BY JUDITH CANTY GRAVES AND CARSON GRAVES An IEP is your child’s roadmap to an appropriate education. No map can help you, however, if you don’t know your starting point. That is why the IEP must contain objectively measured assessments of your child’s abilities before it can be an effective educational roadmap. There are two places where clear descriptions of your child’s current level of performance should appear in an IEP: 1. In the curriculum […]
BY PEG GRAFWALLNER, M.ED. We adopted our daughter, Ani, from a Bulgarian orphanage when she was six years old. At the time, her deficits were so severe and so overwhelming, we were lost on how to help her or even where to start. Ani came to us without language, without social skills and without curiosity. One thing that Ani did bring with her was a warm, determined spirit. She refused to give up on anything […]
BY LAUREN AGORATUS, M.A. WHAT IS THE ESSA? The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. ESSA is replacing No Child Left Behind (NCLB.) The Council of Chief State School Officers has a chart and narrative on the crosswalk between ESSA and NCLB (see Resources). Some components of the previous law have been kept, some were revised, and other pieces are new. Here is an overview on […]
BY TOM SANNICANDRO AND SCOTT LIEBER INTRODUCTION: College is the dream of many students across the country, and the ladder to economic opportunity, independence, and a first job [1]. Now, evidence suggests that college provides the same opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities (ID) as for non-disabled students [2, 3]. Employment and earnings outcomes for people with ID were higher if they had taken college classes. Students with ID who attend college are significantly more […]
BY KAREN KABAKI-SISTO, M.S. CCC-SLP Along with academic achievement, a goal of the educational experience is to learn how to have successful social relationships both inside and outside of the classroom that continue through adulthood. However, physically seating a student into a classroom –mainstream or self-contained –does not automatically ensure social acceptance. Problems with learning and communication can cause a child with special needs to be misunderstood, left out, teased, and/or bullied, leading to behavioral […]
