BY DEANNA PICON With a few easy steps and a positive attitude, you can unload some of those burdens and you and your child can both transition successfully into the new school year. Every fall, children begin the school year with a backpack full of new notebooks, pencils and other school supplies. This is a time of excitement and anxiety for student and parent alike––but what is in your backpack as a parent? Where are […]
BY JUDITH CANTY GRAVES AND CARSON GRAVES When parents pay attention to the essential parts of their child’s IEP and take an active role in making sure that it properly addresses their child’s needs, it can be a powerful tool for insuring that their child gets the appropriate education that the law expects the school to provide. The Individualized Education Program (IEP) is the cornerstone of special education. This document is a legal contract between […]
BY VANESSA B. IRA, EDITOR EP MAGAZINE Three outstanding Teachers of the Year are being honored in this edition of EP (Exceptional Parent) magazine, our Annual Schools & Camps Issue. These are teachers whose work requires extraordinary patience, sometimes in the midst of constant emotional outbursts. Teachers who must focus always on what a student can do – and not on what he or she cannot do. These are the teachers who celebrate with parents and caregivers when a student is able to […]
ANNUAL EDUCATION ISSUE BY SUZANNE PEARSON Nationwide, more than one quarter of the students in grades 6 through 12 are victims of bullying. News stories about the problem make regular appearances on television and newspaper outlets, sometimes with tragic endings. Bullying has moved from an adolescent rite of passage to a serious obstruction that is affecting the success of our entire education system. To further exacerbate the problem, students who are being bullied are likely […]
BY WALTER MAYER, L.M.S.W. Proactively emphasizing and teaching positive expectations and values such as respect, acceptance, empathy, positivity, cooperation and peaceful coexistence can serve to establish a new climate. Lately it seems that, for better or worse, we have all become more aware of ‘bullying’ and its negative impact on children and school culture. Unfortunately, some have gone so far as deeming it an ‘epidemic’. Also unfortunate is the vagueness of the term ‘bullying’ and, […]
