Special Needs

Articles

In February 2025, a medical team at UCSF delivered the first personalized CRISPR...at UCSF delivered the first personalized CRISPR therapy to an infant with CPS1 deficiency, a rare metabolic...disorders won't qualify for personalized CRISPR therapy in the next few years. But the infrastructure being...

...it doesn't come close to covering your child's therapy appointments, specialist visits, or durable medical...therapy appointments, specialist visits, or durable medical equipment. The deductible resets every January,...Beckett waivers, and those that do set their own medical and functional eligibility...

...retarded," "the blind." Reducing someone to their diagnosis was the norm in medical, educational, and policy settings. Person-first phrasing was a correction....those dimensions. Most early intervention programs, school systems, and therapy clinics still teach person-first language as the default. It's baked into...

...been told your child needs a speech therapy evaluation, and now you're wondering...Most parents walk into a first speech therapy appointment with no framework for...documents saves time and gives the therapist context before they meet your child....before they meet your child. Bring: Medical history: Any records related to hearing...

...diagnosis came with medical terminology,...intervention services: therapies that can...what those therapies are, when...federally mandated therapy for infants...three primary therapies are physical...are physical therapy (PT), speech-language...speech-language therapy, and occupational...occupational therapy (OT). Each addresses...walking. Speech therapy addresses feeding,...solids. The therapies work together,...

...Not a support group where the only shared experience is diagnosis. Not a therapy session disguised as recreation. A place where you can talk about movies,...it. Finding that group is harder than it should be. Search results return medical support groups, parent organizations, or programs designed for children....

...for non-surgical intervention doesn't stay open indefinitely. This is the escalation ladder most families will navigate: home stretching, physical therapy, serial casting, botulinum toxin injections, and in some cases, surgical release. Each step has clinical thresholds that signal when it's time to move...

...mail. Your child's speech therapy, occupational therapy, or ABA...speech therapy, occupational therapy, or ABA services won't be covered....referral, and your child's therapist documented progress in every...denial The clinical criteria or medical policy the insurer used to...the clinical guidelines or medical policy referenced in the denial...

...the next family. The occupational therapist sees your child twice a week. The...It's a valid search for something the medical system doesn't provide: peer experience....in someone else's story. That's not therapy. It's how humans process hard things....challenges. That parent doesn't give you medical advice. They tell you what worked,...

...working. What Psychiatrists Do. Psychiatrists are medical doctors who specialize in mental health. They can...medication checks. These appointments are shorter than therapy sessions, usually 15-30 minutes, focused on symptom...doctoral-level training in mental health but aren't medical doctors. They can't prescribe medication in most...

...suddenly navigating IEPs, therapies, medical appointments, and...navigating IEPs, therapies, medical appointments, and insurance...effective advocacy at school, in medical settings, and throughout your...evaluations, IEP documents, therapy notes, medical records, and...documents, therapy notes, medical records, and correspondence...

...mostly works. But this year, she stopped trying. She doesn't want to go to therapy appointments. She cries when you mention school. Her pediatrician says it's...changes. Then add disability-specific layers: chronic pain, social isolation, medical trauma from repeated procedures, awareness of difference, restricted independence,...