Schwallie Family Scholarship Program
The Organization for Autism Research (OAR) is delighted to announce the Schwallie Family Scholarship, established in 2007 to support qualified individuals with autism or Asperger Syndrome in the United States pursuing postsecondary education. Beginning with the spring semester 2008, OAR will present one award of $3,000 in each of three categories: 1) four-year undergraduate college or university; 2) two-year undergraduate college; and 3) trade, technical or vocational school. These will be one-time awards for any recipient.
Any individual with an established autism or Asperger Syndrome diagnosis and who has been accepted to, or is currently attending, an accredited institution of higher education is eligible to apply. The application is available at http://www.researchautism.org/news/otherevents/documents/SchwallieFamilyScholarshipApplication.pdf.
OAR will accept applications in PDF form via e-mail to scholarship@researchautism.org up until midnight, Friday, September 28, 2007. Hard-copy applications sent by U.S. mail or other delivery services must be postmarked September 28, 2007, or before. OAR will announce the scholarship awards in early November and award the funds for the spring 2008 semester.
Financial questions? Dennis Burbridge CPA - dburbcpa.com
Friday, September 14, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Back-to-School Tax Breaks Help Teachers
Back-to-School Tax Breaks Help Teachers Pay
Classroom Costs; Aid Parents, Students With College Tuition
WASHINGTON — With the new school year now under way, the Internal Revenue Service today reminded teachers, parents and students that saving receipts and keeping good records can help them take advantage of various education-related deductions and credits on their 2007 federal income tax return.
“The start of the school year is a good time to remind parents, students and teachers to save all receipts related to tax-advantaged education expenses,” said IRS Acting Commissioner Linda Stiff. “Good recordkeeping makes sense because it can help avoid missing a deduction or credit at tax time.”
Deductions reduce the income on which tax is figured. Credits reduce the overall tax. Though both can lower a person’s year-end tax bill or increase their refund, credits normally result in greater tax savings.
The educator expense deduction allows teachers and other educators to deduct the cost of books, supplies, equipment and software used in the classroom. Eligible educators include those who work at least 900 hours during a school year as a teacher, instructor, counselor, principal or aide in a public or private elementary or secondary school.
Worth up to $250, the educator expense deduction is available, whether or not the educator itemizes their deductions on Schedule A. In tax-year 2005, teachers and educators deducted just over $893 million of these out-of-pocket classroom expenses. Under current law, this deduction is scheduled to expire at the end of this year.
Three key tax breaks—the tuition and fees deduction, the Hope credit and the lifetime learning credit—help parents and students pay for the cost of post-secondary education. All three are available, regardless of whether an eligible taxpayer itemizes their deductions. Under current law, the tuition and fees deduction is scheduled to expire at the end of this year, but the two credits remain in effect. In tax-year 2005, taxpayers claimed tuition and fees deductions totaling nearly $11 billion and education credits of almost $6.2 billion.
Normally, a taxpayer can claim tuition and required enrollment fees paid for their own and their dependent’s college education. A taxpayer cannot take both an education credit and the tuition and fees deduction for the same student in the same year. Income limits and other special rules apply to each of these provisions. Education credits are claimed on Form 8863, and the tuition and fees deduction for 2007 will be claimed on new Form 8917.
IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education, can help eligible parents and students understand the special rules that apply and decide which tax break to claim. The publication also describes other education-related tax benefits, including qualified tuition programs (also known as 529 plans), the student loan interest deduction, Coverdell education savings accounts and the education savings bond program.
Need assistance? Contact dburbcpa
Classroom Costs; Aid Parents, Students With College Tuition
WASHINGTON — With the new school year now under way, the Internal Revenue Service today reminded teachers, parents and students that saving receipts and keeping good records can help them take advantage of various education-related deductions and credits on their 2007 federal income tax return.
“The start of the school year is a good time to remind parents, students and teachers to save all receipts related to tax-advantaged education expenses,” said IRS Acting Commissioner Linda Stiff. “Good recordkeeping makes sense because it can help avoid missing a deduction or credit at tax time.”
Deductions reduce the income on which tax is figured. Credits reduce the overall tax. Though both can lower a person’s year-end tax bill or increase their refund, credits normally result in greater tax savings.
The educator expense deduction allows teachers and other educators to deduct the cost of books, supplies, equipment and software used in the classroom. Eligible educators include those who work at least 900 hours during a school year as a teacher, instructor, counselor, principal or aide in a public or private elementary or secondary school.
Worth up to $250, the educator expense deduction is available, whether or not the educator itemizes their deductions on Schedule A. In tax-year 2005, teachers and educators deducted just over $893 million of these out-of-pocket classroom expenses. Under current law, this deduction is scheduled to expire at the end of this year.
Three key tax breaks—the tuition and fees deduction, the Hope credit and the lifetime learning credit—help parents and students pay for the cost of post-secondary education. All three are available, regardless of whether an eligible taxpayer itemizes their deductions. Under current law, the tuition and fees deduction is scheduled to expire at the end of this year, but the two credits remain in effect. In tax-year 2005, taxpayers claimed tuition and fees deductions totaling nearly $11 billion and education credits of almost $6.2 billion.
Normally, a taxpayer can claim tuition and required enrollment fees paid for their own and their dependent’s college education. A taxpayer cannot take both an education credit and the tuition and fees deduction for the same student in the same year. Income limits and other special rules apply to each of these provisions. Education credits are claimed on Form 8863, and the tuition and fees deduction for 2007 will be claimed on new Form 8917.
IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education, can help eligible parents and students understand the special rules that apply and decide which tax break to claim. The publication also describes other education-related tax benefits, including qualified tuition programs (also known as 529 plans), the student loan interest deduction, Coverdell education savings accounts and the education savings bond program.
Need assistance? Contact dburbcpa
Thursday, September 06, 2007
'Holy Grail' of Hearing: True Identity of Pivotal Hearing Structure Is Revealed
Our ability to hear is made possible by way of a Rube Goldberg-style process in which sound vibrations entering the ear shake and jostle a successive chain of structures until, lo and behold, they are converted into electrical signals that can be interpreted by the brain. Exactly how the electrical signal is generated has been the subject of ongoing research interest.
In a study published in the September 6 issue of the journal Nature, researchers have shed new light on the hearing process by identifying two key proteins that join together at the precise location where energy of motion is turned into electrical impulses. The discovery, described by some scientists as one of the holy grails of the field, was made by researchers at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA.
"This team has helped solve one of the lingering mysteries of the field," says James F. Battey, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., director of the NIDCD. "The better we understand the pivotal point at which a person is able to discern sound, the closer we are to developing more precise therapies for treating people with hearing loss, a condition that affects roughly 32.5 million people in the United States alone."
When a noise occurs, such as a car honking or a person laughing, sound vibrations entering the ear first bounce against the eardrum, causing it to vibrate. This, in turn, causes three bones in the middle ear to vibrate, amplifying the sound. Vibrations from the middle ear set fluid in the inner ear, or cochlea, into motion and a traveling wave to form along a membrane running down its length. Sensory cells (called hair cells) sitting atop the membrane "ride the wave" and in doing so, bump up against an overlying membrane. When this happens, bristly structures protruding from their tops (called stereocilia) deflect, or tilt to one side. The tilting of the stereocilia cause pore-sized channels to open up, ions to rush in, and an electrical signal to be generated that travels to the brain, a process called mechanoelectrical transduction.
Most scientists believe that the channel gates are opened and closed by microscopic bridges — called "tip links" — that connect shorter stereocilia to taller ones positioned behind them. If scientists could determine what the tip links are made of, they'd be one step closer to understanding what causes the channel gates to open. This is no easy feat, however, because stereocilia are extremely small, scarce, and difficult to handle. Several proteins had been reported to occur at the tip link in earlier studies, but results have been conflicting to this point.
Cadherin 23 and Protocadherin 15 Unite to Form Tip Link
Using three lines of evidence, NIDCD scientists Hirofumi Sakaguchi, M.D., Ph.D., Joshua Tokita, and Bechara Kachar, M.D., together with Piotr Kazmierczak and Ulrich Müller, Ph.D., of Scripps Research Institute, and other collaborators have demonstrated that two proteins associated with hearing loss — cadherin 23 (CDH23) and protocadherin 15 (PCDH15) — unite and adhere to one another to form the tip link. Mutations in CDH23 are known to cause one form of Usher syndrome as well as a nonsyndromic recessive form of deafness, and mutations in PCDH15 are responsible for another form of Usher syndrome. (A syndrome is a disease or disorder that has more than one feature or symptom, while the term "nonsyndromic" refers to a disease or disorder that is not associated with other inherited characteristics.) Usher syndrome is the most common cause of deaf-blindness in humans.
"Cadherin 23 and protocadherin 15 have been implicated in a variety of forms of late- and early-onset deafness, and a whole range of mutations can produce different outcomes," says NIDCD’s Kachar, a co-senior investigator on the study. "Now that we know how these two proteins interact at the tip link, we can perhaps predict how different types of hearing loss can take place depending on where a mutation is located."
Three Lines of Evidence
The researchers first created antibodies that would bind to and label short segments on the CDH23 and PCDH15 proteins in the inner ears of rats and guinea pigs. (Both proteins were identified at the tip link, respectively, in earlier studies.) Using green fluorescence and electron microscopy studies, they showed that CDH23 was located on the side of the taller stereocilium and PCDH15 was present on the tip of the shorter one, with their loose ends overlapping in between. The researchers were able to identify both proteins, while earlier studies had not, because they removed an obstacle to the antibody-binding process: calcium. Under normal conditions, CDH23 and PCDH15 are studded with calcium ions, which prevent antibodies from binding to the targeted sites. When calcium was removed through the addition of a chemical known as BAPTA, both labels became visible.
Next, the researchers built a structure resembling a tip link by expressing the CDH23 and PCDH15 proteins in the laboratory and watching how they interacted. When conditions were right, the two proteins wound themselves tightly together from one end to the other in a configuration that mirrored a naturally occurring tip link. The results were surprising, since the scientific consensus had been that these proteins would not interact at all. As with normal tip links, the structure thrived in calcium concentrations that paralleled those found in fluid of the inner ear, while a drastic reduction in calcium disrupted the structure.
Lastly, the scientists found that one mutation of PCDH15 that causes one form of deafness inhibited the interaction of the two proteins, leading them to conclude that the mutation reduces the adhesive properties of the two proteins and prevents the formation of the tip link. In a second mutation of PCDH15, the tip link was not destroyed; the scientists suggested that the deafness is not likely caused by the breakup of the tip link but by interference with its mechanical properties.
Knowing precisely the composition and configuration of the tip link, scientists can now explore how these proteins interact with other components to form the rest of the transduction machinery. In addition, scientists can study how new treatments might be developed to address the breaking up of tip links through environmental factors, such as loud noise.
"Now that we understand what the tip link is made of and what conditions are required to assemble it," says Kachar, "we can study what it might take to rejoin tip links as a possible method for restoring hearing in people with some forms of hearing loss that may have resulted from disruption of the tip link."
Funding of the study was principally provided by the NIDCD. Other NIH institutes and centers that contributed funding were the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), and the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR).
The NIDCD supports and conducts research and research training on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech, and language and provides health information, based upon scientific discovery, to the public. For more information about NIDCD programs, see the Web site at www.nidcd.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
In a study published in the September 6 issue of the journal Nature, researchers have shed new light on the hearing process by identifying two key proteins that join together at the precise location where energy of motion is turned into electrical impulses. The discovery, described by some scientists as one of the holy grails of the field, was made by researchers at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA.
"This team has helped solve one of the lingering mysteries of the field," says James F. Battey, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., director of the NIDCD. "The better we understand the pivotal point at which a person is able to discern sound, the closer we are to developing more precise therapies for treating people with hearing loss, a condition that affects roughly 32.5 million people in the United States alone."
When a noise occurs, such as a car honking or a person laughing, sound vibrations entering the ear first bounce against the eardrum, causing it to vibrate. This, in turn, causes three bones in the middle ear to vibrate, amplifying the sound. Vibrations from the middle ear set fluid in the inner ear, or cochlea, into motion and a traveling wave to form along a membrane running down its length. Sensory cells (called hair cells) sitting atop the membrane "ride the wave" and in doing so, bump up against an overlying membrane. When this happens, bristly structures protruding from their tops (called stereocilia) deflect, or tilt to one side. The tilting of the stereocilia cause pore-sized channels to open up, ions to rush in, and an electrical signal to be generated that travels to the brain, a process called mechanoelectrical transduction.
Most scientists believe that the channel gates are opened and closed by microscopic bridges — called "tip links" — that connect shorter stereocilia to taller ones positioned behind them. If scientists could determine what the tip links are made of, they'd be one step closer to understanding what causes the channel gates to open. This is no easy feat, however, because stereocilia are extremely small, scarce, and difficult to handle. Several proteins had been reported to occur at the tip link in earlier studies, but results have been conflicting to this point.
Cadherin 23 and Protocadherin 15 Unite to Form Tip Link
Using three lines of evidence, NIDCD scientists Hirofumi Sakaguchi, M.D., Ph.D., Joshua Tokita, and Bechara Kachar, M.D., together with Piotr Kazmierczak and Ulrich Müller, Ph.D., of Scripps Research Institute, and other collaborators have demonstrated that two proteins associated with hearing loss — cadherin 23 (CDH23) and protocadherin 15 (PCDH15) — unite and adhere to one another to form the tip link. Mutations in CDH23 are known to cause one form of Usher syndrome as well as a nonsyndromic recessive form of deafness, and mutations in PCDH15 are responsible for another form of Usher syndrome. (A syndrome is a disease or disorder that has more than one feature or symptom, while the term "nonsyndromic" refers to a disease or disorder that is not associated with other inherited characteristics.) Usher syndrome is the most common cause of deaf-blindness in humans.
"Cadherin 23 and protocadherin 15 have been implicated in a variety of forms of late- and early-onset deafness, and a whole range of mutations can produce different outcomes," says NIDCD’s Kachar, a co-senior investigator on the study. "Now that we know how these two proteins interact at the tip link, we can perhaps predict how different types of hearing loss can take place depending on where a mutation is located."
Three Lines of Evidence
The researchers first created antibodies that would bind to and label short segments on the CDH23 and PCDH15 proteins in the inner ears of rats and guinea pigs. (Both proteins were identified at the tip link, respectively, in earlier studies.) Using green fluorescence and electron microscopy studies, they showed that CDH23 was located on the side of the taller stereocilium and PCDH15 was present on the tip of the shorter one, with their loose ends overlapping in between. The researchers were able to identify both proteins, while earlier studies had not, because they removed an obstacle to the antibody-binding process: calcium. Under normal conditions, CDH23 and PCDH15 are studded with calcium ions, which prevent antibodies from binding to the targeted sites. When calcium was removed through the addition of a chemical known as BAPTA, both labels became visible.
Next, the researchers built a structure resembling a tip link by expressing the CDH23 and PCDH15 proteins in the laboratory and watching how they interacted. When conditions were right, the two proteins wound themselves tightly together from one end to the other in a configuration that mirrored a naturally occurring tip link. The results were surprising, since the scientific consensus had been that these proteins would not interact at all. As with normal tip links, the structure thrived in calcium concentrations that paralleled those found in fluid of the inner ear, while a drastic reduction in calcium disrupted the structure.
Lastly, the scientists found that one mutation of PCDH15 that causes one form of deafness inhibited the interaction of the two proteins, leading them to conclude that the mutation reduces the adhesive properties of the two proteins and prevents the formation of the tip link. In a second mutation of PCDH15, the tip link was not destroyed; the scientists suggested that the deafness is not likely caused by the breakup of the tip link but by interference with its mechanical properties.
Knowing precisely the composition and configuration of the tip link, scientists can now explore how these proteins interact with other components to form the rest of the transduction machinery. In addition, scientists can study how new treatments might be developed to address the breaking up of tip links through environmental factors, such as loud noise.
"Now that we understand what the tip link is made of and what conditions are required to assemble it," says Kachar, "we can study what it might take to rejoin tip links as a possible method for restoring hearing in people with some forms of hearing loss that may have resulted from disruption of the tip link."
Funding of the study was principally provided by the NIDCD. Other NIH institutes and centers that contributed funding were the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), and the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR).
The NIDCD supports and conducts research and research training on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech, and language and provides health information, based upon scientific discovery, to the public. For more information about NIDCD programs, see the Web site at www.nidcd.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program
Federal Register: August 31, 2007 [CFDA# 84.021A]
Purpose of Program: The Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA)
Program supports overseas projects in training, research, and
curriculum development in modern foreign languages and area studies
for groups of teachers, students, and faculty engaged in a common
endeavor.
Projects are short-term and include seminars, curriculum
development, or group research or study. This competition also
will support advanced overseas intensive language projects, which
give advanced language students the opportunity to study languages
overseas.
Applications Available: August 31, 2007.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: October 4, 2007.
Eligible Applicants:(1) Institutions of higher education
(IHE), (2) State departments of education, (3) Private nonprofit
educational organizations, and (4) Consortia of these entities.
Estimated Range of Awards: $50,000-$90,000 for short-term
projects; $50,000-$375,000 for the advanced overseas intensive
language projects.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $74,000 for short-term abroad
projects and $104,000 for the advanced overseas intensive language
projects.
Estimated Number of Awards: 45.
Additional Information: Applicable regulations, priorities, and
other information are available in the Federal Register notice.
Additional information is available online at:
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/2007-3/083107c.html
Purpose of Program: The Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA)
Program supports overseas projects in training, research, and
curriculum development in modern foreign languages and area studies
for groups of teachers, students, and faculty engaged in a common
endeavor.
Projects are short-term and include seminars, curriculum
development, or group research or study. This competition also
will support advanced overseas intensive language projects, which
give advanced language students the opportunity to study languages
overseas.
Applications Available: August 31, 2007.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: October 4, 2007.
Eligible Applicants:(1) Institutions of higher education
(IHE), (2) State departments of education, (3) Private nonprofit
educational organizations, and (4) Consortia of these entities.
Estimated Range of Awards: $50,000-$90,000 for short-term
projects; $50,000-$375,000 for the advanced overseas intensive
language projects.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $74,000 for short-term abroad
projects and $104,000 for the advanced overseas intensive language
projects.
Estimated Number of Awards: 45.
Additional Information: Applicable regulations, priorities, and
other information are available in the Federal Register notice.
Additional information is available online at:
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/2007-3/083107c.html
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Ask your Legislators to Cosponsor the ADA Restoration Act of 2007
After a month-long break from Washington, D.C., Congress returns to work after Labor Day. A number of important bills will be debated affecting people with disabilities.
On July 26th, House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) introduced the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Restoration Act of 2007 (HR 3195). Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) introduced the companion bill in the Senate (S 1881). The Americans with Disabilities Act, now 17 years old, extends federal civil rights protections to people with disabilities in employment, services provided by state and local governments, public accommodations, such as restaurants and hotels, transportation and telecommunications. WhatDoYouHearWhatDoYouSay.com strongly endorses the ADA Restoration Act. This legislation is necessary to reaffirm that Congress fully intended the ADA to cover all people with disabilities. The legislation is in response to federal court rulings in which people with epilepsy, diabetes and intellectual disabilities such as mental retardation were deemed ineligible for coverage under the ADA.
* Take Action: Ask your lawmakers to restore the Americans With Disabilities Act.
On July 26th, House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) introduced the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Restoration Act of 2007 (HR 3195). Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) introduced the companion bill in the Senate (S 1881). The Americans with Disabilities Act, now 17 years old, extends federal civil rights protections to people with disabilities in employment, services provided by state and local governments, public accommodations, such as restaurants and hotels, transportation and telecommunications. WhatDoYouHearWhatDoYouSay.com strongly endorses the ADA Restoration Act. This legislation is necessary to reaffirm that Congress fully intended the ADA to cover all people with disabilities. The legislation is in response to federal court rulings in which people with epilepsy, diabetes and intellectual disabilities such as mental retardation were deemed ineligible for coverage under the ADA.
* Take Action: Ask your lawmakers to restore the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Grants - Centers for Independent Living Training & Technical Assitance
*******************************************************************
Centers for Independent Living -- Training and Technical Assistance (Federal Register: June 22, 2007 [CFDA# 84.132B]) ******************************************************************* Purpose of Program: To provide training and technical assistance with respect to planning, developing, conducting, administering, and evaluating centers for independent living to the following entities: Centers for independent living (CILs), eligible agencies, and Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILCs). ... The purpose of independent living services is to maximize independence, productivity, empowerment, and leadership of individuals with significant disabilities and integrate these individuals into the mainstream of society.
Eligible Applicants: Entities that have experience in the operation of centers for independent living.
Priority 1: Centers for Independent Living (CILs) Training and Technical Assistance Center.
Priority 2: Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILCs) Training and Technical Assistance Center.
Applications Available: June 22, 2007.
Date of Pre-Application Meeting: July 2, 2007.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: August 6, 2007.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: October 3, 2007.
Estimated Available Funds: $1,329,327 ($1,004,327 for Priority 1 and $325,000 Priority 2).
Estimated Number of Awards: 2 (one for Priority 1 and one for Priority 2).
Additional Information: Applicable regulations, priorities, and other information are available in the Federal Register notice.
Additional information is available online at: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/2007-2/062207b.html
Centers for Independent Living -- Training and Technical Assistance (Federal Register: June 22, 2007 [CFDA# 84.132B]) ******************************************************************* Purpose of Program: To provide training and technical assistance with respect to planning, developing, conducting, administering, and evaluating centers for independent living to the following entities: Centers for independent living (CILs), eligible agencies, and Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILCs). ... The purpose of independent living services is to maximize independence, productivity, empowerment, and leadership of individuals with significant disabilities and integrate these individuals into the mainstream of society.
Eligible Applicants: Entities that have experience in the operation of centers for independent living.
Priority 1: Centers for Independent Living (CILs) Training and Technical Assistance Center.
Priority 2: Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILCs) Training and Technical Assistance Center.
Applications Available: June 22, 2007.
Date of Pre-Application Meeting: July 2, 2007.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: August 6, 2007.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: October 3, 2007.
Estimated Available Funds: $1,329,327 ($1,004,327 for Priority 1 and $325,000 Priority 2).
Estimated Number of Awards: 2 (one for Priority 1 and one for Priority 2).
Additional Information: Applicable regulations, priorities, and other information are available in the Federal Register notice.
Additional information is available online at: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/2007-2/062207b.html
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Vaccines and Autism
More than 4,800 claims have been filed against the federal government during the past six years alleging that a child contracted autism as a result of vaccines. (June 11)
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Sunday, June 10, 2007
Circumventing an IEP is illegal .........
Circumventing an IEP is illegal
UFT demands proper services for special ed kids
New York Teacher - June 1, 2007
This is part of a series of periodic articles on issues the NYSUT Special Education Committee is addressing
Upholding the force of law behind a student's Individualized Education Program, the State Education Department has ordered a New York City high school to deliver mandated IEP services and not make changes without a review meeting.
In a major win for the United Federation of Teachers, NYSUT's affiliate in New York City schools, an SED investigation upheld the majority of allegations that some 100 students were not receiving mandated services at the High School of Arts and Technology, just west of Lincoln Center. Of the school's 108 IEPs, the state confirmed 93 were not administered correctly.
The UFT filed the complaint in January after numerous IEPs for students were changed last fall after the annual review and without a formal meeting, according to Carmen Alvarez, UFT vice president for special education. For example, in September, IEPs for all students who were recommended for special ed teacher support services were changed en masse so the students would receive less intensive consultant teacher services. An 11th-grade self-contained class was disbanded and the IEPs for the students in the class were changed to call for consultant services such as homework help and test preparation.
The SED investigation included interviews with students who explained they were not getting promised services. Jessica Salgado, who has since transferred to another high school where she is getting the services she needs, said she was promised there would be staff coming into the classroom to work with the students who needed extra help, but no one did.
"I had no one to help me with my work or the things I have a hard time with," said Salgado, after she lost her resource room services. "When I spoke to other students who were supposed to get these services, I found that none of them were getting the things they needed, either."
Salgado said she knows her old school gets funds for special education, but wonders where the money is going.
Alvarez said the union is carefully monitoring the city's shortchanging of special ed students. "From the systemwide dragging of feet on referrals to rewriting IEPs to suit the needs of administrators rather than the needs of students, the current leaders of the city's public schools have consistently failed to provide special ed students with the kind of nurturing atmosphere that they need, deserve and, by law, are entitled to," Alvarez said.
NYSUT has been out front raising questions about SED proposed regulations that would change the process for amending a child's IEP. SED is proposing many changes in special education to conform with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
The reauthorized IDEA allows states to permit changes to be made to a child's IEP after the annual meeting for a school year. The parent of a child with a disability and the school district may agree not to convene an IEP team meeting for the purposes of making those changes.
"We're urging SED to take a broader interpretation of the IDEA and move forward with standards that would give parents and students greater protection," said NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira. "Parents must be provided with adequate information about proposed changes, including an opportunity to discuss proposed changes with the children's special education teacher or service provider."
As the New York City complaint shows, Neira said, some districts may make IEP changes for administrative purposes — not what's in the best interest of the individual student.
— Sylvia Saunders
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