Tell the Senate to Get Off the Dime on H.R. 4247
In March of this year, H.R. 4247, Keeping All Students Safe Act, passed in the House and was sent to the Senate where it was read once and referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. And there it has seemingly languished in committee while children continue to be put at risk of physical and emotional harm due to restraint and seclusion techniques. Just today, a news story out of Iowa describes three school districts that violated state laws on restraint and seclusion. Was anyone criminally charged with abuse? Were they even disciplined? H.R. ...
Back to School Tip #6: Medication
Regardless of whether your child takes medication only at home or takes medication in school, there are steps to take to protect their safety. For Children Taking Medication Only at Home If your child is changing schools this year, do you know for sure whether their medical records and notes you may have sent the school nurse about side effects or concerns have been forwarded to the new school? Although some school records do transfer, don't assume that medication records transfer. Find out who in the district and/or building you should contact with information about your child's current medications and ...
NYC DOE fails SpEd, Black, and Hispanic students
Two reports came across my desk yesterday that each demonstrate what I think is an appalling failure of the New York City educational system. No matter how the city may try to spin it, performance measures on standardized tests show that overall, NYC students lag behind the state average in English and Language Arts (ELA) and Math. And if your child is in Special Education, and/or is Black or Hispanic, the outcomes are even more appalling. Consider some of the data:
Back to School Tip #5: Lost at School – Literally?
If your child is changing schools, and especially if they are going into a new middle school or high school, they may be very anxious about not knowing their way around. Although all kids have some level of anxiety about going to a new school -- and you can remind your child that all kids are a bit nervous about the first week -- kids with Executive Dysfunction really have more cause to be concerned, as their risk of getting lost navigating the new building and changing classes is higher than other kids'. Here are some tips to help your child deal ...
Back to School Tip #4: Can they manage their clothes? Their lunch?
Whether or not your child has had a growth spurt over the summer, chances are that they will need some new clothes for school. Many parents, wanting to help their child create a good first impression with the teacher and peers, carefully pick out a new outfit for the first day of school. Sometimes what makes sense on paper backfires, though. If you have a child with sensory issues, chances are that their new clothes may feel horribly uncomfortable to them. Remember to wash new clothes sufficiently to soften them, or better yet, let your child wear clothes that are not ...
Research
Victims of bullying suffer academically as well, UCLA psychologists reportStuart Wolpert describes some new research out of UCLA on the impact of bullying: Students who are bullied regularly do substantially worse in school, UCLA psychologists report in a special issue of the...
Back to School Tip #3: Structure and routine boost homework complianceMany parents are probably already anticipating homework battles when school resumes, so this might be a good time to think about what routines and rules you will establish about homework. Have you already...
Nearly 1 million children potentially misdiagnosed with ADHD, study findsThis press release from Michigan State University is sure to have some parents wondering whether their children may have been misdiagnosed: Nearly 1 million children in the United States are potentially...
Side effect risks of using atypical neuroleptics in treating Tourette’s SyndromeThe current pharmacological management for the tics of Tourette’s Syndrome usually consists of either a trial of clonidine or an atypical neuroleptic such as Risperdal, Geodon, Abilify, or Seroquel....
Read More Posts From This CategoryAdvocacy
Tell the Senate to Get Off the Dime on H.R. 4247In March of this year, H.R. 4247, Keeping All Students Safe Act, passed in the House and was sent to the Senate where it was read once and referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor,...
Thrown out of the movies because of Tourette’s SyndromeIf you are a family member of someone with Tourette’s, this news clip from KWCH in Kansas will be upsetting and may leave you thinking that the movie theater in question violated the Americans with...
NYC DOE fails SpEd, Black, and Hispanic studentsTwo reports came across my desk yesterday that each demonstrate what I think is an appalling failure of the New York City educational system. No matter how the city may try to spin it, performance measures...
A School District That Takes the Isolation Out of AutismMichael Winerip had a really up-beat story about Wisconsin schools and autistic students in the New York Times a few weeks ago. It begins: Garner Moss has autism and when he was finishing fifth grade,...
Read More Posts From This CategoryNews
Federal Circuit Rules No Link between Autism and VaccineFrom The Blog of Legal Times: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has just upheld lower court findings that reject a causal connection between childhood vaccines and the onset of autism. The ruling came in Cedillo v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, which was the first of a series of test cases heard by special masters for the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in 2007. The claims... [Read more of this news story]
Defense strategy contributes to dangerous misperception of Tourette’s SyndromeI have been a long-time proponent of “splitting” diagnoses as opposed to “lumping” them together, which is why I originally coined the term, “TS+” – to remind people that some symptoms are not really due to Tourette’s Syndrome but to features of other co-morbid conditions that are also present. A news story out of Pennsylvania serves as a compelling... [Read more of this news story]
Goodbye to the ADHD Patch: After 9 Recalls and a Federal Probe, Shire Gives UpJim Edwards reports on BNET that come November, the Daytrana patch may no longer be available as Shire has divested itself of any involvement with the medication. Noven, which originally developed the medication, has indicated that it will re-introduce Daytrana sometime in 2011. Read More →
Parents’ Medication Guide for Bipolar Disorder in Children & AdolescentsThe American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) has just announced the release of a new Parents’ Medication Guide for Bipolar Disorder in Children & Adolescents. The guide goes far beyond just describing medications, however, and provides a lot of other useful information for parents. You can download your free copy at http://www.aacap.org/galleries/default-file/aacap_bipolar_medication_guide.pdf. Read More →
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