve been taught about drugs is wrong. With more than $40 billion being spent on anti-drug efforts a year, it’s not a message that many people want to hear. But when mass incarceration, often for misdemeanor drug possession charges, affects communities of color so deeply that health studies can’t conduct statistically sound surveys on the population not in prison, it’s a message that could disrupt the social order. We spoke to Hart about how he reached his conclusions and what it takes to speak truth to power in the scientific community.

Watch this brilliant video made by Sarah Stup on how she experiences autism.

The new AP guidelines specifically address the issue, recommending that journalists “do not assume that mental illness is a factor in a violent crime,” and that “studies have shown that the vast majority of people with mental illness are not violent, and experts say most people who are violent do not suffer from mental illness.”

There are many signs or clues to dyslexia which are discussed in depth on this website; however it is also important to be aware of the misconceptions and myths surrounding the disorder. There are several myths regarding dyslexia. We have highlighted some of the more common ones.

Nearly 20 percent of Americans have physical or mental disabilities, yet only a small fraction of medical schools teach students how to talk with disabled patients about their needs.

As the world's leading autism researchers and advocates gathered at the International Meeting for Autism Research last weekend to share the latest discoveries about autism spectrum disorder, a strong theme emerged: Autism is growing up.

We go to George Washington Middle School in Alexandria, Va., which participates in the NHD competition. This year, the theme is “Rights and Responsibilities.” We chose the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as our topic for several reasons. We were inspired by “Including Samuel,” a video about a boy with disabilities and his struggles and successes of inclusion, told by his father. Between the three of us we have three relatives who are involved with special education, but we realized many people have no idea what the IDEA stands for and what it does (even us!). We also realized that though civil rights and women’s rights are taught in school, the rights of people with disabilities are mostly left out.

ASHA-certified audiologist Dr. Patti Martin talks about what to expect from a newborn hearing screening, why it is important, and how to identify the signs of hearing loss within the first year of a child’s life.

ASHA-certified audiologist Dr. Patti Martin talks about what to expect from a newborn hearing screening, why it is important, and how to identify the signs of hearing loss within the first year of a child’s life.

Jamie Barnes, fourth grade teacher at McKinley Elementary School, and her son Cole Barnes, 16, a Billings Senior freshman with cerebral palsy, have received a $10,000 grant to make their home more accessible for Cole's wheelchair.

There was an amazing moment at Indianapolis today, as quadriplegic driver Sam Schmidt drove a specially outfitted car nearly 100 miles around the Indy 500 racetrack.

Get organized. Create an organized medical file and save every piece of paper pertaining to a child’s disabilities, services, needs and more. Make copies monthly and scan new documents into the computer. Get educated. Research your rights, therapies, and more. Be willing to learn, ask questions, and keep asking questions until you understand. Educate others. Respond patiently with the appropriate information when people say hurtful things or respond in ignorance. Be persistent. Don’t give up when you can’t get an appointment. Instead of getting angry, keep restating your need in a nice way. Look for solutions. Instead of talking poorly about a doctor or the insurance company, focus on finding solutions. Take care of yourself. Take some time to care for yourself; otherwise you’ll quickly burn out and be unable to care for your child. Find time each day, even if it’s only 5 minutes, to focus on your own needs.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has been widely celebrated for providing millions of disabled children with broader educational and life opportunities. This Note seeks to improve the implementation of the IDEA by questioning one of its key assumptions: that parents possess the tools to advocate for their children in special education matters. This Note argues that many parents need assistance to achieve optimal outcomes for their children because of the complexity of both the disabilities involved and the formal rules of the system itself. Several policy options are considered in the hope that local educational agencies will implement pilot programs to further explore the issue of external advocacy in special education.

Four years after several of the state’s lowest performing schools agreed to take part in Schools of Promise — a state-driven initiative funded by a $11.4 million federal grant — the schools have seen some progress.

I have a confession to make. Until about a year ago, I had no idea what SAMHSA was. I had never even heard of it. My son has struggled with serious behavioral issues for more than nine years, which we now know are caused by his bipolar disorder. We were working with a small army of social workers, counselors, school personnel, psychiatrists, therapists—and I was well-versed in a small textbook of acronyms like IEP, SMI, ADHD, ODD, ADA, etc. But not one time was SAMHSA or any of its programs ever mentioned to me as a resource.