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ASD and the Local School District: How Parents Can Best Advocate for an Appropriate School Setting
Parents who have children with ASD can find themselves in a difficult situation when it comes to determining the right school setting for their child. As a special education attorney representing families in New York City, I have found that determining an appropriate school program and placement...
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Tips on Advocating for Your Child’s Education
Your child has just received an ASD diagnosis. Now what? In addition to all your other roles, you are now your child’s Education Advocate. Because of the wide spectrum of what autism can look like, a diagnosis doesn’t always happen during the early years. You could get there early when your...
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Who Should Take the Blame for Autism?
Last week, I saw yet another article that claimed to solve the mystery of autism. This time, it was gestational diabetes in the mother. It’s always something, isn’t it? Either autism is because of advanced paternal or maternal age, or the dot-com era, or people who eat gluten. the article...
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The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Announces Groundbreaking Initiatives at Yale School of Medicine and University of Miami CARD
The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation (DJFF), the nation’s first not-for-profit organization to focus exclusively on adults living with autism, has launched two groundbreaking initiatives designed to enrich the lives of autistic individuals throughout their lifespan. With endowment gifts of...
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President Obama Signs ABLE Act
On December 19, 2014, President Barack Obama signed into law the Achieving Better Life Expectancy (ABLE) Act. First introduced in 2006, and subsequent sessions of Congress, the ABLE Act will allow people with disabilities (with an age of onset up to 26 years old) and their families the opportunity...
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Autism and Science: A View from Across the Neural Divide
I am writing this because I am in the somewhat unusual position of not only being on the autism spectrum and fairly involved in the autism community, but also of coming from a scientific background, even if not in the field of autism (I am a retired electronics engineer with degrees in physics,...
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Someone I’m With Has Autism
“Hey Carrie, it’s me, Sandy. Listen, I had an idea for you—” Sandy is a dog trainer. We started to work with her after we got our puppy, Wolfie, because we have no idea what we’re doing. “Oh, I’m so glad you called! I’m kind of worried he doesn’t like his food. He isn’t...
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Bringing Autism Insurance Mandates into Compliance with the Affordable Care Act
When care isn’t taken, grave problems can arise when a state’s autism insurance mandate is brought into compliance with the ACA. Starting in 2014, “dollar value” limits for essential health benefits are not allowed per the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more frequently called...
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The Massachusetts Autism Commission’s Report: Recommendations to Create a Comprehensive Autism Service System
The bill creating the Massachusetts Autism Commission was signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick in April 2010. Membership was required by law to consist of four members of the Massachusetts state legislature, fourteen representatives from state agencies, and fourteen citizen members including...
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The Critical Importance of Advocacy and Government Relations
The term “advocacy” often elicits many different thoughts. The actual word “advocacy” is defined as “the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal.” We advocate all the time, and for many different things. Most are very worthwhile causes, and others are perhaps more trivial (have...