Private Schools and IDEA

 In The Politics of Autism, I write about special education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

From the US Department of Education:

Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA Part B) at Section 612(a)(10)(A) and its implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.130 through 300.144 contain specific requirements regarding State and local responsibilities for equitable services for parentallyplaced private school children with disabilities.1 The U.S. Department of Education (Department), Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) issues this Questions and Answers (Q&A) document to provide State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), parents, private school officials, advocacy organizations, and other interested parties with information regarding these requirements.2

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As explained in this Q&A document, children with disabilities placed in private schools by their parents where FAPE is not at issue do not have an individual entitlement to the special education and related services they would receive if they were enrolled in a public school or placed in a private school by the LEA as a means of ensuring FAPE is made available.3 Depending on State law, private schools may not be required to meet State personnel or curriculum standards.4 Further, children with disabilities placed by their parents in private schools do not have the right to all of the protections under IDEA. For example, IDEA’s due process procedures do not apply to issues regarding the provision of services to any particular parentally-placed private school child with a disability. Parents of such children may only use IDEA’s due process procedures to resolve matters concerning an LEA’s obligation to meet the child find requirements.5 While IDEA provides no individual entitlement to children with disabilities whose parents have placed them in a private school when FAPE is not at issue, the law does require that an LEA spend a proportionate amount of its IDEA Part B funds to provide equitable services to this group of children, which could include direct and/or indirect services.6 In making these decisions, IDEA requires that the LEA engage in timely and meaningful consultation to determine which children with disabilities from this group will be designated to receive special education and related services.7 Therefore, it is possible that some of these parentally-placed private school children with disabilities will not receive any special education and related services.

Antivaxxers Amenable to Russian Propaganda

In The Politics of Autism, I look at the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism.  Russian trolls have spread the myth via social media.  They are also spreading other vaccine disinformation.  Antivaxxers are doing Putin's work for him. 

Kiera Butler at Mother Jones:

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen how conspiracy theories can overlap and collide. I’ve documented how anti-vaccine groups embraced QAnon disinformation about liberal elites conspiring to unseat Trump, and how white nationalists find willing audiences for their racist ideology in anti-mask groups. Over the last week, a new disinformation hybrid has appeared, as online anti-vaccine groups have become a hotbed of pro-Russia conspiracy theories about the conflict in Ukraine—and some of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists are actively promoting geopolitical falsehoods.

Imran Ahmed, executive director of the online extremism tracking group Center for Countering Digital Hate, has been following the convergence of the conspiracy theories, and he’s noticed they share familiar themes: alleged secret government alliances, anti-Semitic accusations, and allusions to nefarious scientists. “There are particular individuals within the anti-vaccine world who are amenable to pro-Russian propaganda,” he says, “and that would include some of the people who’ve cohered around QAnon and Trump.”

One example of this is how an old Trump-era storyline—the theory that SARS-CoV-2 was deliberately engineered in a lab and released—seems to have been reconstituted in a new form: Anti-vaccine influencers claim that the United States owns a network of secret biolabs in Ukraine where dangerous infectious disease research takes place. For them, it’s just obvious that Biden is sending aid to Ukraine in order to protect those assets. This rumor has been proven to be manifestly false—but that hasn’t stopped it from circulating and gaining momentum.

Loneliness

In The Politics of Autism, I write:

Many analyses of autism speak as if it were only a childhood ailment and assume that parents are the main stakeholders. But most children with autism grow up to be adults with autism, and they suffer uniquely high levels of social isolation. Almost 40 percent of youth with an autism spectrum disorder never get together with friends, and 50 percent of never receive phone calls from friends. These figures are higher than for peers with intellectual disability, emotional disturbance, or learning disability. When school ends, many adults with autism have grim prospects. Though evidence is sparse, it seems that most do not find full-time jobs. Compared with other people their age, they have higher rates of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and suicide attempts.

Kana Umagami and colleagues have an article at Autism titled "Loneliness in autistic adults: A systematic review."  Lay abstract:

Recently, researchers have been interested in how autistic people experience loneliness. Yet, most of this research has focused on loneliness in autistic children and young people. We present the results of a systematic review on loneliness in autistic adults. A systematic review is a rigorous way of searching for all existing research on a topic and summarizing the findings about specific questions. We searched for all research published on this topic until 9 April 2021. We found 34 articles that investigated loneliness in autistic adults. This research showed that (1) there is fairly little research that has involved directly asking autistic adults about their first-hand experiences of loneliness (e.g. what loneliness feels like for them); (2) few research studies have used loneliness questionnaires specifically developed for autistic adults (this was attempted in just one research study); (3) collective loneliness (i.e. loneliness associated with how much an autistic person feels they ‘fit in’ to society) seems important to autistic adults but has not been investigated as commonly as other aspects of loneliness (e.g. loneliness associated with romantic relationships or friendships); (4) things that might increase loneliness in autistic adults include anxiety and depression, and a lack of autism understanding and acceptance, for example; and (5) things that might reduce loneliness in autistic adults include having relationships and self-acceptance, for example. In our article, we discuss the kinds of future research on loneliness in autistic adults that might be useful.

Wakefield Time

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.   And among those diseases could be COVID-19.

Antivaxxers are sometimes violent, often abusive, and always wrong.  The ur-antivaxxer of our time is the disgraced Andrew Wakefield.

Anna North at Vox:

As the 20th century wore on, meanwhile, many Americans began to have an increased respect for doctors and organized medicine, said James Colgrove, a professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia and the author of ​​State of Immunity: The Politics of Vaccination in Twentieth-Century America.

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Then, in 1998, British physician Andrew Wakefield published a study of 12 children that purported to suggest a link between the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine and autism. The study has been thoroughly discredited — Wakefield was found to have manipulated his data and lost his medical license, and subsequent research has found no link between vaccines and autism. But as Julia Belluz reported at Vox, media outlets covered the study with excessive enthusiasm and credulity, helping fan the flames of anti-vaccine sentiment.

The Wakefield paper also came out just as the internet was coming into wider use, Colgrove said. It was an unfortunate historical coincidence — a new piece of misinformation being released “at precisely the moment when this new medium for the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories was really taking off.”

Wakefield’s discredited research and the media coverage and online conversation around it helped kick off the contemporary anti-vaccine movement. That movement grew throughout the 2000s thanks to a combination of factors, including a rise in anti-government sentiment and the emergence of a social media environment that tends to amplify conflict and controversy, Colgrove said.

ABA in School

  In The Politics of Autism, I write:

As long as government funds so much research, politics will shape the questions that scientists ask and determine the kinds of research that receive funding.  Politics will even influence which scientists the policymakers will believe and which findings will guide public policy. In the end, science cannot tell us what kinds of outcomes we should want.  ABA “works” in the sense that it helps some autistic people become more like their typically developing peers.  Most parents regard such an outcome as desirable, but not all people on the spectrum agree.  

At Phi Delta Kappan Juliet E. Hart Barnett has an article titled "Serving students with autism: Ensuring a place for applied behavior analysis."

IDEA is clear in affirming the importance of parent-school collaboration in education programming for students with disabilities. And when it comes to meeting the needs of children and adolescents with ASD, the research shows that this collaboration should include not just parents and teachers but also ABA-trained therapists and healthcare providers. While therapists will be the ones to provide the ABA services, the research also suggests that teachers and other school staff should receive some basic training in this approach, so that they know how best to support their students.

But while we have strong evidence as to the benefits of applied behavioral analysis, researchers have not yet provided much guidance on the best ways to manage these partnerships, provide the necessary professional development, and deliver school-based ABA effectively and efficiently, perhaps lowering the cost of these interventions. Whether parents or school districts ultimately prevail in litigation over ABA services, cost concerns will likely remain front and center for school system leaders — not only because they might be forced to provide expensive services but also because the lawsuits themselves tend to be quite expensive (Decker & Hurwitz, 2018). All the more reason for researchers and policy makers to work together to find smart, evidence-based ways to deliver high-quality ABA-based services at a lower cost. All of us — students, parents, teachers, ABA providers, school and district leaders, and policy makers — share a vested interest in doing so.

 [Re-upping from 6/20/21] Justin B. Leaf and colleagues have an article at The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders titled "Concerns About ABA-Based Intervention: An Evaluation and Recommendations."

 For over 50 years, intervention methods informed by the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) have been empirically researched and clinically implemented for autistics/individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite the plethora of evidence for the effectiveness of ABA-based interventions, some autism rights and neurodiversity activists have expressed concerns with ABA-based interventions. Concerns have included discontent with historical events and possible harm from the procedures and goals targeted. The purpose of this manuscript is to examine some expressed concerns about ABA-based intervention and suggest productive ways of moving forward to provide the best outcomes for autistics/individuals diagnosed with ASD. The authors represent stakeholders from multiple sectors including board certified behavior analysts, licensed psychologists, parents, and autistics/individuals diagnosed with ASD.

The 2022 Axis of Evil: Insurrectionists, Antivaxxers, and Russia

In The Politics of Autism, I look at the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism.  Russian trolls have spread the myth via social media.  They are also spreading other vaccine disinformation.  Antivaxxers are doing Putin's work for him.  A recent report added details.

Antivaxxers are sometimes violent, often abusive, and always wrong.

It should not be a surprise that they took part in the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Zach Montague:

The founder of America’s Frontline Doctors, an activist group known for spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories about the pandemic and Covid vaccines, has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge related to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 last year.

According to a filing from the Justice Department, the doctor, Simone Gold, stood by as a Capitol Police officer was assaulted and dragged to the ground in front of her. She then entered the Capitol and delivered a speech in the National Statuary Hall denouncing vaccine mandates and lockdowns.

On Thursday, according to the filing, Dr. Gold pleaded guilty to one count of entering a restricted building, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of $100,000.

Dr. Gold and America’s Frontline Doctors did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment.

Dr. Gold built a national following through America’s Frontline Doctors, which regularly peddles bogus pandemic claims, including promoting the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a Covid treatment in defiance of medical research and federal guidance. Videos circulated by the group during the pandemic spread rapidly online, boosted by conspiracy groups, often reaching millions of views before social media companies could take them down.

Private Equity Investment in Autism Services

 The Politics of Autism includes an extensive discussion of autism service providers.

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project has a report titled "The Kids Are Not Alright: How Private Equity Profits Off of Behavioral Health Services for Vulnerable and At-Risk Youth." 

 In the last several years private equity investment in autism services, particularly in providers of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, has substantially increased. While a handful of private equity investments in autism occurred earlier, 2017 and onwards have seen a flurry of private equity acquisitions.134 For example, in 2018 The Blackstone Group acquired the Center for Autism andRelated Disorders, with close to 2,000 employees, for a reported $700 million. It was reportedly the largest single autism provider deal in history.135 The year before, FFL Partners bought Autism Learning Partners (3,600 employees) for $270 million.136 In 2019 Gryphon Investors acquired LEARN Behavioral, (3,400 employees),137 and in July 2021 Cerberus Capital Management acquired Lighthouse Autism Center from Abry Partners for over $400 million.138

Because private equity investment in autism services is relatively new, little is known about what it means for quality of care. However, the profit-seeking tactics seen in private equity’s ownership of other behavioral health services, particularly in intellectual and developmental disability services, raises concern for how the business model will impact autism services.

• 134 Pitchbook, accessed November 2021. 
• 135 Bailey Bryant, “Bolstered by Recent Tech Investments, CARD Gears Up for Growth in 2021,” Behavioral Health Business, October 22, 2020. https://bhbusiness.com/2020/10/22/bolstered-by-recent-tech-investments-card-gears-up-forgrowth-in-2021 
• 136 “FFL Partners seals $270M SBO,” Pitchbook, December 22, 2017. https://pitchbook.com/newsletter/ffl-partners-seals270m-sbo 
• 137 Aimen Hakim, “Gryphon Investors acquires majority stake in LEARN Behavioral,” S&P Global Market Intelligence, March 20, 2019. https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/ifu2YjUfC-Y8bqIYXsJlUA2 
• 138 Sarah Pringle, “Cerberys buys Abry’s Lighthouse Autism Center in $200m-plus deal,” PEHub, July 22, 2021. https:// webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kpxncoJPWC4J:https://www.pehub.com/cerberus-buys-abrys-lighthouse-autism-center-in-400m-plus-deal/+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

 

Enforcement of Mental Health Parity Law

The Politics of Autism includes an extensive discussion of insurance and  Medicaid services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In his State of the Union last night, President Biden said: "And let’s get all Americans the mental health services they need. More people they can turn to for help, and full parity between physical and mental health care. "

Katie O'Connor at Psychiatric News:

Federal agencies are using recently gained authority to crack down on health plans that are not complying with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008. A recent report to Congress outlines the enforcement work that has been done so far and illustrates the extent to which many plans are out of compliance, potentially cutting off thousands of people from the mental and substance use disorder treatments they need.

The report was issued by the departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury as a requirement of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), which was enacted in December 2020 and included APA’s priority legislation, the Strengthening Behavioral Health Parity Act. The CAA amended MHPAEA to require health plans to perform and document comparative analyses of their non-quantitative treatment limits (NQTLs), which are the elements of a health plan’s coverage that are not numerical, such as prior authorization and formulary design.

NQTLs have, historically, been difficult to identify, and it is challenging for federal and state agencies to determine whether plans’ NQTLs comply with the parity law (Psychiatric News). The comparative analyses are vital for parity enforcement: Before the CAA, plans were not explicitly required to demonstrate and document that their NQTLs complied with the parity law, which was a major roadblock for enforcement.

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The report includes several examples of enforcement leading to expanded access. EBSA discovered that a large service provider of self-funded plans was excluding applied behavior analysis (ABA) treatment for children with autism spectrum disorder. ABA “can improve the trajectory of a child’s development,” the report noted. After issuing requests for comparative analyses and initial findings of noncompliance to some of those plans, three health plans confirmed that they will now cover ABA therapy for autism, impacting over 18,000 plan participants. [See page 21 of the report.]

ASF Website

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the many organizations engaged in advocacy and education.

From the Autism Science Foundation:

The Autism Science Foundation (ASF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting families facing autism and to funding innovative autism research, has announced the debut of its comprehensive new website.

The modern new site is intended to serve as a trusted resource for families, individuals with autism, autism advocates, scientists, service providers, donors, members of the media and the general public.

Highlights of the new site include:

Evidence-based information about autism—what it is, early signs, what does (and does not) cause it and more.

• A roadmap for every phase of the autism journey, from steps to take after a diagnosis to how to support people with autism through adulthood.
• Information about grant opportunities for researchers—and how ASF-supported research has made a tangible impact.
• A research directory that highlights important research studies, as well as links to our weekly science podcast.
• Details about ASF-sponsored events, including the 9th annual Day of Learning on March 30, as well as ways to participate in research.
• Enhanced ADA accessibility and the ability to translate the site into 10 languages.

“I am incredibly proud of our new website, which meaningfully furthers our mission to provide critical support to autism families and researchers,” said ASF Co-Founder and President Alison Singer. “Receiving an autism diagnosis for your child can feel overwhelming and scary, but the information on our new site equips parents with the evidence-based information they need to help their loved one thrive. The new site also continues to offer researchers the support they need to advance our understanding of autism and develop new treatments. We are so grateful to our generous donors for making this project possible.”

About the Autism Science Foundation

The Autism Science Foundation (ASF) is a 501(c) (3) public charity. Its mission is to support autism research by providing funding to scientists and organizations conducting autism research. ASF also provides information about autism to the general public and serves to increase awareness of autism spectrum disorders and the needs of individuals and families affected by autism. To learn more about the Autism Science Foundation or to make a donation, visit www.autismsciencefoundation.org.

Administration Actions to Help People with Disabilities During COVID Recovery

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families. Those challenges get far more intense during disasters.  And coronavirus is proving to be the biggest disaster of all. 

FACT SHEET: Administration Announces New Actions to Address the Needs of People with Disabilities and Older Adults in Response to and Recovery from COVID-⁠19

The Administration recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic has had tremendous impacts on disabled individuals and has resulted in new members of the disability community.

Over the past year, the Administration has collaborated and consulted with the disability community andtaken several key actions to address the unique needs of individuals with disabilities. Among other actions, the U.S. government released key civil rights guidance to protect disabled individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic or any public health emergency; prioritized Long COVID services, supports, and research in the context of disability; established a call line dedicated to ensuring individuals with disabilities can equitably utilize the Administration’s at-home test distribution program; ensured disabled individuals and other high-risk individuals have access to at-home testing; and invested American Rescue Plan (ARP) resources to build COVID-19 vaccine confidence and access among people with disabilities.

Moving forward, the Administration will take several key steps to further our work to ensure that disabled individuals, regardless of where they live or the level of community transmission of the virus, have equitable access to COVID-19 testing, masks, and other critical mitigation strategies. The Administration remains committed to implementing these policies and developing additional policies in close collaboration with the disability community – keeping equity and accessibility at the center of our COVID-19 response and beyond. The Administration will:

• Equip schools with guidance and support to keep vulnerable students safe and learning in-person. The Department of Education (ED) will work with school administrators and educators on strategies they can use to continue providing safe, in-person instruction for all students in their classes. ED will engage the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ensure that its guidance is fully aligned with the latest public health guidance and that schools have clear recommendations and strategies to help protect the safety of and access to rigorous learning that all children deserve. ED will also provide resources for parents who would like additional support in understanding how to navigate their child’s in-person learning experience through local regional parent training and information centers. Parents may find their local center here and reach out for direct assistance and referrals to other organizations, as well as to gain skills to effectively participate in the education and development of their children. States and school districts should use the unprecedented resources provided through the ARP to implement these recommendations and ensure access to a high-quality education for all students, including students with disabilities. Children learn best in-person, and are better able to engage with rigorous instruction and access services and supports tailored to their needs when they are learning alongside their peers. The President has been clear since Day One that we need students back to school for full-time, in-person learning, and thanks to the unprecedented resources provided through the ARP, schools have what they need to safely remain open, keep students and staff safe, and address the impact of the pandemic on student learning and mental health. Some students may need additional protections to ensure they can remain safe in the classroom – including students who are immunocompromised, with complex medical conditions, or with other disabilities that may put them at higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19. For nearly two years, educators across the country have provided services and supports to children with disabilities in ways never anticipated prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Administration is committed to ensuring that children with disabilities continue to receive the services and supports they need so they can reach their highest potential.
• Expand the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Community Living’s Disability Information and Access Line to support people with disabilities who face difficulty using or cannot use a self-test. The Disability Information and Access Line (DIAL), available at 1-888-677-1199, is launching a new initiative to support disabled individuals who need assistance using at-home tests distributed by the Administration or support in finding alternatives to at-home testing. For individuals who can use an at-home test, DIAL operators are available to assist with ordering free tests; understanding instructions for test administration and test results; or providing alternative instructions for those unable to access, read, or understand the manufacturer’s version. For those who cannot use an at-home test, DIAL operators can assist individuals with ordering tests to collect a specimen that can be mailed back for results. For individuals who cannot use either an at-home test or an alternative “swab and send” test, DIAL operators can assist callers with locating their state or local health department and/or aging and disability resources for additional assistance with other testing options that may be available in their community, including identifying potential in-home testing options or assistance with transportation or companion support to visit a community-based testing site.
• Launch new COVID-19 testing guidance in American Sign Language and review all existing COVID-19 guidance to confirm accessibility for all disabled individuals. CDC recently released “How to Interpret Positive Self-Test Results” guidance in American Sign Language (ASL), a first step towards ensuring that deaf or hard of hearing individuals can access key information about how to protect themselves and their communities. CDC is also collaborating with the CDC Foundation, Georgia Tech’s Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation, and their partners across HHS to pursue key improvements for all COVID-19 guidance available on CDC’s website that cannot be accessed elsewhere: information in Braille, ASL translation, simplified text, and other alternative formats.
• Execute a new effort to develop at-home COVID-19 tests that are accessible to all. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s RADx program has launched a new effort to seek both short- and long-term solutions to improve at-home test accessibility. RADx will consult and work with national organizations who represent communities in need of accessible tests, and test manufacturers to inform the modification or development of more accessible at-home tests, including device design, packaging, and modes of instruction, and challenges. Though at-home COVID-19 tests were only invented last year, the Administration’s investment in this technology has rapidly scaled up manufacturing to the millions per day. This effort strives to ensure that all individuals have an option for at-home testing that can be used and interpreted without assistance, and will set the course towards accessible testing in the weeks and months to come.
• Incentivize all at-home test manufacturers to prioritize accessibility of at-home tests. The Administration has published a formal Request for Information (RFI) to ensure the preservation and expansion of current domestic manufacturing capacities for at-home rapid tests and point-of-care tests. The RFI specifically asks manufacturers to prioritize the accessibility of at-home tests for people who are blind or visually-impaired; individuals with physical, cognitive, or other disabilities; and individuals who need non-English language or literacy support. The Administration will use the information gathered in March 2022 to inform near-term investments – towards ensuring that accessible at-home tests are available for federal purchase.
• Request accessible instructions from manufacturers who have received a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). The FDA has reached out to all test developers that have received an EUA to request that they provide instructions that are accessible and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, including alternative text for all images as well as html versions. FDA will use all authority available to receive these accessible instructions as quickly as possible, while working with RADx to identify other wraparound services that can be provided immediately to make existing at-home tests more accessible.
• Distribute masks to disabled individuals through community-based organizations and jurisdictions. HHS will support health centers and aging and disability networks as they collaborate on efforts to distribute N95 masks to individuals with disabilities who cannot leave their homes. As the President announced in January 2022, the Administration is making 400 million N95 masks from the Strategic National Stockpile available to all individuals in the United States for free. HHS is sending tens of millions of free, high-quality masks to community health centers and rural health clinics – organizations that play a critical role in serving communities across the country, including individuals with disabilities.
• Call on states to directly distribute high-quality masks through community-based organizations serving individuals with disabilities. Over the past year, the Administration has also sent millions of high-quality masks to states and territories across the country. We encourage all jurisdictions to work in partnership with community-based organizations to expand access for the hardest-hit and highest-risk individuals – including people with disabilities who may be unable to leave their homes.

Patterns of Identification

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss evaluation and diagnosis.

Amy N. Esler and colleagues have an article at The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders titled "Patterns of Special Education Eligibility and Age of First Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Identification Among US Children with ASD."

This study focused on timing of ASD identification in education versus health settings, including variation by key demographic factors, and the extent to which ASD characteristics are documented in educational evaluations for DD versus ASD eligibility. Educational settings are an important source of ASD identifcation, as they are by law accessible to all children and not just those with access to healthcare insurance coverage. Further, all states offer Part C services that provide evaluation and early intervention services to children from birth to age 3 years. Despite this access, our study found that children with records from education-only sources received their first comprehensive developmental evaluation and were identified with ASD over a year later than children with records from health sources. The median age of first evaluation for children from education-only sources was over 4 years, compared to under 3 years for children seen in health or health and education sources. This late age of evaluation is inconsistent with evidenced-based practices in early intervention for ASD as well as any DDs, which indicate that interventions provided in sensitive periods of brain development in early childhood can lead to positive outcomes (e.g., Campbell & Ramey, 1994; Dawson et al., 2012). The finding of later age of evaluation also implies that it is not educational eligibility practices and the use of the DD category instead of the ASD category that are delaying ASD identification; children were seen for any kind of evaluation in educational settings later than those seen in health setting.

Later evaluation and later identification in education-only sources was a consistent finding across sex, race/ethnicity, and presence of ID. Children with ID were identified earlier than children without ID across all record sources, but education-only sources were significantly later than health and health and education sources. In addition, Black, non-Hispanic, Asian, and Hispanic children were more likely to have education-only records compared to White, non-Hispanic children, which may suggest disparities in access to evaluations in health settings that might have resulted in earlier identification and intervention. Our findings are consistent with past research that both identified relatively later age ofidentification in education settings (Pettygrove et al., 2013) as well as lower utilization of health source evaluations for Black children (Yeargin-Allsopp et al., 2003) and Hispanic children (Pettygrove et al., 2013). In our analyses, age of identification and age of frst evaluation did not differ for health-only compared to health and education evaluations for most groups, with the exception that Black, non-Hispanic children with health-only records were evaluated later than Black, non-Hispanic children with health and education records. Black children with health-only and educational-only records had similar median age of first evaluation. This finding may suggest that, for Black children in our sample, access to services in both the educational and health systems facilitated earlier evaluation

Russian Disinformation Targets Antivaxxers

In The Politics of Autism, I look at the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism.  Russian trolls have spread the myth via social media.  They are also spreading other vaccine disinformation.  Antivaxxers are doing Putin's work for him.

Brian Contreras and Wendy Lee at LAT:

Over the last few days, researchers have warned that President Vladimir Putin’s regime is pushing, and will continue to push, false narratives aimed at justifying its aggression.

At least some of those narratives are finding purchase among an American public divided by previous waves of disinformation, said Graham Brookie, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. “What we see … is not an insignificant amount of organic audience engagement from U.S. citizens that are predisposed to have their previously held beliefs reinforced by Russian disinformation.”

For instance, he said, anti-vaccine groups that are already skeptical of the U.S. government are now primed to disbelieve the official U.S. government narrative around Ukraine.

Russian “influence operations” relying on disinformation “exist at a steady state,” and have for years, added Brookie, but the ramp-up to war in Ukraine has brought “a massive surge.”

Jennifer Granston, head of insights at the social media analytics firm Zignal Labs, said the conspiracy theory that the Ukraine conflict is a government-manufactured distraction from supposed harms of COVID-19 vaccines is one of the disinformation narratives her company has monitored in recent days, along with the claim, embraced by a Russian state media outlet, that the invasion is a mere “peacekeeping mission.”

St. Joseph's University to Open ASD Residence Hall

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. Many posts have discussed programs to provide them with training and experience.  

I also discuss the growing number of college students on the spectrum. 

Susan Snyder at The Philadelphia Inquirer:

St. Joseph’s, home to the Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support, plans to open its first residence hall specifically for students on the spectrum. With a capacity of up to 17 student residents and one student adviser, Saint Albert’s Hall off Lapsley Lane on the Lower Merion side of campus will undergo up to $250,000 in renovations this summer. A large three-story house, it used to be a women’s residence but most recently was used for COVID-19 housing.

“We came to the realization that the residence hall was a spot where a lot of our folks were struggling,” said Angus Murray, Kinney’s executive director. “Academically, they’re usually able to make the cut and succeed, but because of their social skills, they struggle in the residence halls. So we thought it might be helpful to have what we’re referring to as a longer runway as they transition from high school to college.”

St. Joseph’s will be among the first traditional college campuses in the country to offer such an option solely for its students. Landmark College in Vermont, for instance, is for students with learning disabilities and autism, and another group of residence halls in Vermont, Oregon, and Wisconsin, operated by Mansfield Hall, offer housing and services to students with autism from multiple college campuses.

Mercyhurst University in Erie offers apartment housing on campus with most of its students in the autism program living together there. Some colleges have specific floors with resident assistants trained in autism, said Jane Thierfeld-Brown, director of the College Autism Spectrum.

More than 70 colleges nationwide have autism programs, including Drexel, Eastern, Rutgers, West Chester, and several other Pennsylvania state universities in addition to St. Joe’s and Mercyhurst, according to the College Autism Spectrum.