BY RACHEL EZEKIEL-FISHBEIN • PHOTOS PROVIDED BY HMS SCHOOL In January, Amy and Phil Warmflash received the call that a space had opened up at the adult residential facility they had selected with their 21-year-old daughter, Jordana (Jordie) a full five months before she was to graduate from HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy. They had spent 16 years preparing Jordie, who has cerebral palsy, for such independence, but still, they were not ready […]
GENETIC ALLIANCE BY SHARON ROMELCZYK “Freedom.” When asked to describe the experience of paragliding in one word, Chris Santacroce chose “Freedom.” Mr. Santacroce is the founder of Project Airtime (www.projectairtime.org), a nonprofit organization located in Utah that provides adapted tandem paragliding rides to kids and adults with a range of special needs, free of charge. Chris and his team have provided hundreds of individuals with the opportunity to lift high in the sky and feel […]
BY BETHANY KEENER • PHOTOS PROVIDED BY L’ARCHE With 18 communities consisting of one or more homes in the United States, L’Arche provides support for daily living and a community of belonging where people with and without intellectual disabilities share their lives together. When Donna and Manny Ganzarain were told their fouryear-old son Mark was autistic, Donna was confused. It was 1976, and she had never heard the word. She thought the doctors were telling […]
INDEPENDENT EDUCATIONAL EVALUATIONS BY STEVE C. IMBER, PH. D. The issue raised by OSERS Letter to Baus addresses a very important issue, namely whether the parent can include skills not addressed by the SDs evaluation within an Independent Educational Evaluation. On February 23, 2015 The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) of the Department of Education (DOE) issued the policy Letter to Baus. Ms. Baus asked whether a parent had a right to […]
BY LAUREN AGORATUS, M.A. This terminology was created by Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP, a world-renowned expert in the treatment of individuals with social-cognitive deficits. Many parents of children with special needs are familiar with social skills, which help their child better interact with others. Social Thinking goes beyond what is usually covered in schools, to more concrete and explicit ways of thinking. Social Thinking uses the thoughts behind the social skills. This terminology was […]
