The United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD) has coordinated this internship program since 2013.  This program is geared for students and recent graduates from across the U.S. who intend to pursue a career in international development or foreign affairs.

The summer 2015 internship program will bring a group of talented graduate students, recent graduates, and rising juniors and seniors with disabilities to Washington, DC, for nine weeks.  This will include a one-week training and orientation program followed by an eight-week internship at an international organization in the Washington, DC, area.  Each intern is usually placed at a different organization.  USICD will cover the cost of fully-accessible housing during the program, reimburse travel expenses to and from DC, and provide a limited stipend.

It is anticipated that the program will run from May 24 to July 25, 2015. These dates may be subject to change.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens, must identify as a person with a disability, and must be either a student or a recent graduate with either a bachelor's degree or a graduate degree. Applications are accepted from candidates up to age 30.  In limited circumstances (for example, U.S. veterans), some candidates may remain eligible up to age 35.

Visit: http://usicd.org/template/page.cfm?id=257

Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ABA are offering FREE training sessions, as part of this programme, for schools and the children's workforce in London in February aimed at reducing the bullying of disabled children and young people and those with special educational needs (SEN).

They have been delivering this training across England over the last 9 months and the feedback has been excellent. You can book for this one day training course via the following links:

Monday 9th February 2015 - NCVO, London - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sen-and-disability-improving-effective-anti-bullying-practice-in-schools-and-other-settings-free-tickets-14628290611

Tuesday 10th February 2015 - NCVO, London - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sen-and-disability-improving-effective-anti-bullying-practice-in-schools-and-other-settings-free-tickets-14628312677

Training parents to enhance social interactions with their infant children may reduce the likelihood that kids at risk for autism will ultimately develop the disorder, researchers say.

Families who participated in a video-based therapy program were able to improve engagement, attention and social behavior in their babies, according to findings published Wednesday in The Lancet Psychiatry.

'Our findings indicate that using video feedback-based therapy to help parents understand and respond to their infant's individual communication style during the first year of life may be able to modify the emergence of autism-related behaviors and symptoms,'

- said Jonathan Green, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Manchester in England who led the study.

Researchers looked at 54 families with infants considered to be at high risk of autism because they all had an older sibling on the spectrum. Of the children — ages 7 to 10 months — 27 participated in a video-based intervention while the others did not receive any treatment.

Over the course of five months, families in the intervention group received six or more home visits from a therapist who videotaped interactions between moms and dads and their babies and then coached parents to better understand and respond to their child's cues.

At the conclusion, children whose families participated in the training showed fewer autism-related behaviors on a standardized assessment than kids who received no intervention, the study found.

Researchers said the therapy could help reduce a child's risk for autism, but indicated that further study involving a larger group of kids would be needed to confirm their results.

Read more of the piece by Michelle Diament at DisabilityScoop - http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/01/22/parent-lower-autism-risk/19982/

Go to the article in The Lancet Psychiatry - http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366%2814%2900091-1/abstract