Subway Sleuths is a 10-week after-school program for 4th and 5th graders at the New York Transit Museum that builds on a shared interest in trains among students on the autism spectrum. It supports peer-to-peer interaction, provides a context for navigating social situations, and develops students’ confidence by affirming their interest in public transit.
Ten weekly sessions are facilitated by Transit Museum Educators and contracted professionals trained in ASD support.
The sessions are at 4:30 p.m. on Thursdays or at 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays at the Transit Museum in Downtown Brooklyn. For students accepted into the program, the first regular Thursday session will be Feb. 29, and the first regular Saturday session will be March 2.
The in-person screening for 4th-5th graders will be on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 3 and after school on Thursday, Feb. 8. Group sizes are small, and space is limited.
The in-person program costs $350 for the semester for accepted students. Limited partial scholarships are available.
Deadline: Jan. 24, 2024
In July 2022, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance that included how to support children with disabilities whose behavior impedes their learning or that of others. In doing so, it addressed the short-term removals of students with disabilities by administrators and staff, and noted that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) specifically requires IEP Teams to consider the use of positive behavioral interventions and supports instead.
Now, K12dive.com has published an update on how states and districts are taking steps to ensure that these removals do not violate civil and educational rights. (Read the whole article here.) These removals can occur in a variety of ways, but center on dismissing the student before their school day, or week, is completed, and “have raised alarms about the practice being overused as a way to sidestep IDEA discipline due process for students with disabilities.”
Those procedures, K12 adds, “include extra protections for students with disabilities who are disciplined, such as the right to receive special education services if they are removed from school for more than 10 days.”
In February 2023, The New York Times took a comprehensive look at these removals, which it says “largely escape scrutiny because schools are not required to report them in the same manner as formal suspensions and expulsions, making them difficult to track and their impact hard to measure.”
An attorney and parent advocate on how to use the IEP, functional behavioral assessment and the law when your child is removed from school.
The non-profit organization CIDA has announced the expansion of the Social Co-op project, a workforce development program targeting Asian-American adults with disabilities between 18 and 40 years old.
The program will assist the program participants with employment resources and social services while providing work readiness training. CIDA will also provide resource and capacity-building training to parents of these individuals and local employers so that the entire community “can grow together.”
The trainees will be offered work opportunities with the CoSpire business, a cooperative business developed by CIDA, or referred to other companies if qualified.
For more information, visit CIDA.
Another group home operator in New York sounds the alarm about low pay for DSPs, Hawaii tries an out-of-the-box method to retain special ed teachers, and more news to know for the week ending Jan. 6, 2024.
Pleasantville Struggles to Handle Influx of NYC Kids in Crisis
This report on the crisis at Pleasantville Cottage Campus, a residential program that houses about 160 young people with behavioral challenges, focuses on how it’s “an extreme and very public version of something that’s occurring at foster care programs across New York state: Government child welfare authorities are placing kids with acute mental health challenges on campuses that are ill-equipped to handle them — largely because there’s nowhere else for them to go.” (Thecity.nyc and ProPublica)
Posted back in August, the article Crisis Rocks JCCA Children’s Residential Treatment Center in Pleasantville, NY, has some helpful background. (The Boost)
Could developmentally disabled face return to institutions if group homes can’t pay staff? Another New York group home operator sounds the alarm. (lohud.com)
Hartsdale train station unveils new elevators to aid commuters The elevators serve as a significant help for individuals requiring assistance to access the train platform in the Westchester County town. (News12 Westchester)
Survey Of Disability Service Providers Finds Deepening Crisis Survey finds that almost 600 providers of community-based services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities nationwide are facing staffing shortages. (Disability Scoop)
The Pervasive Loneliness of Autism An autistic Ph.D. Neuroscience student at Vanderbilt looks at how “independent living” can increase some people’s sense of isolation. (Time)
Hawaii Gave $10,000 Raises to Special Ed Teachers. It’s Working—for Now In Hawaii, the challenges of recruitment are more pronounced than elsewhere in the country. (Mother Jones)
Disabled women talk about what they bring to medicine Important perspectives given how a majority of doctors and med students say they don’t know how to treat people with disabilities. (Bloom Blog)
How $37 billion in federal funding is being used to improve at-home caregiving VP Kamala Harris touted new data illustrating how $37 billion in American Rescue Plan funding has expanded and improved home- and community-based services. (19thnews.org)
How AI helps some people with disabilities communicate Project Relate is an artificial intelligence-enabled app that makes conversations easier for people who have difficulties speaking clearly. (Marketplace)
Ruben Reuter challenges disability prejudice in the media industry The young Channel 4 News journalist with Down syndrome is winning over viewers. (journalism.co.uk)
If you haven’t heard about the Broadway musical How to Dance in Ohio, I’m here to help.
The show is based on a true story. It stars seven autistic young actors and follows them and their families as they prepare for a spring formal dance in Columbus, Ohio. It’s been getting rave reviews, and its director and one of its stars are Westchester County (New York) natives.
It also has what’s called an Education Outreach Coordinator. Taylor Janney-Rovin’s job is to get the word out to students, educators, and families. He recently sent out a release with some great ways to get tickets:
Group sales: The show is partnering with Broadway Inbound to bring groups (10 or more people) to the theater, and you can find more details about the group sales here. Broadway Inbound can also answer questions such as how to work within your budget should prices be inaccessible.
Families can also take advantage of the “Buy 3, Get 1 Free” holiday sale to buy tickets online using the code HOLIDAY4 here. (Valid through 1/2/24).
Students and educators can use the code AMIGO to unlock discounted tickets for performances through 2/25/24. Just follow these steps:
See a sneak preview and hear more from the cast in the show’s prologue!
Engage with the More to Talk About series where you can find conversations among the show’s creative team and greater community about disability activism and allyship.
Check out this Resources Page to further your learning about autism and our in-theater accessibility offerings.
The Kids Can’t Wait campaign from The Children’s Agenda wants New York to fix the crushing delays for Early Intervention Services experienced statewide by young children with developmental delays and disabilities.
The key cause of the delays, the campaign says, is a severe shortage of therapists and other Early Intervention professionals. It’s calling for legislators and the governor to provide an 11% increase in reimbursement rates for all Early Intervention services delivered in person to help address “decades of stagnant payment rates coupled with a payment system that is not providing increased compensation for the added costs, such as transportation and travel time, of delivering services in person at a child’s home or child care program.”
RELATED NEWS: Early Intervention Services Not Reaching 42% of NY’s Eligible Infants and Toddlers
There are two easy ways to have your voice heard, choose one!
It’s easy! Click here.
Parents of children who have waited in the past or are currently waiting can record a short video to have their voices heard by the governor. It’s easy to do, thanks to a how-to video from Kim Dooher, VP, Parents Helping Parents Coalition of Monroe County, that walks you through the simple steps.
Just click here to watch the video.
Philly becomes a sensory-inclusive city, a mother and her 23-year-old autistic son explore autism representation on screen, and more news to know for the week ending Dec. 23, 2023.
NYC’s District 75 schools for students with disabilities brace for tens of millions in cuts
The district has some 26,000 students with complex disabilities who would be affected by the cuts. Reportedly, extracurricular programming would be out, plus the cuts would “thin out supply budgets, and exacerbate an already severe paraprofessional shortage, potentially pushing schools even further out of compliance with students’ legally binding special education plans.” (Chalkbeat)
But, after the announcement, came this: NYC teachers union sues Eric Adams to halt school budget cuts. (Chalkbeat)
Stay tuned.
Special Olympics New York calls on Hochul to increase funding ahead of program cuts The CEO of Special Olympics New York reportedly says the organization will otherwise have to cut participation in games by a third and limit recruitment. (wbfo.org)
Disability service providers ask Hochul for more money in new budget The effort named “Invest in Me” includes CP State, a not-for-profit organization with nearly 30 affiliates. (North Country Public Radio)
Philadelphia is country’s first ‘sensory-inclusive city.’ While a handful of other cities have similar designations from the for-profit org IBCCES, this is the first to receive a Sensory Inclusive Certification from the non-profit KultureCity. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
TN scores a D grade on the 2023 Tennessee Disability Scorecard The annual review is to ensure that Tennesseans with disabilities are prioritized in policy decisions, which, obviously, they are not. Disgraceful. (wate.com)
What’s behind the shortage of workers who support people with disabilities Another big media outlet picks up on this important story. (PBS)
Autism Representation Is Growing on TV. Is It Any Good? A mother and her 23-year-old autistic son explore the current landscape of autism representation on screen. (Teen Vogue)
Lawsuits claiming Tylenol causes autism lack scientific support, judge finds The ruling in Manhattan federal court likely means the end of about 500 lawsuits, unless plaintiffs get it reversed on appeal. (Reuters)
Rolling chair helps toddlers with disabilities move independently This is an awesome chair. (auburnpub.com)
New York City budget cuts affect special ed, people with I/DD find it hard to get top care from doctors and more news to know for the week ending Dec. 16, 2023.
Interested in an Extended School-Year Program?
Here’s helpful advice from Westchester Institute for Human Development’s CSN Community newsletter. If you want to see if your child qualifies for an extended school-year program and related services over the summer, don’t wait until your annual review meeting in the spring to let your teachers and/or district know. Start the process soon. Find more information at NYS Ed Dept. website here.
Eric Adams’ budget cuts hamper NYC’s compliance with special education court order Adams’ budget cuts are brutal and confusing, but even so this is bad: Only nine out of 40 court-ordered reforms have been implemented since the summer. (Chalkbeat)
NY State education officials share budget priorities The Board of Regents, as part of its annual state budget proposal, outlined its priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. Do they include special ed? Not a heck of a lot, it would seem. (Chalkbeat)
Westchester company creates toys for kids with severe disabilities Enabling Devices is a family-run company founded in 1978. (News12 Westchester)
White House to highlight Maine for policies supporting direct care workers Maine has used pandemic relief funds to pay direct care workers bonuses that averaged nearly $3,500. (Press Herald)
Adults With IDD Face Significant Hurdles At The Doctor, Study Finds Previous studies have primarily looked at access to health care or the perspectives of providers, but this is believed to be one of the first to give voice to those with disabilities themselves. (Disability Scoop)
And it sure makes this next bit of news unsurprising.
U.S. medical schools aren’t teaching future doctors about 7.4 million of their patients Thirty of 155 medical schools provide zero curricular content about developmental disabilities and of those that do many offer it as an elective. (Stat News)
New Approach to Hospital Visits for Children with Behavioral and Developmental Disorders A Pittsburgh hospital’s Adaptive Care Team is providing customized care for special needs kids. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Orlando dad helps people with autism enjoy Orlando Magic games If it seems like these localized efforts to accommodate neurodiversity have been ramping up, it’s because, in good news, they have been. (Orlando Sentinel)
People with disabilities hope self-driving cars deliver independence This interesting pilot program seems targeted to people with physical disabilities. I wonder if it might be adapted to those with I/DD as well. Regardless, the technology, in general, is still pretty shaky. Just ask Tesla. (Minnesota Reformer)
Bank CEOs express support for Supplemental Security Income reform Their support came at a Senate Banking Committee hearing. (CNBC)
Looking to find a caregiver for a loved one with special needs? Searching high and low for respite or Comm Hab to support your loved one’s Life Plan?
Get in line.
A new platform, Shivoo, currently available for individuals living in New York City and Westchester County, N.Y., hopes to help. Launched on Nov. 1, 2023, it connects children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) with caregivers and is open to all, regardless of an individual’s participation in New York State services.
The platform already has well over 700 caregivers in the system, some of whom have direct experience and others who are “peripherally” involved in the disability community, according to co-founder Susan Golkin. (For more on staffing, see the short Q&A below.) The service costs $20 a month to use but is reimbursable by Self-Direction and cancellable at any time.
The Boost spoke with Golkin, who along with co-founder Chancy Blumenfrucht is an independent Self-Direction broker, about the new platform. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
You know the first question: What does Shivoo mean?
[Laughs] It’s an Australian word that means “party and community.” Everybody should be together in one community, and everyone should have the same opportunities.
And for that, you need staff.
Yes. There’s a massive crisis here. As brokers, we know people [with I/DD] without staff who just end up sitting on a couch, and parents who have to quit jobs to be the caregivers. The pressure is real.
How long has Shivoo taken from conception to up and running?
It’s been a few years’ journey. Originally we were thinking of creating an employment site because both Chancy and I believe everyone should have a job and that anybody can get a job. But people who hire people with I/DD kept asking about the individual bringing staff with them [such as a job coach]. We ran into this looking at other spaces, too, such as housing. The question kept coming up: “Where’s the staff?'”
You’ve said you’re hoping to help “revitalize” comm hab as a career option. Can you elaborate?
Some staff on the site may have direct experience working with individuals with disabilities or they’re peripherally involved and understand this [population]. They may be in special ed in some way or are nurses or LPNs. They’re all looking for either a career change or extra income from an opportunity they never knew existed. That’s our secret sauce.
We give them a 40-minute workshop, but we’ve also met with OPWDD [the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities] about working together on a micro-credentialing program and we’re hopeful that will happen.
Are there plans for expansion?
Yes. We’re dipping into Long Island now, and we hope to cover all of New York State in the future.
People need staff everywhere. We hope to be part of changing the way people see people with disabilities. They’re your next-door neighbor, they’re in the community with jobs — but for this [to become the norm], staff is needed.
If you’re paying privately, the hourly rate is up to you and the caregiver. If you have Self Direction, you can spend up to $35/hour depending on the FI and your budget.
On the Shivoo site — which you should read carefully — it’s noted that the platform does not conduct background checks, criminal checks or reference checks on staff. For those who qualify for Medicaid benefits through New York State’s Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) and enroll in Self Direction, a Fiscal Intermediary agency is required to perform fingerprinting and several background checks on prospective staff.
Be sure to check out the Shivoo FAQs page to get your other questions answered.
A BOCES campus builds a model downtown to teach living skills, a Broadway show features an autistic cast, new data on school disciplinary action reflects stark reality, and more news for the week ending Dec. 9, 2012.
I hope you can access the following link (The Boston Globe’s paywall is aggressive): What my autistic son’s cold cheeseburgers taught me about bureaucracy
A sharp commentary on how services and institutions make it difficult to implement even small, common sense changes, this Ideas piece — published back in May, but which I just discovered — is also funny and painfully relatable. (The Boston Globe)
Rockland BOCES creates ‘Safety City’ to help students with disabilities navigate streets A new, movie set-like street, complete with stores and being built on the campus by BOCES carpentry students, joins a new model residence to give students with disabilities a chance to polish independent living skills. (lohud.com)
Legislators call for SNAP benefit increase in Hochul’s budget The minimum benefit is currently a “not-feasible” $23 a month. (Times-Union)
Broadway’s ‘How to Dance in Ohio’ musical has an autistic cast with some strong Westchester connections (lohud.com)
Florida families take the fight for disability services into their own hands A mom-created advocacy group picks up steam in a state that ranks 49th for per-capita spending on services for people with disabilities. (WGCU.org)
New Mexico works to reduce abuse in disability program A horrendous abuse case has the state “trying” to address concerns. (KRQE.com)
Washington Special Ed School Accused of Abusing Students Closing Amid Scrutiny Northwest School of Innovative Learning was the state’s largest publicly funded private school for children with disabilities. (ProPublica.org)
What We Know About Autism — And How To Treat It — Could Change After New Study It’s the first time that the cellular workings of a neuropsychiatric disorder like ASD have been explored this deeply. (Disability Scoop)
A Successful Holiday Strategy for an Autism Family How to make a personalized book to help an autistic child get through the holidays. (Psychology Today)
America Promises Equality for Disabled Students. It’s Failing This engaging package of five stories spans how we got here to whether robots help autistic children learn social skills. (Mother Jones)
Kids with disabilities face off-the-books school suspensions The AP unpacks “informal removals.” (Associated Press)
New Data on School Disciplinary Action Reflects Stark Reality Students with disabilities, for instance, accounted for 81% of those physically restrained and 75% of those secluded. (Autism Society’s Capitol Connection)
The Arc’s Leigh Anne McKingsley’s on Disability Rights and the Criminal Justice System This might shock you: People with IDD are more likely to be arrested, charged with a crime, and serve longer sentences if convicted. The head of ARC’s Criminal Justice Initiative answers questions and shares vital information. (Comcast Newsmakers)
Voc Rehab Agencies Told To Beef Up Offerings U.S. Dept. of Ed says agencies need to provide more than minimal services. (Disability Scoop)
SSI Beneficiaries Will See Double Payments This Month Because the first of the month falls on a holiday, the payment is sent in advance and beneficiaries can expect two checks to arrive this month, but nothing in January. (Disability Scoop)
Disability Charity Speaks Out About Slur In Ricky Gervais’ Netflix Special He used the “r” word. (HuffPost.co.uk)
How a Chicago Volunteer Helps Migrant Kids With Disabilities The children, who survived journeys crossing jungles and rivers, have conditions such as autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. (Governing.com)