From the Wall Street Journal:

A growing number of financial service companies are springing up to help parents provide for the future care of their children with disabilities. They help navigate the maze of federal and state programs, and assist parents in setting up trusts, coordinating estate plans, and educating future caregivers.

These tasks have become increasingly vital as people with disabilities are living longer than ever before, frequently outliving the parents who support them.

Miami lawyer Barry Nelson (far left) set up a special-needs trust for his fourteen-year-old son Jesse, who has autism. The trust will be funded by life insurance when Nelson dies, and can be used to pay for expenses beyond what Medicaid or SSI would pay for.

Nelson says a special-needs trust “gives me — and it gives every parent — peace of mind.”

A sidebar provides a list of financial planning resources.

(Wall Street Journal photo)

From Newhouse News Service in the Seattle Times:

Nearly 22 million Americans of working age have a disability, but they are only half as likely to be employed as people without. And even if they manage to get a job, they are paid less.

Experts say public misconceptions are often the cause, as employers worry that they might face higher workers’ compensation costs and insurance rates. Employers may also believe (wrongly) that people with disabilities have problems with absenteeism and low productivity.

Applicants are advised to be honest, but not go overboard in offering information about their disability. Tips for job seekers are included.

U.S. News & World Report lays out a list of tips for financial planning on behalf of children with disabilities. Many of these kids will require financial support throughout their lives, writes Kimberly Palmer. Government programs can cover some basic medical care, but people will lose eligibility if they have more than $2,000 in assets. Parents need to use wills and trusts to ensure that kids will have the support they need when they grow up.

Among her suggestions:

• Establish legal guardianship;
• Protect your child’s eligibility for public benefits; and
• Think about insurance policies and special-needs trusts.

Former New York Yankee Jim Abbott, who once pitched a no-hitter, is now campaigning on behalf of a government effort to encourage businesses to hire individuals with disabilities.

Abbott, 40, was born without a right hand and played 10 seasons of major league baseball. Now he’s joined forces with U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), and has been appearing at major league stadiums to underscore the message that employers should look past the disability to the valuable person within.

He’s hoping to turn around some profoundly discouraging statistics. According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, in 2006, the employment rate for people with disabilities was 37.7 percent, compared to an employment rate of 79.7 percent for people without disabilities, a 42 percent difference.

(more…)

NPR features a series on students with disabilities preparing and transitioning to college with the following segments:

Q&A: Prepping Kids With Disabilities For College—NPR

Roger Diehl (photo left), a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has Asperger’s, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and depression, and his mother Sita Diehl, who runs Tennessee’s National Alliance On Mental Illness (NAMI), answer questions about getting ready for college.

Roger emphasizes the importance of focusing on the individual strengths and interests of students while learning social rules. Sita says social support is essential, particularly family and good friends, when considering placement.

See earlier post on Roger Diehl here.

10 Tips For College Students With Disabilities—NPR

Clinical psychologist and author Kathleen G. Nadeau shares strategies from her book, “Survival Guide for College Students with ADHD or LD” for developing learning and organization strategies to cope with learning disabilities at college.

Learning To Thrive With Attention Deficit Disorder—NPR

Emily Algire shares her story of transitioning to college as a student with attention deficit disorder (ADD).

“I think she’s got very good self-awareness” says [Emily's mother Betty] Overby. And all the tools she’s been taught for coping with her ADD are helping her feel strong.”

Editor’s note: Are Emily and Betty any relation to NPR correspondent Peter Overby?

(NPR photo)

From The Wall Street Journal:

Researchers are exploring new technologies to detect autism earlier so that children can benefit from behavioral therapy at a younger age. The reason: studies of children with autism indicate that preschool-age kids receiving intensive treatment show greater gains in language and IQ scores than children whose treatment begins at older ages.

Scientists at Canada’s McMaster University and Yale University’s Toddler Developmental Disabilities Clinic are both working with eye-tracking technology intended to predict the risk of autism in children in infancy. Meanwhile, researchers at at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab are developing specialized software and an in-home recording device to analyze the habits of infants to detect signs of autism.

The new technology is meant to complement traditional behavioral methods of analysis that are still necessary for a proper diagnosis.

Wall Street Journal video includes an advertisement.

(more…)

From American Baby magazine, a Q&A with the mother of 2-year-old Mark Radel, of West Winfield, New York. Mark has Down syndrome, and his mom says he is “within the milestone range for a normal child.”

Mary shares some of the details of their lives. Here’s a sample:

Q. Is there any misinformation about kids with Down syndrome that you want to clear up?
A. When we first found out that Mark had Down syndrome, I read online that children with it don’t walk until age 3, and that’s just not true. Because of a lack of research money, up-to-date information is hard to come by. What you read may be outdated and not apply to what your child will accomplish with the services that are now available. Plus, every child is unique, and you cannot paint a whole group of kids with the same brush just because they all have Down syndrome

Q. What would you like to tell moms-to-be who are having a baby with Down syndrome?
A. It’s a whole new world, but it’s not the end of the world. Love the baby, get to know the child, and don’t worry about his or her diagnosis. There’s a 30-year-old woman with Down syndrome in our support group, and she has a driver’s license and a college degree. When you’re speaking with her, you have to remind yourself that she has a disability. That’s such an inspiration for my husband and me, because we dream that Mark will be that way one day.