Year: 2023

Year: 2023

Yes, High Schools Have to Follow IEPs Too
October 2, 2023 Advocacy stacey

When kids transition to high school especially, teachers (general education teachers mostly, but certainly not all) have a tendency to try to convince parents that if their kids are going to be in general education classes, that they are expected to all of a sudden behave independently. It’s hard to tell sometimes if they themselves

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Recognizing and Responding to Anxiety in Children with Special Needs
September 26, 2023 Strategies stacey

Although most of us don’t need hard-core evidence on the topic, Dr Lawrence Fung from Stanford Medicine states, “Anxiety is a very common co-occurring condition in the neurodiverse community. About 20 to 30% of male adults on the spectrum have anxiety disorder. Females with autism spectrum condition have even higher rates of anxiety. The prevalence

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Cultivating Belonging Through Inclusive Education
September 17, 2023 Advocacy stacey

I am the queen of procrastination. It might look like I get things done, but it’s usually after hours, or even days, of putting them off, which is usually precipitated by either reorganizing my house or scrolling mindlessly through social media. I’m sure some of you can relate. Social media includes a ton of behavior

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Inclusive Education…. More Than Just Visiting
September 17, 2023 Advocacy stacey

Certainly, one of the most advocated for settings for kids with disabilities is that of a regular education classroom.  What better place to have exposure to highly verbal and social role models than that of a general education setting? If students are to learn appropriate behaviors, they need to observe them. If they are to learn sharing

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5 Red Flags That Require Parent Advocacy
September 12, 2023 Advocacy stacey

It is certainly hard for a parent to know what happens at their child’s school, especially if they don’t verbally communicate or if they exhibit deficits in language skills. Compound that with a special education classroom where most or all of the students are at the same level, and you could easily experience a “deadzone”

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5 Things That Can Make a Huge Difference
August 14, 2023 Hello world stacey

There are many things that can make a difference for your child at the beginning of a new school year, but five stand out to me as more important than most of the others. Yes, IEPs and knowing your rights are important, but for the sake of the impending first day of school, I’ll stick

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Ever-So-Important “Day in the Life”
August 13, 2023 Hello world stacey

While you have the time during the summer to reflect on your child’s experiences this past school year, it’s a good time to think about what information their new teacher could use to make his/her transition as smooth as possible. Those first weeks can be a bit bumpy for any kid who thinks, processes, or

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Ready, Set, School!
August 8, 2023 Strategies stacey

Here we go…. another year on the horizon. For most kids, school will begin in less than two weeks. As you scramble around trying to get things together, there are things that you could be doing now that will make those first couple days of school a whole lot smoother. Before I get into what

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Easing Into the New School Year
July 25, 2023 Strategies stacey

For those parents whose kids are just about finishing up Extended School Year, or those who might be taking a couple weeks off after summer camp to catch a break before returning to school, there’s a couple things that you could be doing to help make your child’s transition back into school a little less

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Can Comics Help Kids Develop Reading Skills?
July 18, 2023 Hello world, Strategies stacey

You Betcha!! Many kids that I know, who happen to have disabilities, really love comic books/graphic novels. When they can match the words to what’s happening in the picture, it just seems to make more sense to them. There’s no guessing who said what or where they were when they said it or what type

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