149 posts
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Federal health officials are rolling out a major new research effort aimed at fundamentally transforming how autism is diagnosed and treated across the United States. The ambitious program, known as Systems for Phenotypic Evaluation, Clinical Trajectories, Response, and Agency, or SPECTRA, will bring together a vast array of biological, clinical, behavioral, and real-world data alongside…
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KALAMAZOO, MI — Scott Lacey does not want to be viewed as an inspiration. He wants the world to think differently. On August 9, the Kalamazoo endurance athlete gave people a profound reason to do exactly that, stepping out of the water after becoming the first known visually impaired athlete to swim around Mackinac Island.…
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For much of her short life, Ruby Hobbs-Leffler experienced the world with an intensity that defied easy categorization. She was a bright, articulate girl with an expansive vocabulary, yet she found herself utterly unable to translate the overwhelming sensory onslaught of her daily existence into words. Bright lights, loud noises, and intolerable textures and tastes…
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For months, education advocates, researchers, and disability rights organizations have harbored mounting concerns that the U.S. Department of Education could allow millions of dollars earmarked for specialized educational research to quietly lapse. Now, as the looming fiscal deadline approaches, a federal judge is stepping directly into the fray to demand accountability and transparency from the…
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In the current academic climate, the integration of artificial intelligence into higher education is frequently treated as an absolute inevitability. Yet, while institutional debates and administrative roundtables often center on traditional concerns like academic integrity, data privacy, and automated grading systems, a far more fundamental and structural shift is quietly occurring across campuses worldwide. A…
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DALLAS — For Shundelon Ross, the prospect of a school voucher felt like the turning point she had been searching for. Her 5-year-old son, who is on the autism spectrum, had already cycled through seven different educational environments. Each time, she held onto the hope that the next one would finally be the right fit.…
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FORT WORTH, Texas — State agencies in Texas have unveiled a comprehensive new initiative aimed at dramatically improving access to early childhood settings for children with disabilities and developmental delays. However, early childhood experts, parents, and policy advocates caution that while the roadmap is a promising and overdue acknowledgement of systemic failures, it must be…
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In an era where educational technology is often synonymous with progress, a persistent question frequently arises from parents and educators interacting with the team at Speech and Language Kids: "Where are the interactive digital games we can pull up on our screens for the children?" It is a logical expectation in a world dominated by…
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In the current edition of the Aotearoa New Zealand Autism Guideline, the existence of Autistic culture is not mentioned with a single word. Despite major updates that reflect a growing awareness of neurodiversity—including ongoing advocacy toward a comprehensive ban on Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and related forms of conversion therapy—understanding Autistic people and Autistic culture…
