EI Rates might be cut - MORE URGENT THAN EVER!

TAKE A MOMENT TO STAND UP FOR EARLY INTERVENTION!

MORE URGENT THAN EVER!! The DOH in Albany has indicated that they are NOT BUDGING and plan to pass proposed regulations that would drastically cut EI rates, allow para-professionals to replace Special Instructors, and force EI agencies to bill Medicaid directly.

Please visit www.AgenciesForChildrensTherapyServices.org. Encourage your friends, family members, and the families for whom you provide to visit as well - one button emails ALL decision makers. Stand up for EI!!!!

KEEP E-MAILING - Let Albany know that this is unacceptable!

Spread the word!! Find Cooper Kids Therapy on Facebook and become a fan - let all of your Facebook friends know how important this is to you! Encourage them to email decision makers with one click! Share our posts on your profile. The more people who see this and email - THE BETTER!!

Follow us on Twitter - @cktherapy. Retweet our announcements encouraging people to stand up for EI! Get your followers involved!

Visit our blog cooperkidstherapy.blogspot.com - forward the link to your entire address book. Encourage everyone you know to take a stand!

Don't let New York's at-risk children down. Don't let your rates be reduced!!! Let the politicians know how you feel - stand up for EI!

URGENT: The Governor's Budget Proposals and Rules changes from DOH severely threaten services to children in the Early Intervention Program. Among the most detrimental changes are RATE CUTS for services and CO-PAYMENTS for parents. NOW is the time to act!

There is ONE SIMPLE and POWERFUL STEP you can take of sending... an e-mail to ALL decision-makers in Albany by visiting www.AgenciesForChildrensTherapyServices.org. Please take this action yourself, and also urge ALL of the families you serve, as well as ALL of your own friends and families to visit www.AgenciesForChildrensTherapyServices.org to be heard in Albany with ONE SIMPLE STEP.

We must partner to problem-solve, and now is the time for action to support children in Early Intervention.

Save Early Intervention!!!!

One simple step to email ALL decision makers and help SAVE EARLY INTERVENTION. Please visit www.AgenciesForChildrensTherapyServices.org. Encourage your friends, family members, and the families for whom you provide to visit as well - one button emails ALL decision makers. Stand up for EI!!!! Take the time and get as many people as possible to visit!

Article on Stuttering from CNN

Here is an article from CNN on new research into what causes stuttering.

Information for Prospective Educators and Providers

A link to the National Center to Improve Recruiting and Retention of Qualified Personnel for Children With Disabilities Website has been posted to the BEI web page, which you can access by clinking HERE. The Center's website provides information to help prospective educators and providers explore special education related careers.

Interesting CNN article

Discusses evidence that Early Intervention in children with autism is effective . . . . .

"A Trip to Holland" by Emily Perl Kingsley

A Trip to Holland

by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this . . .

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans . . . the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, Gondolas. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After several months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go.

Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland!" "Holland?" you say. "What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy. I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place of pestilence, famine, and disease. It's just a different place.

So, you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy.

But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around. You begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. And Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that experience will never, ever, ever go away. The loss of that dream is a very signifcant loss.

But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.