Whether it be a small change in your own home or school to lobbying for Federal legislation, I’ll give you the information, support, stories, and inspiration you need to make the world a better place for our kids.
New for 2022: Lobbying and Systems Change will be a component of my online training to Become a Special Education Advocate.
Some examples:
Mental Health Advocate Mental health, depression and suicide are all the chatter following Kate Spade’s death. In honor of that, I am updating a post from 2012 that talks about advocating for friends and loved ones with a mental illness. It doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming. Just a few minutes out of…
Implied Consent Have you ever been tagged in a completely unflattering photo on Facebook? I mean the kind when you look at it, you groan and debate in your head if the person will notice if you untag yourself? It’s awful, right? Social media and smartphones have brought us a whole new set of societal…
Dr. Seuss was Racist Dr. Seuss is a prolific children’s book author and global icon. And Dr. Seuss has a history of racial baggage that educators should understand when introducing his writing to their students. From Tolerance dot org This knocked the wind out of my sails yesterday. Not sure how it didn’t hit my…
Mental Age I guess it’s a coping mechanism. Or a way of trying to parent and better understand our kids. But it’s also an antiquated practice that needs to go. I’m talking about assigning a mental age to our kids. In particular, this happens with students who are intellectually disabled or autistic, or both. You…
One Mom’s Perspective of the IEP Process. I have always made clear that my interest is in my child, his well-being, and his functioning on grade-level – nothing more and nothing less. My goal has always been to advocate for my child so that he could have available to him a free appropriate public education…
I decided today, I am done living life with a disclaimer. Here’s the thing. I’m tired of society making me justify my son’s existence. And I’m tired of constantly adding disclaimers to my conversations. Always adding a disclaimer. Here are some real-life conversations I have encountered within the past few weeks: Conversation 1: Me, complaining about…
The Extraordinary Burden of IEPs on Moms “Is it getting worse?” I sighed. Then nodded. “It is.” I was at lunch with a local administrator. We were brainstorming some ideas to make the overall climate of special education must less tense. Improve relations. Try to work together. I wonder if we can. Here we are,…
Ableism and Ableist Autism Moms I am just steamed this morning. Nothing like waking up to see 250k special needs moms being ableist and wallowing in ableism. Have you seen it? First, it started with a viral post about “The Last Time.” About how when you have a kid, you’re just cruising through life, raising…
Autism and Age-Appropriate Interests “Who gets to decide what is an age-appropriate interest for a disabled or autistic child?” This is an issue that has been on my mind a lot lately. My son will be 9 this summer, and as I’ve posted many times, he just loves all things Sesame Street. I’m starting to…