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Articles linked to this page are constantly being added. As with other materials in this Website, the articles are embedded in this home page. See our Favorite Links Page for additional resource materials available on other Websites.  The information on this website is educational and not intended to be legal advice.

Advocacy

• 5 Year Old with AS Restrained - "Might you spend just a moment? I know your time is valuable. But the time it could take you to shoot an email could make a big difference in the life of our five-year-old girl and our family. This could be a blessing. When we understood what had happened we were outraged. Maybe it is time parents and their friends found a way to stick together. Let me fill you in with a story. Tell me how you would feel."  If this is happening to you in Oregon, we need to hear from you ...

  • An eighteen smoking gun salute to you
  • IEP and Placement for Anaya Grushkin
  • Intent and Ignorance
• 10 Minutes to save IDEA Discipline Protections for Kids     
• A badly broken system that hurts vulnerable children by Linda Newland 1999 / Update 9/2004
• A 5TH-GRADE SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENT IS TASERED BY POLICE IN HIS OREGON CLASS ROOM: AN INVESTIGATION OF SYSTEMIC FAILURE
  Report:       (doc)   or (pdf)
  Appendix A: (doc)   or (pdf)
  Appendix B: (doc)  or (pdf)
  Appendix C: (doc)   or (pdf)
• A Parent's Guide To Special Education And Related Services: Communicating Through Letterwriting” by Susan Ferguson and Suzanne Ripley by Uniquely Gifted
• A proven method has research behind it that meets these federal definitions - 2004
• A User's Guide to the 2004 IDEA Reauthorization (P.L. 108-446 and the Conference Report) authored by Robert Silverstein, J.D., Director of The Center for the Study and Advancement of Disability Policy and funded by the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities. 
• Administrative Rules for Special Education Mediation 
• Agreement to Participate in the Advisory Opinion Process 
• Amending IDEA. Briefings From DREDF - Senate Bill 1248 - 2004
• ALJ Settlement Conference: Q & A: Revised 2004 
• An Advocate's Official Letter of Inquiry to the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education - Twenty Questions regarding the Autism/Asperger Controversy in Classification and "Educational Diagnosis" - A Florida advocate's inquiry to OSEP regarding Asperger Syndrome, Autism and IEP's. November 1999
• And inclusion for all by Steven Carter -  2/2004
• Another Fordham Foundation Report - 2004
• Art of Citizen Lobbying  - 2001
• Back to School on Civil Rights - COPAA September 2000
• Being Businesslike at Your IEP: The Parent Record  2000
• Can a town discriminate against an autistic child and ban him from public areas? Gayle Fitzpatrick’s Plight
  Her story  How you can help - 2004
• Could Your Child Be Drafted?" by Family Circle Magazine - 7/2004
• Couple Convicted For Caging Kids - Following a three week trial, a couple were found guilty of four felony counts of child endangering, two misdemeanor counts of child endangering and five misdemeanor counts of child abuse for forcing some of their 11-disabled children to sleep in cages.
• Collaboration and Conflict Resolution in Education by James Melamed, John W. Reiman
• Comparison of the recommendations of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) and the bipartisan NCLB Commission regarding the upcoming No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reauthorization as it affects students with disabilities
• Concerns and discussion in assessment debate - The recent summary in The Special Educator® ( see Accommodations for assessment must be broad, report states, Feb. 23, 2001, pa. 6 ) of the Oregon's Blue Ribbon Panel report, Do No Harm , raises many concerns. Many of the high-stakes testing recommendations to the Oregon Department of Education have the potential to change policy in numerous other states.
• Congress completes work on reauthorization of the Individuals with   Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). COPAA member Jess Butler has prepared a comparison of the new IDEA bill, H.R. 1350 to IDEA ’97. ...Read more.
• COPAA Supreme Court Amicus News: In June 2006, the Supreme Court held that parents who prevail against school districts in IDEA enforcement actions cannot recover their expert witness fees, Arlington County School District Board of Education v. Murphy (43 pages, 824k). COPAA filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court explaining that Congress intended parents to recoup their fees when it adopted the Handicapped Children's Protection Act of 1986. Without reimbursement, there can be no equal access to a public education that is both free and appropriate. In December 2006, COPAA filed an amicus brief in Winkelman v. Parma City School District urging the Supreme Court to hold that parents have the right to represent themselves in IDEA actions in court. More
• Dictionary: For Parents of Children with Disabilities by Bridges4Kids 
• Districts considering Oregon model should read terms carefully - One reason the recent Oregon settlement is unprecedented may be that it contains many provisions that are not legally required. ( See The Special Educator ®, Feb 9 and 23, 2001) Of the panel's five members, hired by both parties to reach the settlement, none represented regular educators or general curriculum developers. This is of great concern.
• DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 34 CFR Parts 300 and 303 - Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, as Amended by the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education.  ACTION: Notice of request for comments and recommendations on regulatory issues under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as amended by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. 
• Do Documents Speak for Themselves? by Brice Palmer - 2001
• Do You Have A Complaint About Your Complaint Procedures?  By Reed Martin, J.D.
• Dr. Suess' IEP's
• Factors to Consider When Selecting an Evaluator by Rosemary Palmer, Esq. - 2002

• Fairview Housing Trust Fund for Adults with Developmental Disabilities is in Danger - Legislators are in the process of prioritizing programs within the Department of Human Services. They have put the Fairview Housing Trust at the bottom of the priority list and the Trust is at risk for being eliminated. This is the first of a four part systems study by Dr. Levine of Columbia Teachers College of the entire educator education and professional scene. "Educating School Leaders," by Arthur Levine    - March 2005   

• FERPA Online Library
• Florida advocate's inquiry to OSEP regarding Asperger Syndrome, Autism and IEP's - PDF Format - 1998
• High-Stakes Testing: Educational Barometer for Success, or False
• Labor laws at odds with transition programs - In 1989, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division fined an Arizona school district for failing to comply with federal labor laws in its special education vocational program. Literally overnight, the event set two federal agencies with conflicting, if not constraining, laws upon a collision course in one of Arizona's largest school districts.
   Prognosticator for Failure by Torin D. Togut, Esq. - 2004

• House Approves Final Special Education Bill - On November 19, 2004, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a final special education reform bill that will reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and set in motion important reforms that will help teachers, parents, and schools ensure every student with disabilities receives a quality education.  Read more.

  • Conference Committee Votes on IDEA Reauthorization:
    The Inside Story by Jess Butler
  • Conference Report on H.R. 1350, "Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004"
  • IDEA Summary of Major Provisions
  • IDEA Comparison 97 to 04
  • IDEA Short Summary
• House Rule 11 Revision Likely to Harm Civil Rights Plaintiffs & Attorneys - 9/2004
• How and Why to Tape IEP Meetings by Vermont advocate Brice Palmer
• How to Use a Parent IEP Attachment" by Judy Bonnell
• House Rule 11 Revision Likely to Harm Civil Rights Plaintiffs & Attorneys - On Sept. 8, the House Judiciary Committee approved H.R. 4571, the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act. HR 4571 will gut procedural safeguards in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 that protect civil rights plaintiffs, the attorneys, and others from abusive Rule 11 motions. This includes parents of children with disabilities, and others who file civil actions in federal court. The bill is headed for the House Floor this coming week. ...Read more.

• IDEA 2004: IDEA 2004 information and resources, including the statute, complete legislative history, regulations, comparison of IDEA 2004 and IDEA '97 are available here. This link also includes COPAA's positions on various issues. The final Part B Final Regulations are here (307 pages, 1.4m) or you can separately download the regulations (96 pages, 548k), and preamble part 1 (101 pages, 560k) and part 2 (117 pages, 628k).

• IDEA Weekly Archives from Our Children Left Behind
• Joint OCR/OSERS Letter on Disability Based Harassment / USDOE - 7/2000
• Is parental permission required prior to accessing Medicaid if all of the provisions of Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 34 CFR § 300.142(e) have been met by the State?  By OSEP - 2002
• Learning to Negotiate is Part of the Advocacy Process by Brice Palmer.
• Living Through Due Process - 1999
• Mediation+Options to Resolve the "Real" Problems underlying disputes - CADRE 
• Medicaid Reimbursement of School-Based Health Care at the State-Operated Schools and HIPAA by Linda Grimms, Assistant Attorney General Human Services Section and Linda Grimms, Assistant Attorney General Human Services Section - 11/2002 
• Mistakes School Districts Make by attorney Bob Crabtree.
• Monkey Zoo-Doo - School Bureaucracy On the Planet of the Apes 1999
• Must Teacher Provide Accommodations & Modifications in the IEP? - Wrights Law

• No Child Left Behind Act
  Signed by President George S Bush on January 8, 2002. The NCLB Act gives our schools and our country groundbreaking educational reform, based on the following ideas: Stronger accountability by results; More Freedom for Schools and Parents and more choices for parents.

  • Is this working or has it become Our Children Left Behind - How can this happen?  IDEA  Reauthorization?
  • How Will NCLB Affect You?
  • NCLB for Attorneys & Advocates: Reading Instruction, Research & Assessments
  • New Expectations
  • No Child Left Behind Act: Facts and Fiction 
• OAC: "Oregon Department of Education's Complaint System: Why Isn't it Working?" 6/1999
• Observations from the Transom, by Brice Palmer, Managing Editor - 2002
• Oregon case will affect high stakes testing - In a court settlement that could affect how states provide accommodations on high stakes tests, Oregon agreed to broaden its current list of allowable accommodations and make other changes recommended by a Blue Ribbon panel of national experts.
• Oregon Department of Education Office of Special Education
• Oregon Due Process and Mediation - A Talking Paper October 1998
• OSEP Letter 3/2000 regarding Asperger Syndrome, Autism, and IEP's - PDF Format
• OSEP Letter Clarification regarding the responsibility of the New Jersey Department of Education to ensure a free appropriate public
• OSEP Letter to Parker, 2-20-2004 regarding Independent Educational Evaluations 
• OHSU to Take child Away from Mother / OHSU threatens to take an autistic child from his mother: her crime - seeking medical treatment for her son.
  • A Letter by Don Harkins / The Idaho Observer
  • Update on activist response request - 2/11/2005
  • Update on activist response request - 2/17/2005
• OSEP - Does Utah [State Board of Education Special Education] Rule III.I.10 (2001) violate Part B of the IDEA [Individuals With Disabilities Education  Act] by allowing LEAs [local education agencies] to write services required  under IDEA on a Section 504 plan instead of an IEP [individualized  education program]. 2)     More generally, can LEA compliance with Section 504 substitute for compliance with Part B of the IDEA?
• OUT OF THE DARK AGES / (By Govenor Barbara Roberts) (Extension of Remarks - January 26, 1993) - "Today, you and thousands of people in America have some understanding of autism. Autism as a disabling condition is finally out of the dark ages. But I remember the pain of parenthood during those dark ages. My son Mike is 36 and autistic..."
• Our Legal System Hides From Bullies by Nancy Salvato - 2004

• Parent Notification and Private Placement Issues Greenland School District v. Amy N.  US Court of Appeals First Circuit, Case 03-1668, 03-1697, decided February 23, 2004. This recent case from the First US Circuit Court of Appeals (Northeastern Seaboard) is an important case in that it discusses parental unilateral removal of a child later found to be Asperger Syndrome to two private  school placements, and a later request by them that they be reimbursed for the cost of tuition.  It cites Ash v. Lake Oswego School District, one of the few US Ninth Circuit cases that IS an Oregon case.  ...to read the case

• Manhattan Beach family prevails in special-ed suit / More than $6.7 million settlement ends a fight that began when the parents of an autistic child sued the district in 1999 for failure to provide resources. - Ending a grueling six-year legal fight, the Manhattan Beach school district and the state's Education Department have agreed to pay more than $6.7 million to a family that claimed the two agencies failed to provide an adequate education for their autistic son.

  • Federal Judge Approves Record $6.7 Million Settlement in Special Ed Case - What does this mean to parents? - Wrights Law

• NCLB and the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in the Accountability and Assessment Systems Testimony of Martha Thurlow, Ph.D., Director, National Center on Educational Outcomes -  2004
• NCLB for Attorneys & Advocates: Reading Instruction, Research, Assessments - 2003
• Next Wave of Special Education Litigation by Peter W. D. Wright, Esq. - Fall 2004
• Numbers of Formal Disputes Are Generally Low and States Are Using
  Mediation and Other Strategies to Resolve Conflicts - GAO-03-897 /  September 2003 
• Pamella Settlegoode, Portland, Oregon - True Teacher Story - NAPTA
• Paper Trails: Documents, Exhibit Lists and Due Process Hearings by Pete Wright, Esq. - 2001
• Parent complaints to Oregon Department of Education: Is the system too broken to fix? - On June 18, 1999, Oregon Advocacy Center (OAC) released a report titled, "Oregon Department of Education's Complaint System: Why Isn't It Working?" - 9/1999
• Petition - Vote NO on Senate Bill 1248 sponsored by the League of Special Education Voters in conjunction with Our Children Left Behind. February 2004 ...for more information
• Post Schaffer: New Era - Indeed, she said, "there is reason to believe that a great deal is already spent on IDEA administration, and Congress has repeatedly amended" the law "to reduce its administrative and litigation-related costs."  Washington Post quoting Sandra Day O’Connor’s majority opinion.  By Bob Witanek
• Protect confidential e-information: Make tech expectations clear - Corresponding via e-mail has become one of the world's fastest and most reliable forms of communication. But at the school level, special educators should be wary of what they send across the lines. As a special education director, you need to know the answers to two primary questions regarding technology and e-mail communication: Is e-mail considered a public record? And does your district stand to lose financially if your staff sends student-related information via the computer?
• Psychopharmacology: Disability Law and the Administration of Psychotropic Medication in the School Setting by James F. Luebbert, M.D., Richard P. Malone, M.D. and Len Rieser, J.D.
• Play Hearts, Not Poker by Jennifer Bollero, Esq. - 2001
• Playing 20 Questions with the Devil (or How to Handle Disagreements
• Prehearing Procedures for an Effective Hearing by Lynn Beekman - Special Education Solutions   July 2002    During IEP Meetings)" by Parent Attorney Sonja Kerr
• Prehearing Procedures for an Effective Hearing by Lynn Beekman - Special Education Solutions - 7/2002   
• Preparation of the Psycho-educational Report by Margeret Kay, Ed.D. - 2002
• PRIVACY STANDARDS FOR STUDENT HEALTH RECORDS by the National Association of School Nurses - 2004 
• Psychopharmacology: Disability Law and the Administration of Psychotropic Medication in the School Setting by James F. Luebbert, M.D., Richard P. Malone, M.D. and Len Rieser, J.D.
• Pupil Rights Law Allows Parents to Opt Students Out of Surveys - 2003
• Recovering Attorney Fees in Special Education Cases
• Reexamining Rowley: A New Focus in Special Education Law by
  Scott F. Johnson, Esq. Beacon - Fall 2003
• Request for ALJ Settlement Conference by Both Parties 
• Release of Educational Records for the Purpose of Medicaid Reimbursement   9/24/2004
• Report -  Educator:  Sexual Misconduct - A Synthesis of Exciting Literature prepared for Planning and Evaluating Services.  Office of the Under Secatary, US DOE, by Charol Shakeshaft, Ph.D., Professor.  Foundation Leadership & Policy Studies. Hofstra University & Managing Director. Interactive, Inc.  (Entire Report, March 1, 2004)
• Restoring trust to our mental health system - "There is trouble at Oregon State Hospital. So what else is new?  The Oregonian's reports of sex-abuse and hush money in the 1990s ("Betraying a fragile trust," Sept. 19) may seem like old news, but the hospital's problems are not. ...And things are getting worse," by Bob Joondeph, executive director of the Oregon Advocacy Center, which advocates for individuals with disabilities.
• Rooker Letter - explains privacy provisions of FERPA and HIPAA and how they interact with regard to school use of medical information in student's records jackets.
• Schaffer v. Weast / C.O.P.P.A.'s Amicus brief - "Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, when parents of a disabled child and a local school district reach an impasse over the child’s individualized education program, either side has a right to bring the dispute to an administrative hearing officer for resolution. At the hearing, which side has the burden of proof—the parents or the school district?"  C.O.P.P.A. asks  the Court  to reverse the judgment of the Fourth Circuit and to  remand this case for further proceedings. - 4/2005 

• Schools lose special education lawsuit - The Bend-La Pine School District has to foot the bill for a special education student whose family placed her at a private boarding school, according to a recent decision by a federal judge.  The June 2 decision could mean the district will eventually pay tens of thousands of dollars for the student's costs at Summit Preparatory School in Montana.  No decision has been made as to whether the district will appeal the decision. By Julia Lyon

• Serious SPED Charges Are Surfacing - There has been a tremendous amount of coverage of the mishandling of special education in general, and special education litigation in particular.  Can YOU imagine being asked to fill out this survey?   This is a good example of what happens when parents network, organize, and descend en masse on a school board and inform them know they won't be ignored.  I WANT to fill out this survey!  Don't YOU? By Frank Luongo
• Serving Transfer Students with Disabilities (January 2004) 
• Seven Steps to Effective Mediation by Diana Santa Maria and Marc A. Gregg.
• Side by Side comparison of HR 1350 and IDEA. A good visual aid for what is current law and what changes are being proposed.  March 2003
• SPECIAL ALERT:  GAO NOT INVESTIGATING OR AUDITING SPECIAL ED. anymore - SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES AREN’T ASKING IT TO!  "...You haven’t seen many GAO reports on special education issues in a while - because there aren’t any. THE SPECIAL  EDUCATION MUCKRAKERS contacted GAO to find out why - and were dismayed to learn that GAO isn’t doing special education investigations or audits because Senators and Representatives haven’t asked it to! ... nobody’s watching the store! Nobody knows where the money is really going. Or if it’s being spent wisely and appropriately. ..." - April 2004
• Special Education Acronyms

• SPECIAL EDUCATION LAW & ADVOCACY STRATEGIES EMAIL NEWS - Your Special Education Resource Center.  A newsletter from Matthews Media, LLC / Reed Martin, J.D. -  November Issue

  • Special Issue on the Reauthorization of the IDEA

• Special Education: Improved Timeliness and Better Use of Enforcement Actions Could Strengthen Education's Monitoring System GAO-04-879, 9/9/2004 

  • Abstract
  • Highlights 
• Steps in the IEP Process 1999
• Summary of issues affecting students with disabilities is courtesy of Candace Cortiella of the Advocacy Institute and is posted on the website of the NCLD (National Center for Learning Disabilities)
• Supreme Court Upholds Lower Court Ruling On Playground Ban / Maine's highest court has upheld a superior court ruling that Falmouth school officials did not discriminate against a disabled boy when they banned him from an elementary school playground. - Gayle Fitzpatrick and her husband, Charles Rankowski, appealed last year's ruling to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. The case involves their home-schooled son, Jan, who has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism that involves delays in basic social and language skills.
• Tactics & Strategy in Mediations and Negotiations by By Dee Alpert, Esq. - 2001
• Tax Benefits for Parents of Children with Disabilities for 2003
• The Disability Law Resource Project (DLRP) at ILRU for a Web cast on IDEA 2004.  IDEA 2004 is most current version of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, the nation's law that works to improve results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities.  Troy R. Justesen, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) in the U.S. Department of Education will present this Web cast on Wednesday, April 6, 2005, from 3:00-4:30pm Eastern; 2:00 Central; 1:00 Mountain; 12:00 Pacific; 11:00 Alaska; 9:00 Hawaii.
• The Next Wave of Special Education Litigation by Peter W. D. Wright, Esq. - 2003
• The Special Ed Advocate Newsletter - October 26, 2004
• Tactics & Strategy: The ‘Letter to the Stranger’ by Janie Bowman and Pete Wright
• Tape Recording Parent Teacher Meetings - West Linn-Wilson School District School Board Policy / Adapted 2002 
• Tape Recording Parent Teacher Meetings - Portland Public Schools District / Adopted April 8, 2002; Revised September 2003.
• Tape Recording Techniques and the Politics of Building a Record January 2000
• Texts of IDEA, Sec. 504, FERPA - Statutes and Regulations
• The Art of Writing Letters by Pam Darr Wright and Pete Wright
• The Best Dentist---"Absolutely" the Best Dentist - Many times referred to as the "No Dentist Left Behind Act." - Why are educators so against this Act?  An interesting analogy. - 11/2003
• The Choreography of Trial Preparation by Barbara Ebenstein, Esq. - 2001
• THE IDEA AMENDMENTS ARE A BAD IDEA - LET IT GO!  - An Open Letter To President Bush, Secretary Paige And Senator Frist - Special Education MUCKRAKER - 4/2004
• The Problem Solving Lawyer by Michael Palmer - 2001
• The Toy Box by Lisa Chaldize, Esq.
• TIPS FOR FILING A COMPLAINT By Reed Martin, J.D.
• Top 10 Signs That You're Going to Have a Bad IEP Meeting
• Transitions - 1999
• Two OPU Parents Address the Oregon Autism Task Force
• Under the Microscope by Rod Paige - 2003
• Understanding the Special Education Process: An Overview for Parents  by LD Online
• Unfunded Mandates: Analysis of Reform Act Coverage advises that the No Child Left Behind Act is not an “unfunded mandate".  
• US Department of Education Data on "Autism" Are Not Reliable for Tracking Autism Prevalence  by James R. Laidler, MD.  From the Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon.  Why are Oregon stats so high?
• Using an Expert as an Effective Resource by Jennifer Bollero, Esq. - 2002
• WARNING: Your Right to Tape Special Education Meetings may be in Danger - PLEASE READ - 1999
• What is your IEP IQ?  by Peter W. D. Wright, Esq.
• Year 2003 Tax Benefits for Parents of Children with Learning Disabilities
• Your Child Might Have an IEP if

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Assistive Technology

• Assistive Technology and Young Children  

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Autism Spectrum Disorders

• 60 MINUTES TO AIR PIECE ON JERRY NEWPORT AND MARY MEINEL ON SEPT. 29TH. Eight years ago, "60 Minutes" introduced viewers to Jerry Newport and Mary Meinel, both of whom have a form of autism known as Asperger's Syndrome.  Mary and Jerry had fallen in love and married after meeting at a support group. What's happened to the couple since then is the subject of "When Jerry Met Mary," reported by correspondent Lesley Stahl, which can be seen on 60 Minutes this coming Wednesday, September 29, at 8PM EST.

  • The Mary & Jerry Newport Story & filming of Mozart and the Whale - "A dramatic, romantic comedy inspired by the lives of two people with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, whose emotional dysfunctions threaten to sabotage their budding romance. Screenplay by Academy-Award winner, Ron Bass; Directed by award-winning director Petter Naess." Projected release date is 12/2004

  • When Jerry Met Mary - 60 minutes transcript

  • One Good Asperger Movie Can Make a Difference by Jerry Newport

  • 'A work in progress' by Jennifer Parks

• AASCEND Conference KEYNOTE April 24, 2004, San Francisco, CA - Slides and Transcript  by Roger N. Meyer
• A Introductory letter to other Parents by Linda and Larry Newland
• 'Animals in Translation': The Cow Whisperer - In an issue of The New Yorker that appeared in late December 1993, the neurologist Oliver Sacks profiled an astonishing woman with autism who not only lived on her own but earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. Reading about Temple Grandin, the parents of autistic children must have felt both wonder and relief, by Polly Morrice - 12/2004
• "ASPERGER SYNDROME: A WORLD APART"  What is it like for parents who can't connect with their child?  On Friday, October 1st, 2004.  The Jane Pauley Show, we go inside the minds of children with Asperger Syndrome - a neurobiological disorder affecting as many as 1 in 300 children - in hopes of helping parents recognize the symptoms, and find solutions that can help their children lead full, productive lives."
• ASPERGER SYNDROME: Classroom Success Next Year by Dan Coulter - 5/2004
• Asperger Syndrome and Mom's Secret Weapon (A Mother's Day Reflection) by Dan Coulter - 5/2004
• Asperger syndrome from childhood into adulthood By Tom Berney / Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2004)
• Asperger Syndrome in Military Service - To the author's knowledge, Asperger Syndrome (AS) as it affects the military service has not received any substantial public attention prior to publication of this paper.  A fully annotated version of this document will be available in early 2005.  By Roger N. Meyer - 2/2005
• Autism and the Inclusion Mandate by ANN CHRISTY DYBVIK / Education Next - Winter 2004
• Autism:  Challenges Relating to Secondary Transition by Eve Müller   7/2004  
• Autism expert shares life story as illustration -  by Dana Hull
• Autism and the Inclusion Mandate by ANN CHRISTY DYBVIK / Education Next - Winter 2004
• Autism Task Force - Oregon
• Autism - The Silent Epidemic is a video presented by Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) on Autism Spectrum Disorders, (ASD's). 
• Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact by Leo Kanner - This article is the complete article by Leo Kanner, written in 1943 paper.  It appears on the Brazilian autism site of the Autistic Friends Association and is republished on ASPIRES with permission. - 2/2005
• Autistic child’s school funding argued / Judge to decide if district should pay for live-in ed -  It doesn’t matter whether an autistic student’s teachers set appropriate goals for him to achieve, argued Jack Robinson, an attorney representing Jeff and Julie Perkins of Berthoud, at a Friday hearing. By Felicia Jordan
• Battling Insurers Over Autism Treatment by Milt Freudenheim  - 12/2004
• Becoming Dad the Incomparable (A Father's Day Refection) by Dan Coulter - 6/2004
• Being Honest about Non-Verbal Communication Problems with Special Attention Paid to Time Management by Roger N. Meyer - 7/2004

• Beyond Guilt or Innocence - About youth with autism spectrum conditions and their contacts with the juvenile justice system--a journal article for the 2004 spring issue of Leadership Perspectives in Developmental Disability by Dennis Debbaudt. The Forum is a project of the UCE at the Shriver Center, a division of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Technical Support is provided by New England INDEX. This is an Official Page/Publication of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The DD Leadership Forum is funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, federal Department of Health and Human Services. - Spring 2004
• Daniels's Success Story.  A Determined Mother Demonstrates that Full Recovery from Autism is Possible by Mary Romaniec    Mother's Magazine - September 2004
• DEALING WITH KIDS' SETBACKS By Dan Coulter
• Defying autism / Despite disorder, Grandin finds success as designer of livestock-handling equipment - Temple Grandin talks about autism and her life during an interview Sunday in Dodge City. Ask Temple Grandin to describe how she thinks, and she tells you to name something that isn't familiar to her and isn't in the same room. If you say "a pyramid," she immediately visualizes the pyramid on a dollar bill, followed by a photo of a pyramid on the cover of a recent National Geographic magazine. Then her mind conjures up images of the sphinx, followed by the stone lions in front of a New York City library, by Eric Swanson - 12/2004
• Diagnosis, Misdiagnosis and Advocacy--An AS Adult Explains AS 1999
• Different for decades - Geeky. Clueless. Loner. Loser. Just plain odd. All their lives, they have heard these words and society's ruthless verdict that, try as they might, they can never achieve that indefinable state of "fitting in." Finally these people are hearing a new word: Asperger's. At long last, medicine has a label for their quirks. "Before I got a diagnosis, even I thought I was crazy," said one man attending a Middlesex support group. "I thought I was weird, strange. And I didn't know why," by Kathleen O'Brian - 11/2004
• Disclosure of autism information to CDC or any other organization from a student's individual educational records - 2004
• Discovering Asperger Syndrome by Dan Coulter
• Executive Dysfunction - The term “executive functioning”  refers to mental processes involved in goal-directed activity.  The work on this has been primarily done in Neuropsychology but the implications for educators are important. Executive functioning has been rather under-discussed in the school context as yet (stay tuned for my dissertation J) where these issues have been attributed to failures in discipline rather than brain function by Kristine S. Knight
• Executive Functioning - Executive Functioning is the brain's ability to absorb information, interpret this information, and make decisions based upon this information. For example, most people have a routine when they get up in the morning. Some mornings you might look out the window and see something is dripping from the sky. This dripping is interpreted as "rain" which implies a set of rules (i.e., needing to wear different clothes, the soccer game will be canceled which means you need to make other arrangements for an after school activity, rolling down the windows while you drive is not wise, you don't need to water the grass today, etc.), by Alex Michaels
• FEAT of Oregon presents a unique Halloween experience for the entire family! Read more.  Purchase tickets online. 9/2004
• Formal Assessment Tool  to Assess Sensory and Motor Functioning in People with Asperger's Syndrome
• George’s Place - Autism swept him off to a secret world. Could his grandmother find a way to meet him halfway? By Carolyn See, September & October 2004 AARP Magazine
• Good People Behaving Badly / Bad Behavior No Matter What - The following post is a modified, later edited version of a response first sent to a listserv specializing in adult Asperger Syndrome issues.  It was sparked by a lively discussion concerning AS adults caught in criminal entanglements, and the rush to their defense of some individuals in the disability support community by Roger N. Meyer
• High cost education -  "A year at Yale University is cheaper than what it can cost to educate one student with autism disorders for one year in the Bucks County school system. School districts can spend at least $50,000 a year educating a child with this lifelong disorder that impairs communication and social interaction skills," by phillyburbs.com - 9/2004
• How "Educational Assessments" Skew Autism Prevalence Rates - During an Individual Education Plan (IEP) meeting with our local school district, one of the teachers suggest that my younger son was autistic. This surprised me because we had just provided a letter from a well-respected developmental pediatrician that specified why the boy not meet the diagnostic criteria for autism. In response to my concerns, the teacher and school psychologist explained that he met the criteria for autism as determined in Oregon under a federal law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), by James R. Laidler, M.D.
• Is Autistic Artistic? - The pre-Columbian Impressive gallery shows are on display all over New York as part of "Outsider Art Week." This year, the main event, the opening of the Outsider Art Fair at the Puck Building, begins with a benefit for the American Folk Art Museum on the evening of Jan 27, 2004.  In the meantime, a sophisticated group show can be found, as usual around this time of year, at the Ricco/Maresca Gallery in SoHo. One notable thing about the current exhibition is its title, "Autism/Asperger's/Art." By N. F. Karlins - 1/2005
• Life on and Slightly to the Right of the Autism Spectrum by Stephen Shore - 2003
• Listening to Your Kids - How are you listening to your kids?  If you're one of those rare "born listeners" who can get almost anyone to open up, you're lucky. If you're like the rest of us, you can probably improve your listening skills, by Dan Coulter
• Lost Boys - Autism and My Son - They used to be thought of as loners, misfits, even geniuses. Now they're being labeled "autistic." But here's the scary part: The diagnosis may boil down to an excess of maleness, by Lou Schuler / Men’s Health 9/2004 
• New Expectations - 2004
• New UO program trains autism specialists  - 9/2004
• One Boy's Journey Out of Autism's Grasp - "...James has autism. He is one of 150,000 or more American children classified in the last decade as having the once-rare disorder, including 25,000 in 2003. Half a century ago, polio epidemics left perhaps 5,000 children a year with some degree of disability, and the sight of children stricken overnight galvanized the nation. But autism's arrival, and the response to it, has not been so dramatic, by John O'Neil - 12/2004
• Oregon Public Schools Autism Prevalence Report - School Year 1992-2003 - .pdf
• Perhaps they're just wired a bit differently - People with brain disorders seek more acceptance by Amy Harmon, NY Times – 7/2004
• PROMISING FUTURE / With a successful autism program in place, parents fear having their children removed if they don't show progress - SPECIAL REPORT: EDUCATING AUTISTIC CHILDREN.  Parents pour their hopes and San Joaquin County educators pour thousands of dollars every year into applied behavior analysis, an intensive therapy for autistic children that is widely regarded as one of the most promising treatments for the neurological disorder.
• Reducing Special Needs Parent Stress - A lot of parents who have kids with special needs get a free helping of stress every day.  With extra nuts -- and sprinkles.  If this is you, how do you start an anti-stress diet?  Start small.  Take a  break. Oh yeah, right.  When are you going to find the time? by Dan Coulter - 11/2004
• Report on Effective Autism Treatment - Adams & Steward
• Results Falling Short of Claims in Behavior Therapy for Autism - Desperate parents of autistic children have tried almost everything - hormone injections, exotic diets, faith healing  in the hope of finding a cure, by Benedict Carey  - 12/2004
• Revenge of the Nerds  - Once outcasts, some autistics now see their condition as a cognitive gift and even the next stage in human evolution—at the dawn of the transhuman age, who's to say they're wrong?" By George Dvorsky
• Scientists suggest autism involves more than genes - 9/2004 

• Shutdowns and Stress in Autism - What is a shutdown? A shutdown is a particular sequence of behavior which we observed in a child diagnosed as high-functioning within the autistic spectrum. In academic settings when pressured by an adult to perform tasks that were difficult, she became unresponsive, sleepy, immobile, and limp to the touch for several minutes, and then fell asleep in a chair for as briefly as 10 min. and up to 2 hours. These “shutdown” (SD) states were always triggered by social stress of a certain kind and they became more severe and frequent over a period of about a year. Do shutdowns worsen the symptoms of autism ?  By Ingrid M. Loos Miller and Hendricus G. Loos - This article is written for parents.  - 9/2004

  • Shutdown States and Stress Instability in Autism  by Ingrid M. Loos Miller and Hendricus G. Loos - This is a  scientific version of the paper and provides a detailed discussion of the physiological basis and mechanisms involved.  - 9/2004

• Some Extremely Reasonable Suggestions for “Typical” Parents, Family, and Teachers on Behalf of Kids With Asperger’s Syndrome.  By Jennifer McIlwee Myers, Aspie-at-Large
• Teaming up on Bullies by Dan Coulter - 7/2004