'You Have to Raise Expectations'

PHILADELPHIA -- One of the hottest start-ups in the city sprang up in an unlikely place - a fourth-floor classroom at South Philadelphia High.

In between lesson plans and parent conferences, teacher Michele McKeone has attracted some major buzz, along with sizable grants from the University of Pennsylvania and the Milken Family Foundation, attention from national media, and a start-up-of-the-year prize at the Philadelphia Geek Awards.Autism Expressed, her fledgling business, teaches digital skills to students with autism. It is the first program of its kind on the market, experts believe, and one McKeone hopes will modernize special-education services.

Special Needs and the Vocational Dream

Young Emilio wants to grow up to be a firefighter. Little Emma wants to be a teacher. How do we know? Because we ask them. We prepare them. We push them. We guide them. Is it assumed differently for a child with autism or a child with intellectual disabilities or even multiple disabilities? If those with severe disabilities are capable and only require society to think out of the box, seems the world could make a place for a willing heart.
An intriguing research article coming out in the August 2011 issue of Intellectual & Development Disabilities looks at what is being done to enable the vocational dreams of some special needs kids. Parents need to be girded with facts and data to help them partner early on with educators, counselors, and employers to moving more severely disabled children closer to finding their life's work.

Ozark Center for Autism Plans to Rebuild After Joplin Tornado

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Families whose children get some of the best autism services available are scrambling for help after a prominent treatment facility was destroyed in the tornado that ravaged the city of Joplin last month.
The Ozark Center for Autism, which has a national reputation and draws families to the area, offers hands-on, intensive therapy at an early age. The program had recently added a diagnostic team and was slated to expand with services for adults, including vocational training. But the May 22 tornado that pummeled the city, killing more than 150 people and injuring hundreds, demolished the center.
It has relocated to an indoor skate park on the outskirts of town until it can move to another temporary facility closer to its previous location. But fewer families can easily reach the current location, and while Ozark Center staff members have increased their number of home visits, they are concerned that some children could see their progress halted.