Most Disabled Oregon Preschoolers Now Learn in Inclusive Classrooms
Plus: Therapy cuts in Georgia, rare disease research losses, what public services make possible, Louisiana respite barriers, the Special Olympics’ roots and Denise Richards on disability parenting.
Medical Motherhood’s news round up
Snippets of news and opinion from outlets around the world. Click the links for the full story.
• From The Oregonian: “Most Oregon preschoolers with disabilities now learn alongside non-disabled peers”
Oregon now includes most preschoolers with disabilities or special health needs in regular preschools or other early learning settings, a big switch from just five years ago, when nearly two-thirds of such children attended programs exclusively for kids with special needs.
State education leaders celebrated that win recently, noting it was the result of a years-long drive to allow young children of differing abilities to learn and develop side by side.
[…]The number of Oregon children with disabilities taking part in inclusive early learning programs grew for four straight years, with roughly 2,100 more children served in those settings in 2024-25 than in 2020-21, a 76% increase, state officials said. That means 57% of young children with disabilities were educated alongside non-disabled peers in 2025, up from 38% in 2020, they said.[…]
• From Atlanta News First: “Georgia therapy clinic closing as Medicaid company cuts reimbursement rates by 20%”
Hundreds of special needs children in Georgia may lose access to critical therapy services as a major Medicaid company cuts reimbursement rates to providers.
Aileen Deogracias is the owner of Therapy Works, a physical, occupational and speech therapy clinic for children. She said her clinic will close May 31, 2026, because of the cuts. “We’re closing our doors because we’re up for renewal and we can’t afford it anymore,” she said.
The toys that have helped hundreds of children learn to walk, talk and grow are now being packed into boxes.
[…]Of 159 Georgia counties, 40 do not have any speech, physical or occupational therapists in the Medicaid network. That means at least 25% of the state has medical deserts for low-income families seeking special needs services.[…]
• From Pulitzer Center: “Number 62: Families Rally Amid Cuts to Rare-Diseases Research”
The developmentally disabled community is at a precipice. Trump’s cuts to special education, Medicare, and scientific research have trickled down to impact the most vulnerable. This reporting project blends the personal with the political. The reporter’s own child was number 62 in the world diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Nicolaides-Baraitser syndrome (NCBRS). Her “special” school in California, her summer “crip” camps, her art program—spaces where this intellectually disabled teen thrives—are threatened.
Globally, it’s a similar story: research grants disappearing, loss of support services, severe shortage of trained professionals. Families being asked if they want to institutionalize their young adult. “It feels like we’re back in the early 1900s,” a British father said, describing the options presented to him when his son, number seven in the world with NCBRS, turned 18.
This project uses one rare syndrome to illuminate challenges for people with developmental disabilities. The 330 NCBRS youth are medical mysteries scattered around the globe. No matter their country, from those with decent welfare-safety nets, to those with none, these kids are falling through social, educational, and medical cracks. […]
• From The Journal (Ireland): “Mother and carer: You don’t appreciate public services until your child needs them to survive”
When you become the parent of a disabled child, you start noticing things most people never think about.
[…]You begin noticing the invisible architecture of a society.
And strangely, I think one of the biggest things I have learned since moving to Ireland is that people often do not realise the value of something until they have experienced life without it.
[…]I grew up in Zambia and later raised my son Oliver there during his early years. Oliver has cerebral palsy. When we lived in Zambia, he had a stroller.
[…]At the time, living there, I think I simply accepted that reality because it was normal to us. Human beings adapt incredibly quickly to whatever environment they are in.
Then we moved to Ireland.
And suddenly, we entered a society where some of that weight was being collectively carried.[…]
• From Stossel TV via Reason Magazine: “This Social Worker Wants To Help Kids With Special Needs. Louisiana Won’t Let Her.”
[…]Bizarrely, in many states, if you want to start a business, you first must convince bureaucrats that your business is “needed.”
Four years ago, Louisiana blocked social worker Ursula Newell-Davis from helping kids with special needs. Bureaucrats said she hadn’t proved her business was needed.
[…]Thirty-five states and Washington, D.C. have (appropriately named) “CON” laws requiring entrepreneurs to get a Certificate of Need before opening certain businesses.
[…]Now, four years later, [as her] latest lawsuit winds its way through America’s bureaucratic courts, and bureaucrats still won’t let Newell-Davis do respite work.
But good news: Newell-Davis now helps people with special needs by employing them at her new fried chicken restaurant.
At least Louisiana’s government doesn’t get to decide if a new restaurant is “needed.”[…]
• From The New York Times: “Frank Hayden, Who Led Global Growth of the Special Olympics, Dies at 96”
Frank J. Hayden, whose research showing that intellectually disabled children benefited from athletics led members of the Kennedy family to ask for his help staging the first Special Olympics, and who then contributed to the Games’ astounding growth into a global movement, died on May 16 in Oakville, Ontario, near Toronto. He was 96.
[…]The Special Olympics, now an international juggernaut that provides training and competition for more than five million athletes from 200 countries each year, has made a significant contribution to the struggle for human rights, helping to fight the stigma against people with disabilities.
The roots of the Games lie in Dr. Hayden’s groundbreaking work. A professor of physical education, he published research in 1964 showing that Toronto schoolchildren with intellectual disabilities got stronger and fitter with physical training. His findings knocked down common views that people with such disabilities were inherently weak, inactive and overweight.[…]
• From USA Today: “Denise Richards opens up about parenting 'special-needs' daughter”
Growing up is never easy for any parent, and Denise Richards is no exception.
The actress and reality-TV star, whose daughter Eloise is disabled, opened up about her parenting challenges in an Instagram post Sunday, May 24, which coincided with the teen’s 15th birthday.
[…]"I can't believe 15 [years] old already," Richards, 55, wrote alongside a compilation video of Eloise. "Having a special-needs child in a lot of ways gets more challenging, with me worrying more about her future the older she gets."
[…]Eloise has the condition Monosomy 8p, a rare chromosomal disorder that is caused by deletion, or monosomy, of a portion of the eighth chromosome, according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders.[…]
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