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NFL rookie takes disabled teen to dance

Posted by Nathan Charlan on May 26 2011
FOX Sports, Morgantown, VA, May 23, 2011 Chicago Bears rookie linebacker J.T. Thomas became the inspirational story of the lockout-dominated NFL offseason Monday, a few days after escorting a wheelchair-bound teen to her middle school dance. The former West Virginia standout last month met 14-year-old Joslyn Levell, who uses a wheelchair. During that meeting, she told him that all of the boys she had asked to the dance turned her down. Levell, who attends Suncrest Middle School in Morgantown — where the university is located — has spina bifida, a condition that prevents the spinal cord from developing properly. "I hugged her and signed a few things and we talked for awhile and she cried a bit," Thomas told NFL.com about meeting Levell. "I gave her a hug and told her everything would work itself out." Shortly after the meeting, Thomas' stepmother called the school and Levell's parents to make sure it would be OK for her hulking stepson to po...

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The Cohesion Project

Posted by Renee Burton Charlan on May 24 2011
The Cohesion Project is a documentary that will profile three men from diverse backgrounds that basically have 2 things in common – 1. They all have CP. 2. They all kick ass on a regular basis. CP has manifested itself differently in Glenn Haerle, Josh Blue and Rich Donovan but it has not stopped them from plowing through life with a purpose to accomplish goals, spread positivity and have a damn good time doing it. For more info    ...

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Autism Leads Rise of Developmental Disabilities in U.S. Kids

Posted by Nathan Charlan on May 24 2011
By Nicole Ostrow May 23, 2011 6:37 am ET, Washington Post May 23 (Bloomberg) -- Developmental disabilities among American children increased 17 percent in the past decade led by a rise in autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a U.S. government study found. The prevalence of the developmental disorders rose to 15 percent of U.S. children, or about 10 million, in 2006-2008, from 12.8 percent, or about 8 million, in 1997-1999, according to the study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The research is published in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers said the increase may be due in part to more preterm births and parents having children at older ages. They also said that improvements in screenings, diagnosis and awareness have pushed the numbers higher. About one in six children in the U.S. now have a developmental disability, and that will...

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The Arc of Jefferson County has Jazz Concert in Honor of National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month

Posted by Nathan Charlan on Apr 30 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEFor More Information, Contact:Lori Ropa, Executive DirectorPhone: 303.232.1338Cell:  303.905.2975lori@arcjc.org THE ARC—JEFFERSON, CLEAR CREEK & GILPIN COUNTIESMARKS NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES AWARENESS MONTH WITH FUNDRAISING CONCERTAnthology of Jazz II               (Lakewood, CO) – The Arc—Jefferson, Clear Creek & Gilpin Counties—joins a network of 700+ chapters of The Arc, including self-advocates, families, and volunteers across the nation to mark Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in March.  To raise awareness of this month-long occasion, and to raise much-needed funds, a benefit jazz concert will be held on May 12. In 1963, the first Anthology of Jazz concert was held, raising funds for The Arc that enabled many children with developmental disabilities to attend school for the very first time.  As The Arc—Jefferson, Clear Creek & Gilpin Counties celebrates its 50th Anniversary, they are excited to sh...

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Autism: Unlocking Mireya Salazar's world

Posted by Nathan Charlan on Apr 28 2011
By Eric GorskiThe Denver Post Posted: 04/24/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT Updated: 04/24/2011 03:12:51 PM MDT Her name is Mireya. She is 3 years and 3 months old. She has fine black hair, a thing for "Handy Manny" cartoons and one of the most prominent last names in Colorado. Many nights, Mireya Salazar will not fall asleep unless her feet are touching her mother and her head is touching her grandmother. It's part of an elaborate bedtime ritual in which she must place her pillow with the pink checkerboard and butterfly pattern just so, in the middle of the bed. She has other routines, other rules. Every door in the house must be closed. If they are not, she will slam them shut. She won't eat a broken Cheerio or pasta that is not white. She can seem more interested in a pink balloon than in her father, more fascinated with a blank  space in the distance than in "Papa Ken" — her grandfather,...

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Genius at work: 12-year-old with Aspergers studies at Purdue

Posted by Nathan Charlan on Apr 02 2011
When Jacob Barnett first learned about the Schrödinger equation for quantum mechanics, he could hardly contain himself. For three straight days, his little brain buzzed with mathematical functions. From within his 12-year-old, mildly autistic mind, there gradually flowed long strings of pluses, minuses, funky letters and upside-down triangles -- a tapestry of complicated symbols that few can understand. He grabbed his pencil and filled every sheet of paper before grabbing a marker and filling up a dry erase board that hangs in his bedroom. With a single-minded obsession, he kept on, eventually marking up every window in the home. Strange, say some. Genius, say others. Read more...    ...

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Educational Leadership: Interventions that work - Include, Belong, Learn

Posted by Nathan Charlan on Mar 30 2011
Include, Belong, Learn, by George Theoharis and Julie Causton-Theoharis (associate professors at Syracuse University in New York) Two schools serving many students with disabilities show it's possible to let everyone learn together. --------- Kenny is a student at River View, a public K–8 school in central New York. Kenny spent his first few school years in a self-contained special education class because, according to an evaluation, he was "too disabled to be in the general education setting." In Kenny's 4th grade year, River View undertook a new schoolwide intervention. As part of that change, Kenny began learning in a general education classroom. Within a year, he no longer qualified for special education because he had made such significant academic progress. At River View—and a similar school that serves K–6 grades called Summer Heights—more students are now achieving at grade level in math and at a proficient or advanced level in reading than was the case before these schools rolled out a schoolwide intervention. Achievement went up for both nondisabled students...

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Medicaid Waiver Waiting List Triggers Federal Lawsuit

Posted by Nathan Charlan on Mar 29 2011
By Shaun Heasley March 29, 2011, Disability Scoop A federal class action lawsuit is seeking relief for more than 19,000 Florida residents with developmental disabilities who are on a years-long waiting list for community-based services. The suit, filed last week, alleges that thousands of individuals who are eligible for community-based services through the state’s Medicaid program are instead on a waiting list in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws. “Plaintiffs have been placed on waiting lists for enrollment on the DD Waivers where they languish for years without services thereby placing them at risk of institutionalization and regression of skills and therapies learned from educational programs,” according to the suit filed by Disability Rights Florida, a nonprofit disability rights group that’s representing the residents....

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Universal Sports Announces Groundbreaking New Original Adventure Series

Posted by Nathan Charlan on Mar 29 2011
March 29th, 2011 by Al Fresco, from Bike World News Universal Sports is excited to announce its groundbreaking new original adventure series, “Take a Seat: Sharing a Ride across America”, premiering with back-to-back episodes on Monday, April 4, at 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. ET/PT. From the Santa Monica Pier in California through Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, across the Badlands in South Dakota and arriving in Central Park in New York, “Take a Seat” – the network’s first-ever original series – will take viewers on a powerful and inspiring cycling voyage across America....

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