New Special Needs Advocacy for Military Families

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FEAT DAILY ONLINE NEWSLETTER Families for Early Autism Treatment

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" Healing Autism: No Finer a Cause on the Planet "

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New Special Needs Advocacy for Military Families

Sunday, August 22, 1999

I am the mother of an autistic 5 yr old girl. Our family resides

overseas in Heidelberg and we work for the Dept. of Defense (Army). We have

many autistic kids here as well as other disabilities. Families range from

military to civilian and other NATO members. While the US Army and Dept. of

Defense Education Agency claim that while IDEA doesn't apply to them, they

have " chosen to honor " this Fed. law.

We have formed a Special Needs Advocacy Group (called S.N.A.G.) and are

using law to make changes in the school district and Early Intervention

Services. Unfortunately, not every district has a strong advocacy group and

so the advances we make here in the Heidelberg District are not applied to

all special needs families overseas.

I know many families with special needs overseas are subscribed to your

list. The Internet is our best, and sometimes only means of keeping up with

advances for the disabled. Could you put the word out for us - that we are

here and we are willing to help others working for the US gov't overseas

unite to get better services for kids?

The Points of Contact are LK Carpenter lkcarpenter@...

or Balla gballa@...

Commentary: It sure is nice that the DOD is granting your children

equal protection under the law by their " choosing " to honor the IDEA. The

IDEA can get expensive to implement and what the government chooses to give,

they can choose to take away. It would seem that children of military

families could use some protection by having the IDEA extend to them by law,

if it doesn't already.

Your advocacy for military families is welcomed and encouraged. Keep

us posted, and let us know how we may further assist. -ls

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editor: Lenny Schafer east coast editor: , Ph.D.

schafer@... CIJOHN@...

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