Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with medical costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and personal care services. The Health Insurance Association of America describes Medicaid as "a government insurance program for persons of all ages whose income and resources are insufficient to pay for health care." Medicaid is the largest source of funding for medical and health-related services for people with low income in the United States, providing free health insurance to 74 million low-income and disabled people as of 2017. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments and managed by the states, with each state currently having broad leeway to determine who is eligible for its implementation of the program. States are not required to participate in the program, although all have since 1982. Medicaid recipients must be U.S. citizens or qualified non-citizens, and may include low-income adults, their children, and people with certain disabilities. Poverty alone does not necessarily qualify someone for Medicaid.
The United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), also known as the Health Department, is a cabinet-level department of the U.S. federal government with the goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America". Before the separate federal Department of Education was created in 1979, it was called the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW).
Psychological testing is the administration of psychological tests, which are designed to be "an objective and standardized measure of a sample of behavior". The term sample of behavior refers to an individual's performance on tasks that have usually been prescribed beforehand. The samples of behavior that make up a paper-and-pencil test, the most common type of test, are a series of items. Performance on these items produce a test score. A score on a well-constructed test is believed to reflect a psychological construct such as achievement in a school subject, cognitive ability, aptitude, emotional functioning, personality, etc. Differences in test scores are thought to reflect individual differences in the construct the test is supposed to measure. The science behind psychological testing is psychometrics.
The Montessori Method of Education, developed by Maria Montessori, is a child-centered educational approach based on scientific observations of children. Montessori's method has been used for over 100 years in many parts of the world.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve individual outcomes in education. The Act required states to develop assessments in basic skills. To receive federal school funding, states had to give these assessments to all students at select grade levels.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed as a part of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty" and has been the most far-reaching federal legislation affecting education ever passed by the United States Congress. The act was an extensive statute that funded primary and secondary education. It also emphasizes equal access to education and establishes high standards and accountability.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a four-part (A-D) piece of American legislation that ensures students with a disability are provided with Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that is tailored to their individual needs. IDEA was previously known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) from 1975 to 1990. In 1990, the United States Congress reauthorized EHA and changed the title to IDEA. Overall, the goal of IDEA is to provide children with disabilities the same opportunity for education as those students who do not have a disability.
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was enacted by the United States Congress in 1975. This act required all public schools accepting federal funds to provide equal access to education and one free meal a day for children with physical and mental disabilities. Public schools were required to evaluate children with disabilities and create an educational plan with parent input that would emulate as closely as possible the educational experience of non-disabled students. The act was an amendment to Part B of the Education of the Handicapped Act enacted in 1966.
Early childhood intervention (ECI) is a support and educational system for very young children who have been victims of, or who are at high risk for child abuse and/or neglect as well as children who have developmental delays or disabilities. Some states and regions have chosen to focus these services on children with developmental disabilities or delays, but Early Childhood Intervention is not limited to children with these disabilities.
Special education programs in the United States did not always exist."The idea of excluding students with any disability from public school education can be traced back to 1893, when the Massachusetts Supreme Court expelled a student merely due to poor academic ability". This exclusion would be the basis of education for all individuals with special needs for years to come. In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education sparked the belief that the right to a public education applies to all individuals regardless of race, gender, or disability. Finally, special education programs in the United States were made mandatory in 1975 when the United States Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) "(sometimes referred to using the acronyms EAHCA or EHA, or Public Law 94-142) was enacted by the United States Congress in 1975, in response to discriminatory treatment by public educational agencies against students with disabilities." The EAHCA was later modified to strengthen protections to students with disabilities and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA requires states to provide special education and related services consistent with federal standards as a condition of receiving federal funds.
The Baby Doe Law or Baby Doe Amendment is an amendment to the Child Abuse Law passed in 1984 in the United States that sets forth specific criteria and guidelines for the treatment of seriously ill and/or disabled newborns, regardless of the wishes of the parents.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is United States federal law enacted in 1990 that governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education, and related services to children with disabilities. In the state of Hawaii, along with similar state-level legislation, it has been implemented in an Early Intervention program for qualifying children.
Education in Belize is governed by the Education Act.
In the United States education system, School Psychological Examiners assess the needs of students in schools for special education services or other interventions. The post requires a relevant postgraduate qualification and specialist training. This role is distinct within school psychology from that of the psychiatrist, clinical psychologist and psychometrist.
Social programs in the United States are welfare subsidies designed to meet needs of the American population. Federal and state welfare programs include cash assistance, healthcare and medical provisions, food assistance, housing subsidies, energy and utilities subsidies, education and childcare assistance, and subsidies and assistance for other basic services. Private provisions from employers, either mandated by policy or voluntary, also provide similar social welfare benefits.
Anti-discrimination laws in Brazil are present in the Constitution of Brazil, in the labour law, in the child and adolescent law, in the ageing law, and in the penal code.
Originally created as the Bureau of the Education of the Handicapped, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is part of the U.S. Department of Education. OSEP provides leadership and support for professionals working with children with disabilities. Another critical role of OSEP is to protect the educational rights of children with disabilities from age three through twenty-one. OSEP is supervised by the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Education through the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).
Undocumented youth are young people living in the United States without U.S. citizenship or other legal immigration status. Undocumented immigrants are sometimes referred to as being unauthorized, out of status, or unlawfully present; the term "illegal" when applied to people is considered by some a slur. An estimated 1.1 million undocumented minors resided in the U.S. as of 2010. Undocumented youth make up sixteen percent of the undocumented population as a whole. Undocumented students are school-aged immigrants who entered the United States without inspection or overstayed their visas and are present in the United States with or without their parents. They face unique legal uncertainties and limitations within the United States educational system. These students are often called the 1.5 generation, as they have spent a majority of their lives in the United States. Although some undocumented 1.5 generation students find their way to legal status, many remain undocumented.
Worldwide, there are between 180 and 220 million youth with disabilities. Eighty percent of disabled youth live in developing countries, and therefore have even less access to education, health care, jobs and general rights Disabilities include physical, mental disabilities or mental illness. Many youth live normal and stable lives, however those with disabilities may experience more obstacles than those without due to potential limitations, those created by physical limitations and social limitations.
Psyche Cattell was an American psychologist who researched early brain development in young children. She held the position of Chief Psychologist at Lancaster Guidance Clinic in Lancaster, Pennsylvania from 1939-1963, as well as writing a book regarding children’s education and starting a school out of her own home. She is best known for the Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale, a downward extension of IQ testing used to assess children's development. It primarily assesses motor control and also verbalisation. Later researchers have found that the test is poorly predictive but that "low scores on the scale appear to have greater predictive validity than high scores, particularly when the child has an unfavourable medical history or an impoverished social environment." She wrote a book, Raising Children with Love and Limits, based on her experiences in 1972.
