T-Shirts from Special Friendship United

“Special Friendship United” is putting the ART of their Special Needs Children on T-Shirts.

 

Cost for each T-Shirt is only $10.00.  Funds obtained will be used to provide therapies not covered by Medicaid, as well as cover other expenses that the parents cannot afford for the wellness of their children.

For orders please call:

718-679-8013

347-369-0502

Or email:

specialfriendshipunited@yahoo.com

Available in S,M,L,XL

Colors, White & Gray

 

 

Available in S,M,L,XL

Colors, White & light Blue

UCP Travel Training

Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State

and

MTA New York City Transit

ANNOUNCE…

A FREE Travel Training Program

for qualified Access-A-Ride Customers

Through personalized one-on-one instruction, trainees will learn to travel

independently on one round trip bus or subway route to a destination of

their choice in New York City. Travel Training can enable people with

disabilities to safely and confidently travel by bus or subway in New York

City’s five boroughs as well allowing greater flexibility in making and

changing travel plans.

Trainees will master the following skills:

· Traveling safely at all times

· Planning a trip (use of schedules, signs, telephone, information, services

   and landmarks)

· Remembering and following directions

· Requesting information/help from appropriate sources

To apply or for information

Call 212-947-5770 ext.627 or

Email traveltraining@cpofnys.org

February Happenings

On February 16 two staff members from Sinergia, Myrta Cuadra-Lash and Sandra Ruiz attended the NYS Assoc. of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators Conference in Albany.  The Gouverneur Parents Assoc. presented its 16^th Annual Seminar: Parents & Consumers: identifying Needs and Finding Alternatives. The NYS OPWDD Commissioner Courtney Burke addressed the issues associated with the transformation of the systems of services for people with developmental disabilities. The next day they visited the Governor’s Mansion for a reception honoring former Mayor David Dinkins and Governor Cuomo announced that the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was on display in the War Room of the Capital.

On February 24 Senator Kirsten Gillibrand addressed the East Harlem community at Casabe Houses in East Harlem.  Pictured are Sinergia Board members Johnny Rivera, Josefina Rosario, Senator Gillibrand and E.D., Myrta Cuadra-Lash.

Spanish Language Support Group for Males Who are Raising Children with Special Needs

Wednesday April 3, 2013, from 5:30 PM-8:30 PM was a very special day at the Metropolitan Parent Center because of the launching of the Spanish language Fathers Forum. Six fathers, from the boroughs of the Bronx and Queens, were present for the first meeting of a unique support group for males who speak only Spanish and who are raising children with disabilities.

The group is a result of collaboration between the Metropolitan Parent Center and the organization, Fathers to Fathers of New York, that provides an English language support group for males who are raising children with special needs. You can learn more about them by visiting their website at www.FathersForumNY.com. 

These fathers were invited to this event, which was offered free of charge so they can share their stories regarding what it is like to raise a child with special needs. There were two fathers present who spoke in front of the group and shared their stories; they spoke eloquently and with passion about the challenges they were confronted with. They stated that they did not receive much support from family members that they struggled to get and keep jobs in order to try to address the needs of their children. They felt alone and isolated because they were living in communities that were less than supportive they spoke of the isolation they felt, that they were alone with no connection to a support system. However, their stories were not just about struggles, frustration and despair. They shared wonderful and illuminating comments such as how they learned about patience, compassion, acceptance and other gifts that were bestowed on them by their children. They expressed their relationships with their children as being something precious and how they view life with their children as treasured moments. After the guest speakers shared their stories, the floor was opened to comments and discussions by the other group members. 

All of the participants praised the opportunity of being able to get together and share their stories, challenges, dreams and hopes for their children. They all expressed gratitude that they had a place where they can freely discuss anything they wished and are looking forward to the next meeting of the Fathers Forum in Spanish. This support group will present fathers and other males with an opportunity to create and grow a community of Latino Fathers who will then reach out to other men who are raising children with special needs and invite them to join this unique group. The next meeting will be tentatively scheduled to take place in the fall of 2013. We are hoping that there will be more males present at the next meeting, so we can proceed to grow this unique community.

April is Autism Awareness Month

 April is Autism Awareness Month! This month provides us with a good opportunity to review some important facts about autism, and to understand how autism can impact us in our daily lives in our communities.  Autism prevalence is now one in every 88 children in the United States. This is a tenfold increase in prevalence over the past 40 years!

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is nearly four times more common in boys than girls. It is estimated that 1 in 54 boys and 1 in 252 girls are diagnosed with autism in the United States. This means that more children are affected by autism than with Down syndrome, AIDS, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, diabetes and cerebral palsy combined.  Nearly 2 million children in the U.S. and likely tens of millions worldwide are affected by an ASD.  (http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2012/04/23/april-is-autism-awareness-month) 

Autism spectrum disorders are a group of biologically based neurodevelopmental disorders that affect a child’s behavior and social and communication skills. These disorders can typically be seen before the age of three. For most children, these conditions are chronic and require lifelong management. (Rosenblatt, A. & Carbone, P. Eds. Autism Spectrum Disorders: What Every Parent Needs to Know, American Academy of Pediatrics, 2013)

Sinergia’s Autism Initiative provides parents of a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with educational and informational workshops as well as support.  We provide outreach to New York City’s underserved and Latino parents of children with autism who need information, awareness, and the opportunity to participate in a support group that addresses the specific needs of Spanish speaking families.  

For more information about the services provided through this initiative, please contact Dr. Bernice Moro at bmoro@sinergiany.org. 

BUDGET CUTS TO DD SERVICES

The New York State proposal to implement budget cuts because of the $1.1 billion reduction in Federal Medicaid funding drew a great deal of opposition from key stake holders statewide i.e., nonprofit organizations, consumers and families and the media.  Unfortunately, the nonprofit agencies will bear the exclusive brunt of the cuts.  After the provider community and individuals with disabilities and family members voiced much concern to the 6% cuts, the Senate and Assembly proposed a full restoration of the cuts.  However an agreement was reached that a 4.5% cut would be instituted to non profit providers.   Components of the budget reduction implementation plan aims to recover $40 million from OMIG audit recoveries.  An anticipated $ 32 million cost savings from diverting “institutional” placements, such as residential schools, $6.6 Million in reduced room and board supplemental payments, 11% cut to agencies with “high” surpluses, $2.5 million in reduction of administrative portion of residential and Day Habilitation rates, and $3 million in savings through the transition of individuals from sheltered workshops to integrated community employment.

Along with the elimination of the COLAs for the past five years and the previous drastic cuts experienced since the fiscal crisis, these reductions will hurt all providers, however it will particularly hurt many of the smaller, multicultural agencies throughout New York State.  These smaller, non-traditional agencies which have a vital presence in our communities and provide invaluable access to underserved populations will be the most affected.  Some will not survive, despite the quality of their services or the excellence of their staff.   Consequently, communities of color and those individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families with limited English access who are grossly underserved will have  even less access to services in their already disadvantaged neighborhoods.  We hope we are proven wrong, but the future landscape does not look or feel promising.  Nevertheless, Sinergia will continue to be true to its mission of enhancing the wellbeing of individuals and families who have traditionally experienced difficulties in accessing human services.  We will continue to focus and serve consumers and families in low-income communities and to provide comprehensive services in a culturally and language appropriate manner across the individuals life span. 

The Bus Strike Brings Hardship to Special Ed Kids

Ms. R. has a 9 year old son with Down syndrome. He attends a District 75 school and the travel time to school and back is more than an hour. They have been hit hard by the bus strike which began on January 16th. Because of the lack of transportation, she has kept her son home on some days and has tried using Access-a-Ride on other days.

The school bus strike resulted from a dispute between Mayor Bloomberg and the school bus company owners. Mayor Bloomberg states that school bus transportation costs are way out of control, and is asking for a more competitive bidding process without a job-protection clause that will save the city millions of dollars. The Bloomberg administration wants to request bids for new contracts for 1,100 special-education routes. Bus drivers and matron’s fear that they will lose their jobs if their companies lose their bids and are demanding that the Bloomberg administration guarantee senior drivers will have a job even if the city changes school bus companies. The administration’s position is that they do not have to be legally able to provide employment protection.

It costs about $7,000 per student to transport children every year, but the Department of Education spends about $13,000 a year to bus each special education child annually. The strike has shut down about 5,000 of the city’s 7,700 school bus routes and as a result, more than 110,000 children have had to find new ways to get to their schools. No one has been more profoundly affected than the tens of thousands of special needs children and their parents, who tend to travel the longest distances.

On one recent rainy day, Ms. R. was forced to use public transport when she just missed the Access-a-Ride bus she requested. She started to run after the bus in an attempt to stop it and get her son and herself on the bus. Using public transport places a strong hardship on her because her son occasionally strikes out and hits other passengers. On one occasion, he hit a man who in turn pulled at the young boy’s jacket, which caused a commotion on the bus. The parent is Spanish-speaking and has very little English speaking skills. The school’s parent coordinator does not speak English, but somehow managed to communicate to the parent that she can use a taxi to bring her child to school. The parent however, is unable to use a taxi because she cannot afford the $50 round trip and/or to wait for a reimbursement from the Department of Education.

The Bloomberg administration states that they are offering other options to travel to schools including providing students and parents with Metro cards to use for subway and bus transportation to schools. For parents with cars, the Department of Education will pay them .55 cents per mile for travel to and from school. Some parents said the city has offered to reimburse them up to $200 a day for car services, but many said they did not have the money to lay out.

For more information on how parents can get their children to schools, including reimbursement forms, please visit the NYC Department of Education’s Office Of Pupil Transportation website. In addition, the Department of Education has a website that discusses transportation options for children who have an IEP.
Unfortunately, there appears to be no quick end to the school bus strike and every day that passes without a resolution brings further hardship and misery to all those affected, but particularly to the parents and their children with special needs.                                                                                            (Photo)