Results
Lifestyle > Independence
Building Independence: A Life Skills Roadmap for Children with Special Needs
...out until you stop doing it for them. That's the core tension...instinct to help is faster, cleaner, and kinder in the moment. But...round-the-clock support or can be alone for hours. Household management...families. Communication and self-advocacy are the skills that protect...you're not in the room. Asking for help, explaining needs to strangers,...
Research > Funding
Private Foundations Funding Disability Research: A Guide for Advocates and Families
...supplemental support. That's critical infrastructure. For families navigating cerebral palsy, fragile X syndrome,...Philanthropy chronically overlooks disability funding for identifiable reasons. Program officers at major foundations...innovators. Simons Foundation SFARI remains the anchor for autism research. Their grants range from exploratory...
Research > Drug Development
Should Your Child Participate in a Clinical Trial? A Parent's Decision Framework
...mentioned a clinical trial. Or an advocacy organization sent an email about...email about a study recruiting for your child's condition. You've...you don't fully understand, for a drug that may or may not work,...whether this trial makes sense for your family. Here's how to think...people. Researchers are looking for a signal that the drug does...
Global Insights > Advocacy
Teaching Your Child to Self-Advocate: Age-by-Age Strategies from Elementary Through High School
Self-advocacy doesn't start at...they need and ask for it in situations...start teaching self-advocacy. The answer is earlier...the foundation for the bigger ones....transition from parent advocacy to self-advocacy...advocacy to self-advocacy isn't a single handoff....this age, self-advocacy means understanding...Practice asking for accommodations in...
Global Insights > Advocacy
Beyond the IEP: Legal Rights Parents of Children with Disabilities Should Know
...into employment, housing, public accommodations,...work, barriers to housing, and access to...the foundation for advocacy in every...foundation for advocacy in every other...procedural protections for disputes. Parents...agencies: the EEOC for employment, HUD...employment, HUD for housing, or the...employment, HUD for housing, or the Department...Department of Justice for public accommodations...
News > Advocacy
The R-Word Spiked 200% Online. A Disney Actor With Down Syndrome Made a 91-Second Response Parents Need to See.
...CoorDown (an Italian Down syndrome rights nonprofit) released a 91-second video for World Down Syndrome Day 2026 featuring Noah Matthews Matofsky, the first person...Syndrome Society, and five other international orgs. Noah's 91-second case for retiring the R-word doesn't lecture. It lists absurd things humanity used...
Education > Higher Education
College Programs for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: What CTPs Offer
For years, the assumption was that...the end of formal education for most students with intellectual...recognizes these programs as eligible for Pell Grants and work-study funding....exploring post-secondary options for a student with IDD, CTPs represent...financial literacy and self-advocacy. The emphasis isn't on grades...
Special Needs > Respiratory Health
Respiratory Health for Children with Disabilities: A Complete Family Guide
...need a care plan that accounts for muscle tone, positioning, and...respiratory condition in children. For kids with disabilities, it often...trouble breathing. You're watching for behavioral changes instead: increased...to create it. You're looking for retractions (skin pulling in...cold air, and strong emotions. For children with sensory processing...
Special Needs > Rare Disorders
IEP Advocacy for Children with Rare Disorders: When No One Has Done This Before
...you they don't know how to write accommodations for something they've never seen before. This is not...fatigues after 30 minutes of cognitive work qualifies for accommodations based on that functional limitation....health problems. This category exists specifically for conditions that don't fit neatly into other buckets....
Special Needs > Multiple Sclerosis
Living with Pediatric MS: A Complete Guide for Families
...need to know: recognizing symptoms, understanding treatment options, advocating at school, and supporting your child's emotional wellbeing. It's built for the long haul, not just the first few months after diagnosis. Understanding Pediatric MS. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease where the immune...
Special Needs > Learning Differences
College with a Learning Difference: A Four-Year High School Preparation Guide
...school to college for students with learning...themselves scrambling for documentation that...trying to teach self-advocacy skills that needed...campus unprepared for a system that will...contexts. Add self-advocacy to the IEP as a...post-secondary goals. Self-advocacy is a measurable,...the plan. A self-advocacy goal for freshman...self-advocacy goal for freshman year might...
Special Needs > Hearing Impairments
Communication Options for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children: A Family Decision Guide
...walks through the major communication approaches for deaf and hard of hearing children: what each one...what families need to know before choosing. No advocacy. No single path presented as best. Just the information...language and express themselves. It's the foundation for how they'll learn to read, participate in school,...