A sweeping change is underway across the Social Security system that will affect how millions of Americans receive their monthly benefits, as federal officials move to complete a transition away from paper checks. The Social Security Administration announced that it is finalizing a systemwide shift to electronic payments, following a federal mandate requiring most benefits…

MINNEAPOLIS — Gillette Children’s in St. Paul is trying to boost public confidence in medical research by doing something long considered taboo in U.S. healthcare: paying patients and their families to get involved. The hospital for children and adults with disabilities is one of the first in the U.S. to hire “lived experience” partners who…

Children with disabilities as young as 2 are being suspended and expelled from school often for behaviors that are related to their diagnoses, according to a new report detailing their experiences. In one case, a parent was called to pick up her daughter with autism less than two hours into her first day of pre-k.…

The U.S. Department of Justice says states have no legal obligation to serve people with developmental disabilities in the community, a reversal that advocates say could have profound consequences. The agency’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a 39-page memo late last week stating that neither the Americans with Disabilities Act nor Section 504 of the…

A sweeping new review of prenatal antidepressant use underscores a finding that has surfaced repeatedly throughout the last decade: While parental depression is strongly linked to child neurodevelopmental disorders, taking antidepressants during pregnancy does not appear to significantly increase a child’s risk of autism. In an analysis of 37 separate studies covering more than 25…

BATON ROUGE, La. — Madeline Johnson risked everything last year when she quit her stable job as a speech therapist at a local hospital to focus on her sensory-based haircare business, Miss Madeline’s LLC, which caters to children and adults with sensory needs. Since then, she has come up with an innovative idea — an…

“Color Book” stars actors Jeremiah Daniels, left, who has Down syndrome, and Will Catlett as a father and son traveling throughout metro Atlanta to attend a baseball game. (Nikolaus Summerer/TNS) An award-winning film centering on the relationship between a father and his son with Down syndrome is set to be released. “Color Book” will be…

The Trump administration is making good on a long-promised plan to shift responsibility for many special education programs out of the U.S. Department of Education. The Education Department said Tuesday that it has reached an “interagency agreement,” or IAA, with the Department of Health and Human Services to “support the administration” of several programs under…

BALTIMORE — It took Matt Masone and his family six months to assemble a team of caregivers to look after his 15-year-old son with Down syndrome and mood disorders. The three caregivers hired over the past year gave Masone’s family an element of freedom, allowing it to attend family functions or other events and generally…

SAN DIEGO — Since founding the Civitas Living service agency in San Diego in 2020, David Cross said one of the biggest hurdles he faces is getting employers to take a chance on hiring his vocational ed clients, who are adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. But once employers do take the leap, Cross said,…