State Fails to Ensure Access to Behavioral Health Services for Autistic Children Transitioning from Healthy Families to Medi-Cal

SACRAMENTO, CA – An unknown number of autistic children transitioning from
Healthy Families to Medi-Cal were informed that they will no longer be able to access
critical behavioral health services once enrolled into a Medi-Cal health plan. Families
who called the state’s help lines have been unable to get definitive answers about how
to resolve the problem and access these services.

Children’s advocates are frustrated by the state’s lack of planning and attention to this
issue, despite the fact that this specific concern about loss of services for autistic
children has been raised many times over the past several months. Advocates, relieved
that the state has now begun to address these problems, call upon the Administration to
work quickly to identify and closely manage affected children in order to maintain
services and assure continuity of care.

The transition of 875,000 children from the Healthy Families Program to Medi-Cal
began in January, and 264,000 children moved in the most recent phase on April 1st.
Children’s health advocates have continuously voiced concerns that this transition is
occurring too hastily, which could lead to gaps in coverage and health care for children.
“Loss of services, difficulty for families in getting answers – these are exactly the kinds
of problems we’ve been worried about all along with the state’s rushed transition,” said
Kelly Hardy, Director of Health Policy at Children Now. “Now kids are paying the price.
The state needs to clean up this mess and reinstate services right away.”


See press release HERE.

Advocates: Uphold Grad. Rate Accountability Under NCLB Waivers

Some disability advocacy groups are joining forces with others concerned about whether states will continue to be held accountable for students graduating from high school now that so many states have been granted No Child Left Behind waivers.

The Learning Disabilities Association said last week it has signed onto a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan with a number of other organizations that questions whether states that have received waivers are in violation of federal regulations issued in 2008 linking strong accountability and improvement in high school graduation rates. The National Down Syndrome Society, National Down Syndrome Congress, Easter Seals, the National Center on Learning Disabilities, and National Disability Rights Network, among others, have also signed on.

Read more of Nirvi Shah's On Special Education article HERE.

Shock As Noah Wyle, Disability Advocates Ordered To Court

More than 70 disability advocates arrested last month during a Medicaid protest at the U.S. Capitol are being forced to return to Washington to appear in court.

In what the disability rights group ADAPT is calling an unprecedented event in their over 30-year history, members of the organization are being threatened with bench warrants if they do not appear in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday.

Last month, 74 people — many in wheelchairs — were arrested on charges of unlawful conduct after they refused to disband a protest in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building. The group organized by ADAPT was there to oppose cuts to Medicaid.

Actor Noah Wyle who is best known for appearing on NBC’s “ER” is a vocal advocate for universal health care and was among those detained in the April protest.

Though ADAPT regularly holds protests where arrests are commonplace, leaders of the group say they are typically represented in court by an attorney and are not required to be present. This time, however, prosecutors are insisting that all of those arrested appear in person at the hearing.

The requirement is leading to a mad scramble since several of those arrested live as far away as Colorado and Utah. Traveling back to Washington on short notice is costing some involved $1,000 or more.

“I’m shocked and angry,” said Marsha Katz, a member of ADAPT who lives in Missoula, Mont. She plans to make the return trip to Washington in order to assist her husband, Bob Liston, who uses a wheelchair and was among those arrested during the April action.

“This is the first time in more than 20 years that the court wouldn’t allow an attorney to represent us and wouldn’t entertain a motion to postpone,” said Katz. “Are they doing this to dissuade us from exercising our First Amendment rights?”

Read more of Michelle Diament's Disability Scoop article HERE.

Special Education and Disability Information In the News

Kansas Takes First Step Toward Regulating Restraints, Seclusion

 A Step Forward – The Obama Administration Creates Administration for Community Living

COULD UNIVERSAL DESIGN BE THE NEXT MAINSTREAM MOVEMENT IN ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING?

Feds Resolve Issues In Memphis Over Students With Health Problems

ADA Webinars-Accessible Pools: Means of Entry and Exit

Teen At School For At-Risk Youth Dies While Being Restrained

Actor Noah Wyle, Disability Advocates Arrested In DC Protest


D.C. Says Work Will Take Special Education Services to 'Next Level' 
Parents Compelled to Secretly Wire Children to Track Events at School

Wisconsin Districts Ask to Cut Special Ed. Budgets Without Penalty

Disability advocates are upset that some Wisconsin school districts want to be able to cut special education spending without losing federal funds.

Disability Rights Wisconsin said they just recently learned of a May letter to Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wisc., asking for changes to the portion of the federal law requiring districts to keep spending on students with disabilities level from year to year. The clause is intended to buffer special education from the budget cycle and political whims.

"While we acknowledge difficult financial times over the past three years which have made state and local education budgeting decisions particularly tenuous, our state legislature has made deliberate choices in education funding priorities that have put pressure on [districts] to reduce school funding," the group wrote in a letter Thursday. "This should not result in decreased funding at the local level for the provision of a free and appropriate public education for students with disabilities."

Generally, school districts can only cut special education spending if there's an actual decrease in expenses—say, if an experienced, highly paid special education teacher retires or a high-needs student leaves a district. Cutting the special education budget for almost any other reason means a district is running the risk of losing its share of federal funds. Districts have to restore spending to the amount before the cuts to get back in the good graces of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Read Nirvi Shah's On Special Education article HERE.

A Training Series for Advocates-Implementing Olmstead

Californians for Olmstead, a project of the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers, is proud to present a five-part training series on developing public policy to support a robust system of home and community-based services that prevent institutionalization.

See more HERE.

California budget cuts may devastate the most vulnerable citizens

By Robin Hansen - Special Education Examiner from examiner.com

Disability advocates across California are asking for citizen support in keeping infant early intervention programs as well as services to all people with disabilities. An action alert was issues from the ARC (Association of Retarded Citizens). Our community is facing its most serious threat in many years. Governor Brown's proposed budget cuts would gut the Lanterman Act's promise that people with developmental disabilities will get the services and supports they need to live full lives in the community. …

Read more HERE.