August 2019
My son has an IEP that includes speech services and occupational therapy, will his services start the first
day of school?
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June 2019
My sons will be home for the summer. They didn't qualify for extended school year. What can I do to
help them stay engaged over the summer? I don't want them to regress. Any ideas or recommendations?
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May 2019
My daughter is on an IEP for a learning disorder, but lately it seems like her anxiety is affecting her
learning just as much as her learning disorder. She's afraid to raise her hand and ask for help, and
frequently leaving the classroom to see the school nurse for a stomach ache. She is seeing a therapist
outside of school and she has been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. It's an ordeal to get her
to even go to school each morning. I need to get her help at school before it gets worse. Can her IEP
address her learning disability and her anxiety?
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November 2018
Every night is the same battle with my second grade daughter - reading. She is required to complete a reading log
for school and whenever it's reading time we battle over everything. The selection of the book, the time it takes,
etc. She resents it and so do I. Do you have any suggestions to help me to engage her in this increasingly painful
assignment?
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August 2018
I had a difficult time working with my child's school team last year. I am determined to make this year more positive
and productive and I'm looking for help. What can I do to be more prepared and be a more active member of my child's team?
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June 2018
My daughter, Abby, is 15 years old and has just finished her freshman year of high school. At her annual PPT
meeting last week we began discussing transition planning and beginning to prepare her for employment. She will
be working on some pre-employment skills in her extended school year program, and I'm wondering what else we can
do over the summer to support her in learning these new skills.
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May 2018
I am concerned about my son at school. He really struggles with anxiety and this often results in some challenging
behaviors at school. He is academically pretty strong, no learning issues but the anxiety does get in the way of his
success at times. He has a lot of trouble with deadlines which make him so anxious he freezes and can't do anything.
Tests and quizzes are the same. He also has very high expectations of himself so sometimes he just keeps correcting
his papers and never feels like they are done. This is such a problem because it impacts his grades. He is really
able to do the work, but he can't really demonstrate that to the school. They know he is smart, so they tell me not
to worry, but colleges do care about grades and his are terrible. He's going to high school next year and I'm afraid
he will just tank. What can I do? The school says he is too smart to qualify for help.
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April 2018
My son has been on an IEP for the past year. I am new to the special education world. I have heard about progress
monitoring and I am not sure how it works with students on an IEP or for accommodations can you help?
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February 2018
My son is in kindergarten and has been experiencing behavioral difficulties at school.
He does not receive any special services or supports at school. For the last two weeks,
the Principal has called me every day to pick my son up at lunchtime, due to his
behaviors. Yesterday, they told me he was suspended and I could not bring him back for
2 days. Is this legal? What can I do to help my son get what he needs at school?
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January 2018
I am overwhelmed by all my daughter "stuff". From papers, to evaluations, to
meetings and keeping track of it all. Any suggestions to help organize the
piles or myself would be greatly appreciated.
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December 2017
My son attends an autism specific program in another town. The transportation
company called me to say that due to a change in the bus route he would be
getting home a half hour later, making his ride home over an hour. I think
this is too long for him to be on the bus, is there anything I can do?
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November 2017
What steps can I take if I have a question or a disagreement about my
child's Birth to Three Program?
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October 2017
My son has reported being bullied by another student at school. At first I
thought it was just playful teasing, but it seems to have escalated. This
other student has targeted my son repetitively at recess for the last month.
What can I do?
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September 2017
I recently attended a presentation about transition planning and the presenter
mentioned two kinds of goals in the IEP. One was annual goals with short-term
objectives and the other was Post-School Outcome Goal Statements (PSOGS). I'm
confused. Why does the IEP have two different types of goals?
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August 2017
My child is about to start another year of school and I want to know how
we can prevent the downhill spiral she has each year. She is going in to
11th grade and every year she tends to start out fairly strong and as the
year progresses she loses heart. She gets to the point where she just
doesn't want to go to school. The work gets more intense and social
situations get more intense and she just becomes overwhelmed. She has
been labeled a chronic truant and interventions have not really helped.
We are forever trying to "fix" things after the fact and this year I want
to be ahead of the issue. There are enough years of this pattern to show
it is a pattern and I don't know what to do to prevent it from happening
again, can you help?
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June 2017
My son is in fifth grade and glued to his iPad. I sometimes feel as though I
recognize the top of his head more readily than his face. We have limits on the
time he is allowed to spend online, but with summer approaching, I am concerned
about regression as he spends 10 weeks playing video games.
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May 2017
My son has been struggling with writing assignments in school, to the extent
where he has developed severe anxiety and refuses to go to school. He is
diagnosed with dysgraphia and dyslexia. His writing is slow and labored, and
consistently unreadable. He has poor spelling , punctuation, and grammar. He
already gets specialized instruction, Occupational Therapy, and extended time
for writing assignments, but it just doesn't seem to be enough. Is there
something else we can do to help him keep up with writing assignments, perform
better and reduce his anxiety?
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