School Decision-Making Tool for Parents, Caregivers, and Guardians

Many parents, caregivers, and guardians face new and difficult choices about how their child will return to school in the fall, such as deciding between in-person and virtual learning. This tool is designed to help parents, caregivers, and guardians weigh the risks and benefits of available educational options to help them make decisions about sending their child back to school. It is organized to provide parents and caregivers with: Information on COVID-19 and why safely […]

Since Schools Have Closed Parents of Special Needs Children ‘wearing many hats’

With 8-year-old triplets who go to school in Encinitas, each one on the autism spectrum, Jeff Ladman and his wife Tara felt “like the rug’s been pulled out from underneath” them when the novel coronavirus pandemic closed schools in mid-March and reduced therapy sessions to online only. Two of their sons, second-graders Keith and Holden, have class with special education and mainstream teachers at Flora Vista and are “high functioning,” Ladman said. The third, Jarrett, […]

Individuals with Disabilities Disaster & Emergency Preparedness

Get Informed Know what disasters could affect your area, which could call for an evacuation and when to shelter in place. Keep a NOAA Weather Radio tuned to your local emergency station and monitor TV, radio, and follow mobile alert and mobile warnings about severe weather in your area. Download the FEMA app, receive weather alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five different locations anywhere in the United States. Make a Plan […]

Assistive Technology Help

YOU might say it all started with spell-check. In the 1980s, with the introduction of word processing programs like WordPerfect, it became apparent that computerized proofreaders could come to the rescue of struggling spellers and bad typists. Thirty years later, an ever-growing array of assistive technology is available to help students read, write term papers and take tests. From pens that can remember to text that can talk, such technologies are now being held up […]

A Financial Planning Guide for Parents of a Child with Special Needs

Raising a child with special needs can be one of the richest experiences life has to offer, but it is also one of the most costly. According to Autism Speaks, raising a child with autism costs on average $60,000 a year. Of course, this figure varies depending on the type and severity of your child’s condition. In some cases, it can cost even more. For new parents, such a drastic change in circumstances can be […]