Monthly Archives: July 2013

Important Legislation Update: H. R. 5.

Important Legislation Update: H. R. 5.

We received an email from the National Center for Learning Disabilities requesting immediate action on a bill that’s coming up in the House of Representatives. This is an urgent and important issue for every parent of a special needs child to act on.

The House is scheduled to vote in the next day or two on a ‘reform’ bill (H. R. 5.) to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), known as ‘No Child Left Behind’. While the ESEA needs reform, this new bill, H. R. 5. makes the act even worse because it removes all the accountability provisions in ESEA and allows students, as early as third grade, who need extra support to instead be removed from the high school diploma track and not receive a regular diploma. Can you imagine a child at age 8 or 9 being told that they will not be allowed to graduate with a high school diploma based on their current skills in third grade? That’s what might happen if H. R. 5. is allowed to pass.

Please follow this link to the page on why the NCLD opposes H. R. 5 for more information. At the bottom of the page there is a link to a form that makes it easy for you to quickly email your Congressional representative to tell them to vote no on H. R. 5.

Please act today, Wednesday 7/17/13, because the vote on H. R. 5. could come as quickly as tomorrow 7/18/13. Then share this page with everyone you know on social media. You can use the quick share buttons right below this article to easily make this happen.

Thanks for your help!

Special Parents Confidential Episode 12 – School Funding and Special Education

School Funding and Special Education.

For years we’ve been hearing that our public education system is in trouble. Budget cuts, mis-managed funding, over-paid staff, millions and millions of dollars wasted. Many people want to do away with public education. Their argument is that charter schools and private schools are the better choice. But what about special education? Where does special education fall in all of these budget problems and funding cutbacks?

Some parents and even some school advocates believe that special education is ‘protected’. That it is fully funded and will never be cut or eliminated. But is that true? Can special education or any kind of assistance for special needs children be cut or eliminated? Certainly the budgets for those teachers and assistants who work with special needs students have been cut. Could entire programs be eliminated? And if so, what kinds of special needs assistance or special education help are Charter Schools and Private Schools required to offer? You might be surprised and even shocked to learn what those schools are and are not required to provide.

Our guest for this episode has the answers to many of those questions and a lot more information on the nation-wide public education funding situation. Elizabeth Welch-Lykens is a labor law attorney in Grand Rapids, Michigan and is an elected board member of her local school district, as well as a member of the district’s legislative committee that meets with state representatives in Lansing. She has first-hand knowledge of dealing with school district budget problems, and has spent time on these very issues. While some of what she talks about involves issues in Michigan, the fact is many states and school districts nation-wide are facing the exact same problems. And as Elizabeth verifies, these nation-wide education funding problems are not a coincidence, they are part of a planned effort to privatize the entire national education system for the benefit of a few corporate profiteers. This is an interview that every parent with kids in school, not just parents of special needs children, should hear.

Links mentioned in this podcast: 

For national based information on the school funding crisis visit Dianne Ravitch‘s blog site. She is a former assistant secretary of education under President George H. W. Bush, and a highly respected advocate of public education. Her site contains a lot of facts and information that disproves many of the theories claimed by those who want to shut down public education.

For information about what’s going on in the State of Michigan as well as local Michigan school districts, visit Michigan Parents For Schools. 

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons located right below this paragraph. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, or any of the other sites like Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, and others. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. That form is located to the right of this text.  We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast there. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

Thanks for your support!

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Special Parents Confidential 11. Spiritual Needs and Special Needs

Spiritual Needs and Special Needs.

Religion is an important part of the lives of many people. No matter what your religious beliefs the sense of belonging and community that comes from worship can be a great source of comfort and peace. However being able to attend worship services and learning to fulfill spiritual needs can be a challenge for special needs children. From sensory issues to behavioral problems to feelings of not being accepted many special needs children simply cannot cope with the traditional concepts and behaviors that are considered normal during worship. There can also be problems in religious instruction classes or “Sunday School” (depending on what your faith offers for children) because in many of these classes the instructors are volunteers and don’t always have training in working with special needs children.

How can parents who want their special needs children to participate in their religious traditions find help to work with their clergy to make sure that their special needs children are both accepted and given the help they need to participate and grow in their spiritual needs? How should parents of special needs children approach both their clergy and the lay staff of their place of worship to bring about these goals?

Our guest for this episode has some excellent ideas and advice. The Reverend Mathew Cockrum is an ordained minister in the Unitarian Universalist tradition and was most recently a Chaplain at the University of Michigan Hospitals, and a former Associate Minister at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, MI. He is also now a Transitional Minister at University Unitarian Church in Seattle, WA. He has served as a youth minister and has had a lot of experience in working with families in a wide variety of religious faiths and beliefs. Through these experiences he has some practical advice and great ideas to help families with special needs children find acceptance and fulfillment in their spiritual needs.

Links Mentioned In This Podcast:

There are many websites devoted to this subject, and far too many to narrow down just a few important ones, largely because most religions have their own ideas and methods. As the Reverend Mathew suggests, just do a Google or Bing or Yahoo (or whatever SE you use) search on the words ‘special needs children and religion’ and you’ll find a huge number of articles from all faiths and traditions on how parents and clergy attempt to rectify many of these questions. You can also add in the specific religion that you believe (such as ‘Methodist’ or ‘Catholic’ or ‘Judaism’ or ‘Hinduism’ or which ever is your tradition) to get a more focused answer.

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Empaths on the Autism Spectrum – Autism and Empathy

Empaths on the Autism Spectrum – Autism and Empathy.

Please note, the original link provided in this posting is no longer active. I have found updated links, which can be found below. Sorry for the inconvenience.  – John.

We’ve often heard that people with Autism lack social empathy. That people with autism have no emotional connections to others and lack the ability to have compassion. 

However, new research has proven that this belief is nothing more than a myth. 

The Same As Everyone Else.

The study, Divergent Roles of Autistic and Alexithymic Traits in Utilitarian Moral Judgments in Adults with Autism , was published in Nature, the Journal of Scientific Reports in March of 2016. From the Discussion section of the report, “Therefore, we maintain that the current findings hint at non-verbal intelligence as a compensatory strategy that high-functioning autistics rely on while endorsing moral choices that are in line with prevalent socio-moral norms.”

Also worth noting is the finding that people with ASD were more averse to causing harm to others, even if the decisions would produce better results.

Easier To Read Summaries.

The report itself is very clinical in it’s writing style and may be difficult to read fully. There are some excellent summaries about the findings, which I have linked below.

It is important that this information be shared on social media to counter the incorrect stereotypes that have been prevalent over the past decades. People with ASD are exactly the same emotionally as those who are considered ‘normal’.

We May Have Been Wrong About Autism And Empathy – HuffPost Summary

People with Autism Can Read Emotions, Feel Empathy – Scientific American