UD experts in language and communication disorders suggest that parents and speech-language professionals be flexible and communicate about their respective needs and observations as children who receive speech therapy and related services return to school and resume telehealth sessions. They also emphasize that the child’s environment and digital tools can have a significant impact on the session’s effectiveness.
Disability community leaders weigh in on the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s contributions to disability rights. Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion in the landmark Supreme Court case Olmstead v. L.C. The decision established that community living, if it is possible to accomplish with “reasonable accommodations,” is a right protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Brian Perry, a 40-year-old self-advocate who is a six-sport athlete in Special Olympics Delaware and a seven-year Aramark employee, will appear in a National Down Syndrome Society video airing in Time Square in New York City Sept. 20. Perry, who is one of 500 people whose photos will be shown in the video, says he hopes images of himself and other adult self-advocates will help parents of children with Down syndrome “imagine what their children will be able to do when they are grown.”
In the wake of police shootings of individuals experiencing mental health episodes, such as Daniel Prude in Rochester, N.Y., some in law enforcement and mental health fields have raised concerns about Crisis Intervention Teams, a common method of handling mental health emergency calls. The model includes training police officers in de-escalation techniques, but critics say without more fully integrating mental health professionals – and better funding mental health services – it will not effectively deescalate violence between police and citizens.
Parents of public school students gathered outside the Appoquinimink School District’s main office to demand public schools open to allow full-time, in-person attendance. They raised concerns about the cost of child care, the emotional effects of social isolation and the danger of losing learning progress – especially for students receiving special education services. School districts are facing staffing shortages and pressure from educators to remain virtual or use the hybrid model approved by Gov. John Carney.
