Edwardsville, Ill., nonprofit Redefining Independence helps students with disabilities transition from school to adult life with work training and other support services, says cofounder and retired special education teacher Susan Converse. Through Rae's Cafe, located in a donated space inside the YMCA Meyer Center, students gain work experience and life skills in an environment that offers individualized supports, says Converse.

Bedford, Va., has expanded its adaptive sports program to enable children with disabilities to participate in basketball, baseball, soccer and softball. Chris Higgins, director of Bedford County Parks and Recreation, says the agency wants to establish leagues for each sport and participate in the Virginia Commonwealth Games.

Minnesota is set to enact novel legislation mandating teacher training on ableism and disability justice, led by advocates including the Autism Society of Minnesota. The initiative aims to foster cultural competence among educators and empower individuals with disabilities to shape professional development.

"Classroom preparation goes from hours to seconds" with AI assistance, say sixth-grade teachers Janice Donaghy and Jean D'Aurio, who detail an AI-assisted lesson plan to meet the varying levels and goals of students in a general and special ed inclusion class. The teachers, who use Canva, Diffit and other AI tools, say AI also was able to translate lessons right away for a new student who spoke no English, and Franklin Square School District Superintendent Jared Bloom of New York explains that "[t]he promise really is to personalize learning, not just differentiate it, in a way that's not taxing or exhausting for teachers."

The $90 billion allocated by Congress in 2021 that incorporates Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding and money from the American Rescue Plan Act to improve US residents' access to broadband, reduce its price and educate them on how to use it provides a rare opportunity, say attendees of the Net Inclusion Conference in February. The FCC estimates that around 7.2 million US locations still lack broadband.

MRI analysis revealed significant differences in the microstructures of brains between individuals with autism spectrum disorder and neurotypical individuals, indicating altered information processing, researchers reported din PLOS ONE. The findings also showed that these structural differences correlated with scores on the Social Communication Questionnaire, potentially guiding future treatments for ASD.