October 16, 2026 Update: Oregon School Shooting Yesterday, a gunman opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. Three children and a teacher were killed, and two others were injured.

In Your IEP Playbook: A Parent’s Guide to Confident Advocacy, disability parent and special education advocate Lisa Lightner delivers a practical guide for parents and caregivers of children with ...

Goals are part of everyday life. Most of us set them without even thinking about it. You might say, “I want to get the laundry done today,” or “I’m going to walk the dog tonight.” Those are goals. But ...

Writing IEP goals is one of the most important parts of developing an effective IEP. After all, the goals are supposed to identify the skills your child needs to learn and give the team a way to ...

Let’s face it. This is what keeps us up at night. Nothing has a special needs parent facing their own mortality more than having a child with disabilities and thinking of that developmentally disabled ...

What happens if a parent doesn’t sign an IEP? In many states, refusing to sign an annual IEP does not stop the school from implementing it. However, parental consent is required before a child ...

I’ve attended more IEP meetings than I can count. Or even care to count. I get it–parents only call in a Special Education Advocate when there’s trouble. If you were happy with things, you wouldn’t ...

Kids can be pretty hard on themselves. One mistake on a math worksheet, one spelling word they can’t remember, or one activity that doesn’t go as planned, and suddenly they’re saying things like: “I’m ...

Most of the questions that I receive as a special education advocates are about the implementation of the IEP. Let’s face it. IEPs are not an easy document to understand at times because of its length ...

Your child’s IEP says they’re supposed to receive 30 minutes of reading instruction every day. Or speech therapy twice a week. Or 45 minutes of specially designed math instruction. But the special ...

Choosing between a charter school and a traditional public school can feel confusing, especially when people use the terms interchangeably. Both are publicly funded. Both are free to attend. But they ...

Teaching kids which group has more and which has less sounds pretty simple. Until you put five jellyfish on one side of a worksheet, eight fish on the other, and a child confidently tells you they’re ...