EXPLAINED: What Is an IEP and How to Make Sure Your Child’s Needs Are Met

If you have a child with disabilities, you’re not alone: According to the latest data, over 7 million American schoolchildren — 14% of all students…

Students Should Know What’s in Their IEPs

If you work in special education, then you have likely worked on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). IEPs are plans developed to ensure that students…

I Thought Vouchers Were Wrong, But Now I Realize They Helped My Son

Recently I wrote that a residency hearing with two children, Kayla and Tasha, represented to me our deeply-embedded structural inequities in education that decades of initiatives,…

My Son Cracked the Code in an Atypical Way With a Focus on Phonics

When my three older children learned to read, it seemed to us as natural a process as learning to talk. We read to them every…

Here’s How the COVID-19 Stimulus Bill Will Affect Education

Late this morning the U.S. Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act. The total tab is $2 trillion…

Districts Are Using Students With Disabilities as an Excuse to Do Nothing

My husband and I have four children. Our three oldest are what we in the special needs community call “neuro-typical” and our youngest has multiple…

Don’t Take Us Back to the Days When Our Children With Disabilities Could Be Denied an Education

We barely survived my son Jonah’s adolescence. One evening in Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station he pushed me so hard I fell to the ground and…

Got a Co-Teacher? Here’s How to Make That Relationship Thrive.

I liked my classroom space, and I liked it even more when I was the only instructor in the room. At least, that was how…

Do We Have to Call in the National Guard to Protect the Civil Rights of Students With Disabilities?

The question must be asked: What do we have to do to get school districts to follow the law and give students who are disabled…

I’m So Focused on What My Daughter With Autism Needs That I Sometimes Forget About Her Wants

When I realized my younger daughter was disabled, my belief in what was possible for her life changed. As her parent, I had to focus…