MA Legislature Passes Autism Omnibus Bill
The Massachusetts Legislature recently passed the Autism Omnibus Bill. Massachusetts Advocates for Children, which provided vital advocacy in support of the Bill, has summarized the key provisions as follows:
- A requirement that MassHealth cover medically necessary treatments for children with ASD who are under 21 years old – including ABA therapies as well as dedicated and non-dedicated AAC devices;
- Extension of Department of Developmental Services (DDS) eligibility to many persons with Autism, Prader Willi Syndrome and Smith-Magenis syndrome;
- The creation of an Autism Endorsement for special education teachers to enable them to voluntarily gain in-depth knowledge about the complexities of educating students with ASD;
- The creation of tax-free saving accounts (called “Achieving a Better Life Experience” or ABLE) to help families cover anticipated disability-related expenses for individuals with ASD and other physical and developmental disabilities;
- Requiring DMH and DDS to develop and implement a plan to provide services to individuals who have both a mental illness and a developmental disabilities; and
- Establishing the Autism Commission as a permanent entity.
Mass Advocates has also published:
- A fact sheet, which you can find here: Mass Advocates Fact Sheet; and
- The complete Bill, which you can find here: Autism Omnibus Bill.
The Law Office of James M. Baron represents students and parents in special education and other school-related legal matters throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Please visit http://www.lawbaron.com, or call 781-209-1166 for more information.
Medway SEPAC to Host “What the Dracut Decision Taught Us About the Importance of Social Skills and Language Pragmatics in an IEP”
The Medway SEPAC will be hosting what should be a very interesting and informative presentation entitled “What the Dracut decision taught us about the Importance of Social Skills and Language Pragmatics in an IEP.” It will take place on January 22, 2013 at 7:00 PM at Medway High School, 88 Summer Street Medway, Ma 02053. The presentation will be free and open to the public. If you plan to attend, you should RSVP to medwayspedpac@gmail.com. Discussions will be led by Elsa Abele MS CCC/SLP & clinical Assistant Professor at Boston University & Professor at the Center For Autism Disorders at Antioch University. The presentation will also feature two lawyers from the Disability Law Center of Massachusetts who worked on this case, Janine A. Solomon and Pamela J. Coveney. The Dracut case is a very important BSEA decision in Massachusetts, particularly for those students on the Autism Spectrum. If you would like to read a good summary of this case, you can access it here. The complete BSEA decision can be found here.
The Law Office of James M. Baron represents students and parents in special education and other school-related legal matters throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Please visit http://www.lawbaron.com, or call 781-209-1166 for more information.
AANE Support Group Regarding Connecticut Tragedy
The Asperger’s Association of New England (AANE) has announced the formation of support groups for those with Asperger’s and/or their families who would like support regarding the tragedy in Connecticut. AANE, in conjunction with Aspire (formerly YouthCare) will facilitate six groups run by staff from Aspire, AANE, as well as with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) expert clinicians. These groups will provide a private setting to discuss the tragedy, the link the media has made between the shooter and AS, and the impact on those with AS and their families. One of the support groups will be for parents of children with Asperger’s, and will discuss how and whether to talk to children with Asperger’s about this event. You are invited to attend the appropriate group.Here is a listing of the Groups and when they will meet
Wednesday 10:30 – 12:00, at AANE, 51 Water Street, Watertown, MA
1. Parents of children and young teens (under 16)
2. Parents, adult sibling, grandparents and other family members of older teens (16+) and adults
3. Adults with AS. Spouses and partners welcome.
Thursday night 7:30 – 9:00 at AANE, 51 Water Street, Watertown, MA
1. Parents of children and young teens (under 16)
2. Parents, adult sibling, grandparents and other family members of older teens (16+) and adults
3. Adults with AS. Spouses and partners welcome.
Please RSVP to AANE by email. (info@aane.org). Let them know which day and which group you will be attending.
The Law Office of James M. Baron represents students and parents in special education and other school-related legal matters throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Please visit http://www.lawbaron.com, or call 781-209-1166 for more information.
Attended Presentation at Harvard on Understanding and Teaching Behaviorally Challenging Students
I attended a very interesting presentation this evening at Harvard University by Jessica Minahan, M.Ed., BCBA and Nancy Rappaport, M.D. They recently co-authored a book entitled, “The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students.”
The authors started out with some very interesting statistics. For example, according to the authors, only 20% of children with emotional and behavioral disorders ages 14 – 21 receive high school diplomas; 48% dropout of grades 9 – 12. They then stated that there are six essential concepts for understanding behavior:
- Misbehavior is a symptom of an underlying cause…
- Behavior is communication
- Behavior has a function
- Behavior occurs in patterns
- The only behavior teachers can control is their own
- Behavior can be changed.
I was particularly interested in their discussion about Anxiety and Asperger’s Syndrome. Not surprisingly, anxiety interferes with verbal working memory and impedes academic performance. Minahan and Rappaport stated that children who were the most anxious at the start of the first grade were almost 8 times more likely to be in the lowest quarter of reading achievement, and almost 2 1/2 times more likely to be in the lowest quarter of math achievement by the spring of the first grade. Regarding Asperger’s Syndrome, the authors estimate that 80% of children with Asperger’s syndrome also experienced intense anxiety.
The authors believe that traditional behavior intervention plans do not adequately deal with anxiety management or teach the skills that are needed to behave properly. Unstructured times and transitions are just a couple of difficult areas that can be decedents for problem behaviors. This is something that I have seen among my own clients, as well – unstructured times and transition periods are when children with Aspergers Syndrome seem to be the most susceptible to having behavioral challenges. Minahan and Rappaport presented a few suggestions for teachers to use to assist students with self-regulation and self-monitoring. For example, they talked about using a regulation scale such as an emotional thermometer, performing self calming practice in a relevant place, and developing and using a calming box.
The authors described transition periods in terms of 4 components: stopping the activity, making the cognitive shift to next activity, starting the next activity, and the inherent lack of structure during transitions. Regarding stopping an activity, they talked about the importance of finding an appropriate stopping point so that students are not caught off guard and surprised by a transition. They also suggested using visual schedules and photographs to help students make the cognitive shift to the next activity, and also to use countdowns (e.g. “5 more minutes…”). The pair also discussed the importance of structuring downtime.
There was far more that was discussed this evening that I expect to find useful as I work with parents on IEP’s. For more information about the authors, you can visit their websites at www.JessicaMinahan.com and www.NancyRappaport.com. The book is available for purchase on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Behanvior-Code-Practical-Understanding-Challenging/dp/1612501362, or at the Harvard Education Press: http://www.hepg.org/hep/book/161/TheBehaviorCode
The Law Office of James M. Baron represents students and parents in special education and other school-related legal matters. Please visit http://www.lawbaron.com, or call 781-209-1166 for more information.
Free Guide for Parents of Children with Autism
Hudson SEPAC to host ‘Asperger’s Syndrome vs. Autism vs. PDD-NOS’ workshop
The following information was published by Community Advocate. You can find the original article at: http://tinyurl.com/7ncytpb
Hudson– The Hudson Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) is hosting a workshop by Dr. Amy Shogren on autism spectrum disorders, “Asperger’s Syndrome vs. Autism vs. PDD-NOS.” The workshop will be held Tuesday, Feb. 7, from 7 to 9 p.m., in Room A-134 at Hudson High School.
Particpants will learn how the features of each of these diagnoses vary, as well as how children diagnosed with these developmental disabilities differ in their communicative competency, social functioning, behavioral presentation, and academic trajectory, and what interventions are important to address the challenges associated with these disabilities? The seminar will assist parents and school personnel in understanding these diagnostic categories and how to intervene at home and at school.
The workshop is free, and parents and teachers are encouraged to attend. To RSVP or for more information, call 978-212-9651 or visit www.hudsonsepac.com. Hudson High School is located at 69 Brigham St.
The Law Office of James M. Baron represents students and parents in special education and other school-related legal matters. Please visit http://www.lawbaron.com, or call 781-209-1166 for more information.
Federal Judge Saris Affirms that Dracut Denied FAPE to Asperger’s Student – Precedent Setting Case in Massachusetts
The long-awaited decision on the appeal of the Dracut case has just come down. The following is from an email I received this morning from Massachusetts Advocates for Children:
Judge Patti Saris, US District Court, MA, has just decided the LEA’s appeal of two transition decisions in favor of a special education student with Asperger’s Syndrome. Both administrative decisions, along with the federal Judge’s Memorandum and Order, appear on the Massachusetts Disability Law Center’s website, http://www.dlc-ma.org
The Judge affirmed the Hearing Officer’s finding that Dracut Public Schools (“Dracut”) had denied the student FAPE. It had not performed timely assessments, as IDEA requires, inevitably leading to a failure to provide appropriate, measurable goals related to the student’s needs. Of particular interest was the Judge’s observation that the student’s pragmatic language deficits were key to his postsecondary academic, social and vocational success and her characterization of Dracut’s failure to address those deficits as “egregious.”
The Judge did not affirm several of the Hearing Officer’s proposed remedies, however. The HO had extended the student’s special education eligibility, for example, while simultaneously directing that he receive his diploma. The Hearing Officer also ordered the LEA to hire and compensate two of the testifying experts to collaborate on creating and implementing a Transition Service Plan. The Judge ruled that this exceeded the HO’s equitable authority and further remanded the matter for additional consideration of the necessary compensatory services.
Please visit my web site for more information about the Law Office of James M. Baron: http://www.lawbaron.com.
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