A student pushes his workbook off his desk and yells, “No!” What reaction, if any does he get from the teacher? Does the teacher take a moment to reflect on Why the student just did that? What about at home…your daughter is constantly grabbing toys out of her little brother’s hands. What reaction does she […]

As an advocate, I am often asked by parents to give suggestions on how to “fix” just one part of their child’s IEP. Some parents will say, “My child has a good IEP. Can you just help me with my child’s math goals?” or “How can we get more speech time for my child?” Chances […]

As a parent you wear many hats: taxi cab driver, nurse, teacher, counselor, chef, etc. Mothers and fathers are also detectives – more about that in a minute. Teachers also have many roles: instructor, counselor, nurse, supervisor, life-long student, etc. Educators share the detective role with parents. How so? Well, let’s look at what detectives […]

Knowing your child is capable of so much more than what others give him credit for can be heartbreaking. Playing with your child, seeing his sense of humor and wishing others could see this side of him leaves you sad. Being proud of his determination and wondering why others don’t appreciate this is upsetting. Helping […]

“Your son is not ready to be in the general ed classroom.” “Your daughter’s skills are so far behind the others, it wouldn’t be fair to her, the teacher, or the other students to be in a regular classroom.” “Your child will learn so many more skills in a less distracting environment.” How many times and […]

Had a challenging day recently? Can you relate to what parents have said to me this month? “I’m so tired of the fighting with school people. If I didn’t spend all this time fighting I could actually be doing something else with my day.” “Why is it that my husband gets to take the business […]

Have you lost weight? Do you step on the scale, try on your favorite jeans, or ask a friend for her opinion? What if you want to know how your child is doing at school? Do you use scores on state assessments, report card grades, a communication notebook, or IEP progress reports to help you know how your […]

No matter what holiday you are celebrating this season, take a few minutes and reflect on the extraordinary, inner gifts your child already has. Write a list of those gifts, place it inside a box, wrap it with bright, shiny paper, and give it to your child. When they open their list of gifts, help […]

Have you ever been at an IEP meeting and heard professionals rattle off evaluation results by telling the IEP team the student’s Standard Scores, Percentiles, Grade Equivalents, sharing a list of student’s “deficits”, and using disability labels to describe a student? Yet sadly, all too often there are few ideas given on how to tap into a […]