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Florida’s Flawed Baker Act Rips Thousands of Kids from School

Over the past seven years, children have been taken from public schools in Tampa Bay more than 7,500 times and temporarily placed in mental health facilities. They often leave campus handcuffed in the back of police cruisers. Some are as…
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Parents Say 10-Year-Old Son with Autism was Handcuffed, Put in Patrol Car

Parents of a 10-year-old boy who has autism say the child was handcuffed, put in the back of a patrol car and transported to a mental health facility after he ran from school administrators. According to a federal lawsuit filed…
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Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Practical Webinar for Criminal Defense Lawyers

For criminal defense lawyers of all types, clients with mental disabilities are a part of their practice. This includes the white collar criminal defense lawyer who represents an executive charged with tax evasion who functions despite a variety…
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Inflammation in Pregnant Moms Linked to Child’s Brain Development – National Institute of Mental Health

NIMH-funded researchers are connecting the dots between inflammation in a pregnant human mother and possible effects on her young child’s developing brain. So far, they have linked high levels of maternal inflammation during pregnancy to reduced…
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NACDL Meeting & Seminar: Decoding & Litigating Mental Health Issues – October 24-27

NACDL's 2018 Fall Meeting & Seminar,"Decoding & Litigating Mental Health Issues" will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Savannah, GA, October 24-27, 2018. Experts estimate that between 55 and 75% of all incarcerated people suffer…
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Inherited Variations in Noncoding Sections of DNA Associated with Autism – National Institute of Mental Health

A new study has identified an association between paternally-inherited rare structural variants in noncoding segments of genes and the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study, funded in part by the National Institute of Mental…
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Autism Rates in Children May Be Higher Than Previously Believed, New CDC Study Finds

A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the prevalence of autism is 1.7 percent, up from 1.5 percent from two years earlier. Read more.
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How a Teacher’s ‘Junk Science’ Landed a Dad in Jail on Charge of Raping his Autistic Son – The Miami Herald

In this piece, The Miami Herald chronicles that wrongful arrest of Jose Cordero in Miami. Accusations of sexual abuse arose from "hand over hand" communication, which is considered junk science by many. Read more.
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Suspect Molecules Overlap in Autism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder – National Institute of Mental Health

A new study finds that disorders with significant overlap in genetic risk factors also had significant overlap in gene expression and shared dysfunction in similar molecular pathways. Read more.
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School Shooter Nikolas Cruz: An Unending Saga of Disturbed Behavior and Red Flags – The Orlando Sentinel

This article details the "red flags" of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz. Read more.