Monday Memo - Special Day for Special Kids -- THIS WEEKEND!

Monday Memo:

News for the week of March 19, 2012

Contents

National News

Arizona News

Featured Resources

Events and Activities

Help Raising Special Kids

Be a Parent Leader

Quote of the Week

Join Our List

March 19, 2012

National News

Over 28 million children helped by elimination of "caps"

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report about how people have benefited from health care reform legislation. Under The Affordable Care Act the elimination of lifetime limits, or "caps" on insurance coverage helped 105 million Americans. The report suggests 28 million are children, with the remainder split about equally between adult men and women. The press release can be found at http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2012pres/03/20120305a.html and the full report - with data on each state -- can be found at http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2012/LifetimeLimits/ib.shtml.

Court to post Affordable Care Act case recordings

The Supreme Court will hear argument in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act cases on March 26, 27, and 28. Because of the extraordinary public interest in those cases, the Court will provide the audio recordings and transcripts of the oral arguments on an expedited basis through the Court's Website.

The Court will post the audio recordings and unofficial transcripts as soon as the digital files are available for uploading to the Website. The audio recordings and transcripts of the March 26-28 morning sessions should be available no later than 2 p.m. The recording and transcript of the March 28 afternoon session should be available no later than 4 p.m.

Anyone interested in the proceedings will be able to access the recordings and transcripts directly through links on the homepage of the Court's Website. The homepage currently provides links to the orders, briefs, and other information about the cases. The Court's Website address is www.supremecourt.gov.

Policy and Political Implications of the Supreme Court Case on the Affordable Care Act is a webcast that includes a release of new polling data on the public's view about the case and the health care law. It also considers the case's potential implications for the future of the law and for federal and state health policy. (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Arizona News

Legislative Updates

Tuesday marks the 70th day of the legislative session, and this is the last week to hear bills in committees (except Appropriations). Discussions regarding the budget and the Governor's "personnel reform" package continue. Many believe the session will conclude within the next three to four weeks.

HB 2377 (guardianship; voting) would allow persons under "limited guardianship" to retain voting rights in certain circumstances. This bill passed the House by a vote of 55 to 1, and has now passed the Senate Judiciary committee. The bill is waiting for a hearing in the Senate Rules Committee.

HB 2655 (DD service providers; monitoring), as amended in the House, would allow agencies scoring a 95% or above to reduce monitoring visits to once a year. This bill as amended is the product of extensive stakeholder discussions. The bill passed the Senate Public Safety and Human Services last week, and is headed to a vote by the full Senate.

SB 1258 (third grade promotions; exceptions) passed the Senate by a vote of 29 to 0. As amended, the bill removes the parental exemption from "move on when reading," and every other exemption currently in the law. The current bill has only one exemption, which would allow for promotion if deemed appropriate by a child's IEP team. Without this exemption, a special education student reading far below grade level would be retained at least once. The bill passed the House Education committee, and is headed to a vote of the full House.

SB 1462 (schools bullying policies; definition) passed the Senate by a vote of 16 to 12. This bill was heard by a House Committee, and now is dead for this Legislative Session. The bill would have defined bullying to include electronic communications, and required charter schools to have policies and procedures prohibiting bullying.

HCR 2005 (initiative; periodic reauthorization) passed the Senate appropriations committee by a vote of 8 to 3 last Tuesday. This bill would require voters to vote on First Things First again in 2014. This bill is now headed for a vote in the full Senate, which has approved an identical measure (SCR 1031).

Featured Resources

National Council of Self Advocates (NCSA)

In order to foster the involvement of individuals with developmental disabilities in its work, The Arc has created National Council of Self Advocates and is welcoming individuals to join. Members will be able to "network with others who are involved in advocacy work, educate the public about the issues that are important to people with intellectual disabilities, and become active leaders in their communities. In addition, the Council will also be promoting leadership roles for individuals in local chapters of The Arc and supporting The Arc's commitment to employing individuals." For more information, click here.

Scholarship for deaf, hard of hearing, and...

Hamilton Relay, the telecommunications relay and captioned telephone service provider for the state of Arizona, is offering a $500 scholarship to graduating high school students who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind or have difficulty speaking to assist in their goals to continue their education.

All candidates are required to submit an application, write an essay under the topic of communication technology and provide a letter of recommendation. The application documents and scholarship application can be found online at www.hamiltonrelay.com. The scholarship deadline is March 30, 2012. The scholarship winner will be determined on or before April 30, 2012.

For questions about Hamilton Relay Scholarship Program, please contact Lisa Furr, Lisa.Furr@hamiltonrelay.com or 520.468.7002 (V)/520.445.8373 (VP)

Webinar: Preventing & Managing Overpayments: A Webinar for Social Security Beneficiaries

March 28, 2012 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Learn about the Ticket to Work program
get information from Social Security representatives about what an overpayment is, what to do if you get an overpayment notice and how to avoid overpayments
Speakers will give information on using Social Security's Supplemental Security Income Telephone Wage Reporting System.

Events and Activities

Join us this weekend!!

Special Day for Special Kids

A free event for families of children with disabilities and special health care needs

Saturday, March 24, 2012

10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park, Scottsdale (located on the southeast corner of Indian Bend and Scottsdale roads)

FREE train rides, carnival activities, carousel rides, games, activity booths, clowns, face painting, petting zoo, plus lots of food and ice cream.

Registration required at the event. Questions? Contact Raising Special Kids 602-242-4366 or 800-237-3007.

AZ ASSIST monthly meeting tonight

Monday March 19th

Campus of Ed Options, 2150 E Southern Ave, Tempe

Topic: "Making It Up As You Go Along"

For more information visit http://azassist.wetpaint.com/

Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month

Q&A with ARC staff

This month, The Arc's blog will feature a Q & A to help raise awareness of issues important to the I/DD community during Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Lynell Tucker is the program manager for The Arc's School-to-Community Transition Program funded by the Walmart Foundation. The program supports chapters of The Arc in improving outcomes for young adults transitioning to life beyond high school. Read more.

Diabetes Alert Day

March 27th is the American Diabetes Association's Alert Day, a one-day "wake-up call" asking the American public to take a diabetes risk test. Answer a few simple questions to find out if you are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

http://www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/programs/alert-day/

Autism group ice skating

Skating at the Ice Den

Sun Apr 1, 2012. 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM
Ice Den, 9375 East Bell Road, Scottsdale, AZ
Reservation Required

Health and Wellness Fair

Bridgeway Health Solutions presents the 3rd Annual Disability Empowerment Center (DEC) Health & Wellness Fair April 27 & 28, 2012. For more details go to http://www.abil.org/wellness2012.

To register for Advocacy Presentations go to http://abilsadvocacyevents.eventbrite.com/.

Tourette Syndrome Educational Event

Friday, May 4, 2012, 12:45 pm - 6:00 pm

Diagnosing and Treating Tourette Syndrome and Associated Conditions

For more information, please visit the Tourette Syndrome Website.

CME Program for physicians and allied health professionals (1:00 - 4:15): Register online here.
The CME program will be broadcast live online 12:45 - 4:15 pm
Program for Individuals/Families and the general public (4:30 - 6:00pm) attend in Tucson:
To Register: Martie Fankhauser: martie_fankhauser@yahoo.com or call (520) 884-9091.

For more information: http://psychiatry.arizona.edu/events/TSA

13th Annual Greater Phoenix Autism/Asperger's Conference

March 30-31, 2012

MADCAP Theater

730 South Mill Ave., Tempe, AZ 85281

More information: www.phxautism.org

Friday Keynote Speaker is Dr. Temple Grandin, a highly successful adult with autism, and one of the leading lecturers on how to help individuals with autism/Asperger's.

Help Raising Special Kids make a difference

Marci with Matthew in NICU

Matthew in 4th grade

Marci remembers her experience meeting her newborn son for the first time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). "It was a moment which terrified me almost as much as the trauma of his entrance into this world." As Marci described the first weeks and months after Matthew's birth, she relayed feelings shared by many parents of babies in NICU: "I was utterly lost, swimming in pools of doubt about my abilities to care for this little boy."

It was seven months before Marci found support from Raising Special Kids, and began to get information and services for her son. She considers the peer support and mentoring to be an essential part of finding appropriate medical services for Matthew. "It's our job as parents to help our children get over as many of life's hurdles as we can. The only way we can do that is to be armed with information, support and knowledge so we can advocate for our children. Raising Special Kids provides a huge step in finding that success."

Raising Special Kids needs your help to serve more families like Marci's. Please make your donation today through our secure online system. A donation of any amount is greatly appreciated.

Be a Parent Leader

Raising Special Kids' Parent Leaders share valuable experience and knowledge with new parents. As mentors they build confidence, increase advocacy skills, and provide support that decreases the isolation and grief new parents often feel when learning of a child's disability. Last year, Parent Leaders mentored 360 new parents. 0ver 90% reported they improved their ability to work with professionals, and their ability to provide for their child's needs, services, and care.

For information about Parent Leader Training, contact Janna Murrell at Raising Special Kids 602-242-4366 or jannam@raisingspecialkids.org

Quote of the Week

"We want to thank you for your kindness, knowledge, and inspiration as we prepared for our son's IEP. Your quiet listening and timely comments helped us along. You truly have a gift for advocacy."

Raising Special Kids works to improve the lives of children with disabilities and special health needs by providing parents with information, training and support.