Can I share something that really gets me fired up? Lazy IEP goals and objectives. Let me explain. An IEP is written for one IEP year. One IEP year is a very valuable amount of time for a child with special needs, and leaves no time for waste! Part of the IEP are the Instructional Plan Pages. These pages outline each of the student’s need areas and identifies a main goal and several objectives to help the student meet the goal. Here is a simplified example of a well written g

Not being able to read stinks, just ask any of the up to 1 in 5 students who live with dyslexia. Lizzy, a local student with dyslexia, remembers asking her mom, “Why am I not as smart as my classmates?” Dyslexia has nothing to do with being smart! Most who suffer with dyslexia have absolutely normal intelligence, but those with this learning disability can really struggle with not only learning to read, but the stigmas that come with it. What is dyslexia? Since October is dys

After years of advocating for/with families for their children with special needs, I have seen a lot. I have seen a lot of parents at the very end of their respective ropes. Parents who have fought and fought for their children and feel that they have exhausted every option for their child to experience success. I have seen parents sit at the IEP team table and sob while I navigate the system on their and their child’s behalf. I have provided “back-up” for parents who want to

Why is there no IEP or disability category for dyslexia? As a special education consultant, I am asked this all the time. Some studies indicate that as many as one in five children suffer from this barrier to reading. When I was a kid, it never really occurred to me that learning to read was difficult, until my best friend started missing PE class to go to something called ‘intervention.’ At the time, I was jealous. She got to play on computers while I had to stay outside and