Stacey Hoaglund
ADVOCATE, LIFE COACH, CONSULTANT, SPEAKER, AUTHOR
Author: stacey
Author: stacey
Special Education Checklist for Parents
According to IDEA, Special Education is “specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability,” which includes everything from making classroom adaptations to off campus travel training, and everything in between. Parents need to be aware of some of the hallmarks of special education
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Never Underestimate the Power of Extracurricular Activities
It’s that time of year when many parents begin thinking about the summer and how to plan out extracurricular activities. Plus, being that March is Developmental Disabilities Month and April is Autism Awareness Month, you’re sure to see a lot more activities going on than you would normally. This can make it tough to decide
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How to Track Your Child’s Progress from Home
Did you know that your school is responsible for providing your child with what they need to make educational progress? This means ALL kids, not just those who are on regular standards and spend their day in a regular education classroom setting. Oftentimes, parents hear messages from their school that sound something like, “His disability
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Understanding the Eligibility of ESY
If your child’s annual IEP is in the springtime, chances are good that someone at your meeting will say something like, “Well, while we have you here, let’s take care of ESY.” You might be thinking, “What is that??? More letters that I’m not really sure about.” Since you get that sinking feeling that you’re
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The Often Overlooked Importance of Literacy
Unfortunately, our educational system grossly underestimates the potential of students with disabilities, especially those who don’t verbally communicate. That means that parents must take a very active approach in ensuring that their child has access to proper curriculum that is in line with the way that they process and learn. I’m sure most of you
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YOUR CHILD’S CLASSROOM SCHEDULE SAYS A LOT!
Most parents don’t understand what a child’s classroom (or school) schedule can tell them. Have you ever asked to see yours? Do you understand what it means? Does your child have 2 schedules? – one for special education and one for regular? Don’t freak out if you have no idea what I’m talking about. This
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CHANGE WON’T COME ON ITS OWN
This week’s email is a bit of a Call to Action. When my son was young, I truly had no idea about how much politics played a role in his education. In case you didn’t realize it, the Department of Education is run by and fully funded by our government. Children spend a considerable amount
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7 Things You Can Do to Change Your Child’s Future
At the CARD (Center for Autism) conference that was held in Orlando this weekend, I spoke about “Navigating the Cliff” that is often felt by parents and individuals when they transition out of the public school system. I had the pleasure of talking to many parents both during my training and afterwards who had some
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How to Start Difficult Conversations About Inclusion
I hope that the time off from school has been positive not only for your kids, but for you as well. For most of my readers, there’s one more week to go before the kids return to school, but for some others, today might be the BIG day. One of the most sought-after things in
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To Resolve or Not to Resolve
There are tons of influencers out there who are very focused on the benefits of New Year’s resolutions – and a growing batch who say that making a promise to yourself that you break by January 4th is one of the most stressful and unproductive things that a person can do. Somewhere in between is
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