Could AI soon help us understand autistic kids?
Plus: End-of-year giving opportunities; A protest at MD restaurant that allegedly refused service to special education class; and Bahrain may offer early retirement for parents of disabled children
Are you considering end-of-year giving? There are several reputable nonprofits where you can make tax-deductible donations and further the cause of disabled children and their families. If you have others to you like, leave a comment or reply to the email and let me know!
The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers is getting a boost this year from Pivotal Ventures, which has pledged to match up to $1 million in donations. Carter, the former First Lady, started being a caregiver at age 12 and championed the cause of this traditionally female role throughout her life. She coined the phrase: “There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.” Pivotal Ventures is the new nonprofit from Melinda French Gates, formerly of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I’m very excited to see what they do in 2025!
The Family Caregiver Alliance started more than 40 years ago in the San Francisco Bay Area, expanding their reach nationwide in 2001. They host a ton of online resources on their website and fundraise for specific needs, such as counseling for family caregivers.
OK, now you’ll know why I’ve become interested in caregiver nonprofits lately. The Force Foundation is just getting off the ground but we hope to fund Oregon-based legal battles, to educate the public on the complexity of modern social services, to aid individual families, and more in 2025. If you check the “meet the team” page, you’ll see some familiar faces….
Whether you can give or receive from any of these nonprofits this year, I hope you check them out.
Medical Motherhood’s news round up
Snippets of news and opinion from outlets around the world. Click the links for the full story.
• From USA Today: “Parent 'saw red' after disabled students turned away from Cracker Barrel; protest planned”
Parents are furious after school officials in Maryland informed them that their special education students were denied service by a Cracker Barrel restaurant during an educational outing.
The outing was a part of community-based instruction programs that serve students with autism and significant cognitive disabilities at the Charles County Public Schools District's Dr. James Craik Elementary School.
Though Cracker Barrel issued an apology in a statement, Stacey Campbell, parent of a 9-year-old son with autism, previously told USA TODAY she "saw red" after being informed of the incident and another parent organized a protest at the location.
[…]The group did not dine in as the restaurant's general manager told the group that the restaurant "cannot accommodate to your group" and that the restaurant should be removed from the approved list of restaurants for community-based instruction, Charles County Public Schools special education teacher Katie Schneider told parents in an email.
[…]After about an hour of waiting, Schneider said the students were moved to wait outside on the school bus then ate lunch at the elementary school.
In the email Schneider notes that the group was willing to split into different tables and that they witnessed other parties be seated and leave in the time it took them to receive their food.
[…]A protest, organized by Reed, is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 15, at the Waldorf Cracker Barrel.
Forty-five people have responded on the protest's Facebook page − titled #CanWeEatNow − as of [last] Sunday.[…]
• From NOLA.com (Louisiana): “Artificial intelligence for autism? These researchers work with AI to decode children's behavior”
NEW ORLEANS — After 18 years of trying to decode his children’s behavior, 54-year-old Christopher Moore can usually understand what they need. But like a lot of parents of children with autism, he wonders who will take his place when he’s gone.
Three of his four children have autism. Two are mostly nonverbal. As they were growing up, it was often difficult to figure out their cues — whether they were hungry, hurting or bored. Years of different therapies tried to bridge the gap but were focused on the child with autism adapting to typical communication styles, said Moore, who lives in Youngsville.
In a University of New Orleans class on how computers learn to communicate with humans — programs like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, for example — Moore had his light bulb moment.
“Well, I think we got this backwards,” said Moore, who is pursuing his doctorate in computer science after being injured working offshore in the oil field. “And I think AI can help.”
From those initial conversations, Moore and a team of researchers, including UNO professors Shreya Banerjee, Md Tamjidul Hoque and Tracey Knaus, will embark on a project that uses machine learning to analyze the behavioral patterns of kids with autism, from eye movements to gestures.
[…]The goal is to give the parents and caregivers of young children with autism advice on what their child is experiencing, what kind of behavior might come next and how the caregiver can help the child, reducing the frustration that comes with not being able to communicate their needs.
“It’s translating that child’s behavior to language for the parents or caregiver,” said Hoque.
Their research is funded with a $300,000 grant from the Louisiana Department of Health and will focus on children ages 2 to 5. […]
• From The Daily Tribune (Bahrain): “MP Proposes Early Retirement For Parents Of Severely Disabled Children”
A new bill proposed by MP Mohammad Al Ahmad [of the Kingdom of Bahrain, a small island nation in the Middle East] seeks to allow one parent of a severely disabled child to retire early. The proposed legislation would grant this early, optional retirement, subject to specific regulations and conditions to be determined by the relevant minister.
The explanatory memorandum accompanying the bill emphasises its intention to support families caring for individuals with severe disabilities in Bahrain. It acknowledges the significant burden often shouldered by one parent who provides full-time care. The proposed early retirement aims to ensure a stable family environment and enable adequate care for the disabled child.[….]
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