A New Piece of Inclusion We Must Consider
Inclusive experiences between special education and general education students within Generation Z are going to need more support for all students than ever before. Use this new perspective to build inclusive experiences that are successful for everyone involved.
Book: Generation Z Unfiltered by Tim Elmore
Master IEP Coach Mentorship: www.masterIEPcoach.com
Hazard - Stop Doing Special Education Alone
Stop thinking you're supposed to do Special Education alone. Parents & Teachers if you had an honest conversation with each other, you'd find out that nobody expects one person to know everything about Special Education.
It's time to stop figuring out special education by yourself and do these 3 things:
1. Lean into your expertise.
2. Be humble instead of humiliated when you need help.
3. Stop faking it. You're not supposed to know it all.
Decide you are done doing special education alone. We have too many tears, too many people feeling burnt out, and too much turnover in special education. You can flip the negative feelings when you surround yourself with people who get it!
Resources:
Master IEP Coach: www.masterIEPcoach.com
Special Education Inner Circle: www.specialedinnercircle.com
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Stop Cramming the IEP with Goals & Leave Room to Learn Naturally
After 20+ years of writing IEPs with parents and teachers, I’ve learned a few things...
1. You’re never going to get every goal a child needs into the IEP.
2. A child will shutdown if you stuff their day with direct instruction hour after hour.
3. A child needs time to “be a kid” in their school day. This is often when their biggest milestones will be met.
Need help? Visit www.masterIEPcoach.com
Podcast Highlights:
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We're wrapping up 2019 we're jumping into 2020 and for many of this, this us, this feels like a fresh start, right? But really we're right in the middle of the school year, but that doesn't mean that we can't make some really significant changes, if needed inside of a child's IEP. So I posted something on Instagram today and that's kind of taken off, like wildfire here. So I'm going to read to you exactly what I posted. It says, "stop trying to cram the IEP with every goal a child needs. Pick your priorities and leave space in a child's...
Podcast: 504s vs IEPs - What's the Difference?
Podcast Highlights:
IEPs vs 504s is a hot topic in special education. I'm going to go over six points, real quick, just to give you an overview so you know what questions to ask next about supports for your child at school.
(00:51)
The first thing that you need to know, point number one is that there is a difference between which law is governing this document that's going to help a child with their education. So here's my disclaimer. I'm not a lawyer, I'm not practicing the law, but I am telling you where to look. So if you're going to start pursuing an IEP, you're going to be looking at IDEA law. For a 504 plan, you're looking at the section 504 of the rehabilitation act of 1973.
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Each of these documents have accountability systems set up. It's just knowing where you need to look and who you need to talk to about the support documents. 504's get a bad reputation for not being enforceable. It's not that it's not enforceable, it's that it's enforceable in...
Special Education Teachers + Parents are Smarter than the System
Podcast Transcript:
Welcome everyone to the special education inner circle podcast. I'm excited to be here with you today. We're going to dig on a hot topic for both special education teachers and parents. Actually for everybody who's at the IEP table. In fact, as I was preparing for this hot topic, I opened up my Facebook and I'm scrolling through it and I see almost within the first three posts, I see a story about a man with autism who couldn't get a job. So he opened up his own coffee shop. That is exactly the type of story that we're going to be talking about today and how teachers and parents in the special education system, you are smarter than the system itself and you have to start working together to make things happen. So here's, here's the scoop. Let's just kind of step back just for a minute and talk about how special education is only 44 years old, which in some ways that is a baby.
(01:01)
That is just a little start to what we can do in special education. In...
Medical Dx VS Educational Eligibility - It's a big deal
Video Highlights:
2:00 Minute Mark
It's important for you to know that a school does not diagnose a child with a disability. A school only has eligibility criteria when it comes to special education. Eligibility criteria, it's set by the federal law IDEA.
Remember, I'm not a lawyer, but I can teach you where to look in the law.
There are different buckets for eligibility. During an eligibility meeting for special the team goes over data that has been collected, testing that has been done or information that has been taken in.
Next, they go through checklists and they say... everything seems to fit into this bucket.
Finally, a child gets an educational eligibility to receive special education services.
Now let's go back over here to medical diagnosis. Okay, so medical diagnosis is when you meet a set of criteria and the doctor has a recommendation that says... based on this label, your child should have this therapy or take this medicine or do...
Holiday Tips for Inclusion at School
This season of celebration in school can lead to more children feeling isolated, lonely and left out.
Let's make sure that your child or students don't feel this way!
Ask yourself these questions and then get creative in planning an inclusive experience for everyone... this is the best gift you can give a child. A feeling of belonging, for exactly who they are.
Think...
- What are your child/student's strengths? Now is not the time to try to improve weaknesses.
- What will your child/student enjoy? Just because we might want a certain experience for a child, doesn't mean the child wants that experience.
- Does your idea for creating an inclusive experience require more adult support? Go find it now.
- Do you need to prep materials for the inclusive experience? Social stories? Make them now.
- Are you tired of figuring out ideas for inclusion on your own? Join the Special Education Inner Circle here.
I don't have many negative experience as a special needs sibling, but seeing my brother...
Seclusion Rooms + Special Education = It's Serious
| I've received dozens of emails from parents, teachers and leaders in special education asking me about seclusion rooms and special education in the state of Illinois. (In case you don't know, Illinois is my home.) I've tried to put together an answer that makes sense because yes, I've seen seclusion rooms that are inappropriate with my very own eyes. It's a real problem. Whether it was a school I was working at, a client family I was helping or a school tour I was viewing as a Master IEP Coach... my stomach felt physically ill when I saw the rooms and knew they were being misused. The reality is that it takes media and big voices to get big changes in special education and that is exactly what is happening right now in IL. However, I am not new to the special education system and it would be foolish for me to believe that a ban on these rooms being used inappropriately is going to stop the misuse. Let's get serious. There's no way that every staff member is going to... |
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