On November 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed IDEA 1975 into law. Prior to IDEA 1975 taking effect, only 20% of children with disabilities were in the public school system. Most of the others were either institutionalized or being kept at home in a custodial care situation–parents taking care of them but they were not…
PA Lt. Governor John Fetterman for US Senate Today PA Lt. Governor began officially ‘exploring’ the idea of running for Senate in 2022. He ran in 2016, but lost in the primary to Katie McGinty. Much has changed since then–he’s now our Lt Governor. Back in 2015, when I interviewed him, he was Mayor of…
Citizen and Parent Advocacy I think we’re in this for the long haul. I wrote this right after the 2016 election, in hopes of inspiring parents to step it up and get more involved. And so many have! That’s fantastic. I am updating this post as we head into a new Congress at the beginning…
Special Education Funding I honestly cannot believe that this blog is almost 10 years old, and it just occurred to me this week to write about Special Education Funding. I was participating in a webinar and it just hit me. So often, parents ask me, “Why? Why does it have to be like this? Why…
Why School Choice is a Bad Idea. My heart sank. I screamed at my computer. I texted other advocate friends. We just couldn’t believe what we were reading. Seriously, a billionaire campaign donor with zero public education experience. That’s who he nominated? A woman whose family has dumped millions of dollars into school choice. This…
Lobbying for Special and Public Education If you follow this blog, you know that my main passion is lobbying for changes to the very broken special education system. I learned early on that while it’s important work to be helping one child out of a situation, it’s necessary to be involved in systems change too….
Disability and Poverty This post is at the request of my readers, in particular those in my Facebook group. Many have repeatedly said that they want to do something and want to be involved and help. But, because of the dynamics in our Congress right now, there just are not a lot of actionable items…
Solutions for Special Education Bullying. Restraints. Seclusion rooms. Ostracizing our kids. Not being able to read. Refusing to go to school. Juvenile justice system. Zero tolerance. Is it any wonder that special needs moms are incredibly stressed out? Sometimes our kids encounter some of this stuff on a daily basis. And sometimes all of these…
Hey, Special Needs Moms-You complain too much! Really, you do. I mean, c’mon already. Aren’t you tired of all the complaining? I am. No, really, I am. Special needs moms, dads….anyone who is closely connected to the special needs community…we all complain too much. And it’s exhausting. Did you know that the laws that are…
Ted Kennedy: February 22, 1932- August 25, 2009 Here is the video tribute that was done for Ted Kennedy at the DNC convention. (this is an older post recently udpated) I’m a big fan of his and miss having him here to champion for our kids. Yes, he was a man who made some mistakes,…
I have discovered that my real passion is systems advocacy. That is, trying to make the laws, programs, systems and funding better for our kids. I will say, that for right now, for me to be able to do this is a luxury. And what I mean by that is, my own personal situation is…
This is a day I have been dreading. I have been dreading it ever since he announced he was not going to run again in the November, 2014 elections. If you follow my blog, you know that I am a huge fan of Senator Harkin. He has long been a champion for people with disabilities…
Today I testified before our state’s Special Education Funding Commission. This group of individuals has been charged with the responsibility of evaluating the special ed process in Pennsylvania, how it works, how it’s funded, the funding itself and so on. They want to hear from parents and citizens about their experiences with Special Education in…
It’s hard to believe, but over two months have passed since I went with my boys and Kevin’s TSS over to Bucks County for the ceremonial signing of HB 2. I kept thinking “I have to blog about it, I have to blog about it….” and before you know it, the summer is gone! Wow,…
Yesterday was such an exciting day for me and Kevin. We were invited to join the Education Law Center and Arc of PA in Harrisburg for a day of special education lobbying. Specifically, we were there to help lobby for Senate Bill 1115. This will just be photos and a recap of our day’s activities….