We are excited to announce our third 2022 Parent University webinar class, "Finances, Taxes, & Special Needs - Making It All Work In The End", to be held on Thursday, March 24, 2022 from 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CDT.   

Registration is required.  Please click here to register.

Class description: We understand that often we as parents put our children first. It’s natural. But we need to make sure we are financially secure as well, because without us, our children just might not be ok. We will talk about how your financial planning needs to be different, how to coordinate the Special Needs Trust and the ABLE Account into it, and how you integrate tax planning into your overall plan. There are so many taxes to consider, including income taxes, estate taxes and more. Questions such as, “If I am charging my child rent, do I claim it on my taxes?” will be answered. And we will talk about how the SECURE ACT might change how I distribute my retirement accounts to my children. 

We are excited to announce that we will have three certified public accountants joining us for this class. The guest speakers will be:

• Mary Pat Wesche, CPA, Forum Financial Management, LP

• Marie Stark, CPA, Stark & Basila CPAs PC

• Hal Roseth, CPA, HD Roseth & Associates, Ltd.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are not able to attend this class live but you would like to watch the recorded video at a later time, please make sure to register for this class. All registrants will receive the information needed to watch the recorded video the day after this class, on Friday, March 25, 2022.  

Please click here to view the entire 2022 Parent University Class Schedule.

We look forward to you joining us!

National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month is observed in March in the U.S. This class of disabilities can refer to impairments in learning and behavior, such as autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and impairments in physical and/or intellectual functioning such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and Down syndrome. The campaign seeks to raise awareness about including people with developmental disabilities in all facets of community life. It also creates awareness of the difficulties that people with disabilities still face in fitting into the communities in which they live.

Over six million Americans are said to have developmental disabilities. It is estimated by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. that as many as one in six kids (17%) can be dealing with developmental disabilities. 

Each March, the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (A.U.C.D.), and the National Disability Rights Network (N.D.R.N.) work together to highlight the ways in which people with disabilities unite to form strong communities.

History of National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month:

Before the 19th century, people with developmental disabilities were treated violently and lived in poor, unhygienic environments. Many were ‘passed on,’ a practice of carting off people to be dropped in another town. More awareness about developmental disabilities spread in this century both in England and in the U.S.

Social reformers such as Dorothy Dea became leading advocates of the human rights of people with disabilities. Since it was socially unacceptable for a woman to speak in Congress, she asked another reformer, Samuel Gridley Howe, to present her argument for rehabilitating people with disabilities. The motion was passed in the Senate and the House of Representatives but was vetoed by President Pierce. Even the Romantic poets of England such as Byron, Wordsworth, and Keats, who highlighted the goodness of leading a simple life close to nature, were instrumental in prompting authorities to situate asylums in the countryside.

Other reformers and educationists such as Edouard Seguin believed in the benefits of sensory and muscular training to force the central nervous system to “take over” and perform duties that children were otherwise unable to. Maria Montessori was influenced by his methods while working with children with disabilities and other children. The nature of training and institutions continued to evolve over the century, leading to an adverse development. Custodial institutions started being established by the end of the century, which essentially segregated pupils from the rest of the community. It was only after the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1970s and 1980s that Ronald Reagan declared March the month for National Developmental Disabilities Awareness in 1987.

5 Facts About Disabilities:

1. Eugenics was used as a counter: In the early 20th century, it was thought that disabilities could be “cured” through the application of eugenics, which was later discredited as a movement.
2. ‘Feeble-minded’ was a descriptive term: In the 19th and early 20th centuries, people with developmental or intellectual disabilities were referred to as ‘feeble-minded,’ ‘idiots,’ or ‘imbeciles.’
3. The cut-off age is 22: According to the N.A.C.D.D., in order to qualify as a developmental disability, the disability has to occur in individuals younger than 22 years.
4. Schizophrenia was misnamed: Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler first used the word ‘autism’ for a kind of schizophrenia.
5. 70 is the cut-off for intellectual disability: An I.Q. score of less than 70 qualifies a person as intellectually disabled.

Why is National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month Important:

1. It has a chequered history: While there is much more positive awareness about disabilities now, it has not always been a history of progress. Doctors and educators who were successful in establishing more compassionate conditions had to give way to more rigid forms of institutionalization later. This was questioned only around 40 to 50 years ago.
2. It’s a chance to volunteer: Volunteering for an organization working on disability is a great way to improve our own social and interpersonal skills, even if we’re just doing office work. It is a great way to learn something new about ourselves and about another person with a different lifestyle and differing abilities.
3. It raises our self-awareness: The month reminds us that we’re all part of a broad spectrum of intellectual and physical functioning. It is a chance to be more empathetic and to remind ourselves of the challenges we face in our own lives, regardless of our I.Q. or diagnosis.

For the first time in four years, the amount of money that people with disabilities can save without jeopardizing eligibility for government benefits is rising.

Starting in January, the Internal Revenue Service said that the federal gift tax exclusion is growing from $15,000 to $16,000 annually. That same cap also applies to contributions to ABLE accounts, a special savings vehicle for people with disabilities.

The increase is the first since 2018. It comes as a result of inflation, the IRS said.

ABLE accounts, which were created under a 2014 law, allow individuals with disabilities to save up to $100,000 without risking eligibility for Social Security and other government benefits. Medicaid can be retained no matter how much is in the accounts.

Interest earned on funds in ABLE accounts is tax free and money saved can be used to pay for qualified disability expenses including education, health care, transportation and housing.

Annual deposits in ABLE accounts are generally limited to the value of the IRS’ gift tax exclusion, now $16,000.

However, people with disabilities who are employed can also save some of their earnings in the accounts above and beyond the gift tax amount. For those in the continental U.S., that means up to an additional $12,880 this year, according to the ABLE National Resource Center. Alaska residents can save an extra $16,090 in compensation and that figure is $14,820 in Hawaii, the center said.

Currently, ABLE accounts are offered through 47 state programs, many of which are open to people with disabilities no matter where they live. As of September, ISS Market Intelligence reports that there are over 105,000 ABLE accounts open nationwide containing $937 million in assets.

To be eligible for the accounts, individuals must have a disability that onset before age 26.

New children’s books about kids with autism, visual impairment and other disabilities are being recognized alongside top honors like the Newbery and Caldecott Medals.

Three winners and five honorees of the Schneider Family Book Awards were announced by the American Library Association this week.

The awards go to works that “portray the emotional, mental or physical disability as part of a full life, not as something to be pitied.” They are given annually to authors and illustrators for books targeting young children, middle grades and teens.

In the young children’s category, the winning book is “My City Speaks,” which gives the perspective of a young girl with visual impairment as she and her father take in their city. The honor books are “A Walk in the Words,” about a boy who struggles with reading, and “A Sky-Blue Bench,” about a girl with a prosthetic leg.

The winner for middle grades is “A Bird Will Soar,” which uses poetry and science to tell the story of a boy with autism who loves birds and learns to help his family, an injured bird and himself. Honor books for this age group are “Stuntboy, in the Meantime” about a boy dealing with anxiety and “A Kind of Spark” about a girl with autism who wants a memorial for the witch trials that happened in her town. Click here to read more.

While balance training may not necessarily sound fun to most adolescents, video games typically do. And for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, video games that improve their balance by teaching them yoga and tai chi poses also improves their posture, reduces the severity of their autism symptoms and influences the structure of their brains.

Those were the findings of a study published in the journal Brain Communications by researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Waisman Center, in which autistic adolescents aged 13 to 17 used Nintendo Wii balance boards to mimic tai chi and yoga poses in an on-screen game.

“So many adolescents love video games, right? And there’s been research in autistic youth to show that there’s even more interest in video games sometimes,” says graduate student Olivia Surgent, first author of the study. “It might not be traditionally super fun for an adolescent to do some tai chi, but it might be good for them. So, we’re kind of masking it.”

For autistic individuals, balance control seems to plateau in early adolescence — earlier than their non-autistic peers — which may lead to challenges with posture and balance. Difficulties with motor control, says Brittany Travers, occupational therapy professor and a Waisman Center investigator, are highly predictive of more severe autism symptoms and poorer execution of daily living skills. Click here to read more.

Upcoming Speeches/Conferences/Events for 2022: