Category: News in the Field

DHS Highlights Research and Resources on Fostering Supportive Environments for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities, Autism (October 24, 2025)

On October 17, 2025, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) released the latest issue of the Positive Approaches Journal, which aims to provide the most recent research for people with behavioral health challenges, intellectual disabilities, autism, and other developmental disabilities to help them live an everyday life. This edition highlights the role that the environment plays on the everyday lives of people and how fostering supportive environments can promote positive change.

This edition of the Positive Approaches Journal features research and articles on the following:
-Data Insights: This article details how Medicaid-covered home accessibility modifications – ramps and lifts, widened doorways and hallways, bathroom modifications, specialized electrical or plumbing equipment, and grab bars and handrails – are important in supporting health, safety, and independence for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
-Designing for Safety: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Environmental Design in Community-Based Wellness: This article examines how physical spaces communicate safety, autonomy, and belonging, and how environmental design can play a critical role in resiliency and trauma-informed care for those with intellectual disabilities and autism and those who support them.
-Creating Nurturing Environments to Support Mental Health: This article highlights evidence-based techniques to create supportive environments using the Ecology of Human Performance Theory from occupational therapy, which explains the interaction between a person and their environment.
-Positive Impacts of Environmental Modifications for Individuals with Autism and Dual Diagnosis Conditions: This article highlights how specified environmental modifications can be implemented in order to best support a person with autism, intellectual developmental disability, and co-occurring mental health.
-Building Better Lives: Futures Community Support Services, Inc: This article outlines how Futures Community Support Services provides a wide range of individualized services designed to support people with autism or developmental disabilities based on their unique needs and living situations.
-Transforming Lives with Technology: This article offers a case study on the balance of an individual’s risk and independence in a residential setting.

The journal is a collaboration of DHS’ Office of Developmental Programs and Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. It collects resources, observations, and advancements in mental and behavioral health in order to better serve people in their communities.

Read this edition of the Positive Approaches Journal.

For more information visit www.dhs.pa.gov.

U.S. Department of Education Condemned for Ending Support for Students with Disabilities (October 23, 2025)

NAPSA Joins a Broad Coalition Across the Nation and States Calling Upon the Administration and Congress to Protect Children with Disabilities, Reverse Layoffs, and Uphold Access to Key Educational Services

October 22, 2025

Washington, D.C. – A broad coalition of national, state, and local disability, civil rights, and education organizations is sounding the alarm over sweeping layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education. These cuts have gutted key offices—including the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)—threatening decades of progress in protecting students with disabilities. 

These wholesale terminations place fundamental education laws in peril and place millions of children with disabilities at risk who receive services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Title IV of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. These layoffs circumvent the will of Congress and dismantle 50 years of precedent upholding rights for students with disabilities. Without personnel to oversee these laws, the Department cannot provide essential leadership, oversight, guidance, or support to states and schools—jeopardizing students’ access to a free, appropriate public education and hampering the ability of states and localities to serve all students. In addition, the terminations also threaten the vocational rehabilitation system that helps youth and adults with disabilities become employed.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of IDEA, a law that has enjoyed strong bipartisan support for five decades. Rather than celebrating progress, we face a crisis: the dismantling of the very infrastructure Congress created to ensure children with disabilities could reach their full potential, potentially catapulting them back to a time of segregation and refusal to provide educational opportunities.

The undersigned organizations urge the Administration – and call on Congress to do the same – to reverse course immediately and restore staffing and transparency at the U.S. Department of Education. Strong federal leadership is not optional—it’s a moral and legal obligation for our nation’s children with disabilities.

To see the document and the list of organizations that signed on, click here.

Federal Judge Orders a Stop to Mass Firing of Federal Employees (October 17, 2025)

On October 25, 2025, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to immediately stop the mass firing of federal employees during the current government shutdown caused by Congress’ impasse over fiscal year 2026 funding. The Trump administration cannot issue any additional reduction in force (RIF) notices, and it cannot enforce the notices already issued, according to the ruling from Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) began the year with about 4,133 employees and the latest estimate is that about 2,000 remain after the last round of RIFs. Special Education offices have been particularly hard.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

Preliminary Reports Say Gov’t Shutdown Results in 466 More Furloughed at USDE (October 13, 2025)

It has been reported that on October 11, 2025, 466 employees at an already depleted U.S. Department of Education (USDE) have been furloughed. Unconfirmed reports say that only two employees are left at the Office of Elementary and Secondary Ed. (OESE), and two are left at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). Those employees are said to be deputy directors. Efforts are being made to determine the accuracy of these reports.

If true, this would be a crippling blow to the effective delivery of pupil services.

DHS Takes Action to Ensure Medicaid Coverage of Vaccines (October 10, 2025)

On October 8, 2025, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) affirmed that Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program will continue to support access to safe, effective vaccinations at no out-of-pocket cost for Pennsylvanians whose health care is covered by Medicaid. In addition, there will be no changes in vaccine coverage for children enrolled in Pennsylvania’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). 

This directive aligns with Governor Josh Shapiro’s recent Executive Order2025-02, which ensures children, families, and seniors have continued access to safe, effective vaccines and directs state agencies to align with leading medical experts to safeguard Pennsylvanians’ health – protecting freedom to make informed, evidence-based health care decisions. In the midst of ongoing confusion and changes to vaccine recommendations at the federal level, DHS – which oversees Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program – will continue to ensure that all Medicaid recipients have access to vaccines. Under the Executive Order, the vaccine recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) – all of which are listed as competent authorities in the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PDH) recent General Immunization Guidance – will be covered at no cost for Medicaid-enrolled beneficiaries. This directive also protects children covered by CHIP’s access to vaccines, which aligns their vaccine coverage with AAP recommendations.

According to DHS and PDH, vaccines are a rigorously tested, safe, and effective way to protect people from diseases and keep communities healthy. To support all Pennsylvanians’ right and freedom to make informed decisions about their health care in consultation with their doctors, Governor Shapiro’s Executive Order establishes plans to create a state-based program to protect children’s access to vaccines, aligns state policies with trusted medical experts, ensures continued coverage of recommended vaccines for all Pennsylvanians through Medicaid and private insurance, and creates a Vaccine Education Workgroup to strengthen public communication and combat misinformation.

More than three million Pennsylvanians – or 1 in 4 people – get their health care coverage through Medicaid in Pennsylvania. With this coverage, people can see a doctor, get vaccines, fill prescriptions, and access preventive services like health screenings. This coverage is vital to helping people stay healthy, take care of their families, and contribute to our economy. DHS encourages Pennsylvanians who need health coverage or other benefits to apply at any time at www.dhs.pa.gov/COMPASS.

Read more about  Executive Order 2025-02, Protecting Pennsylvanians’ Health and Freedom by Ensuring Access to Safe and Effective Vaccines and visit www.pa.gov/vaccines to find evidence-based information for families, providers, and the public.