By Sandi Rosenbaum, Educational Advocate Families with a child with autism often face severe difficulties with misunderstandings in the community.   A Sunnyvale, CA family is facing a lawsuit by their next-door neighbor families, which charges that the family’s 11 year old son with autism is a “public nuisance” and seeks unspecified monetary damages and a…

More people with developmental disabilities are living to adulthood and even into their senior years. As a child with developmental disabilities grows older, parents begin thinking about how to secure their loved one’s financial future as the care they need can be expensive. While government programs and community resources provide essential help, significant family resources…

By Giulia Frasca, Esq. Spread the Word to End the Word is a movement started in February 2009 in conjunction with the World Winter Games to stop the use of the word “retarded” and its variants. Now, as the 2015 Special Olympics World Games are under way, Spread the Word to End the Word has…

As children with autism reach adulthood, one of the biggest challenges is finding suitable employment. By some estimates, the rate of unemployment for adults on the autism spectrum is 90 percent.

Employment programs for individuals with special needs do exist, and people with autism have shown that they can be some of the most dependable and productive employees. Now, more businesses are beginning to realize that people with autism have unique talents that can be an asset in the workplace.

Littman Krooks attorney Amy C. O’Hara, Esq., presented on the Able Act at Arc of Westchester’s Family Resource Day, a day of transition and transformation including seminars, demonstrations, art exhibition opening and a special needs vendor resource fair. To view our materials from this event, please click on the appropriate link below: The Able Act…

It is important for students with disabilities who plan to attend college, and their parents, to understand how their legal rights related to their disability will change in a post-secondary education environment. In public elementary and secondary schools, students with disabilities may receive services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or the Rehabilitation…

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is a new piece of legislation that was recently passed in Congress. The law is intended to improve federal job-training programs and reauthorizes existing programs that supply federal funding for state and city job retraining programs. It also aims to eliminate overlapping programs to increase efficiency.

New York State residents who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) also receive a state supplement.  For 2014, the maximum federal SSI amount is $721 and the NYS supplement is $87 bringing the maximum SSI benefit to $808 per month.  At this time, New York State residents receive these benefits in one payment from the Social Security Administration (SSA), usually direct deposited into the recipient’s bank account.  Starting October 1, 2014, New York SSI recipients will receive their federal SSI benefit and the state supplement benefit separately.

Families in need of a private-duty caregiver have a laundry list of items to account for during the hiring process. Most importantly is selecting the right candidate, but once that item is crossed off the list, it’s crucial to account for the expenses of hiring this new household employee. When you make a caregiver a compensation offer, it is critical that both of you are on the same page as to what the Gross Wages and Net Pay will be.

By Tom Breedlove, Director, Care.com HomePay, Provided by Breedlove

When a family hires an individual to perform duties in or around their home, they are considered a household employer. The IRS views the worker — whether a nanny, senior caregiver, health aide, etc. — as an employee of the family for whom she works. For most families, having household payroll and tax responsibilities is akin to learning a new language and most have no clue where to go for guidance.