There are 13 categories that guide how disability is defined under the federal special education law known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In order to be eligible for special education and related services as a “child with a disability,” a child’s educational performance must be adversely affected due to the disability. Read more ›
Sensory rooms are specially created environments created to provide an immersive sensory experience. For children on the autism spectrum, sensory rooms are designed to have a calming effect that reduces anxiety and improves focus.
This video is part of the Schools That Work series from Edutopia featuring Meriden Public Schools in Connecticut and the ways in which the district has redesigned its special education services. Read more ›
Sensory rooms not only help students with special needs feel more comfortable and empowered in the classroom, they may also keep them in their neighborhood schools, according to K-12 administrators.
The carefully designed rooms may include dim lights to help students who are sensitive to light, weighted blankets to give them comfort or a swing they can gently rock on to become calm or spin in a circle for stimulation.
The Council for Exceptional Children says sensory rooms are getting popular in districts to help calm overstimulated or anxious students. Read more ›
Students on the autism spectrum often find transitioning to new situations challenging. Parents and teachers can minimize the stress with some joint prep before school starts.
Many children have difficulty with reading, writing, or other learning-related tasks at some point, but this does not mean they have learning disabilities. A child with a learning disability often has several related signs, and these persist over time.
Each learning disability has its own signs. Also, not every person with a particular disability will have all of the signs of that disability. Read more ›
The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 66,000 pediatricians committed to the optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In 2009, the AAP launched HealthyChildren.org to provide parents with health information from a trustworthy source.
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Amy Valentine is the director of the Foundation for Blended and Online Learning (now Future of School), and she previously served as executive director of three virtual schools in Colorado. In early 2016, Valentine’s son was diagnosed with dysgraphia, a learning disability similar to dyslexia.
This is a difficult situation for a school, especially pre-diagnosis. As Valentine explains, “Post-diagnosis, though, there is support available for students who struggle to overcome a learning disability, from individual education plans to resource teachers and and technology assists. For my son, however, these tools did not materialize.” Read more ›
How your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves offers important clues about your child’s development. Developmental milestones are things most children can do by a certain age.
Check these milestones —published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—that children typically reach by the end of 18 months. Read more ›
The following are signs of common speech and language disorders in children between birth to 4 years of age, an important stage in early detection of communication disorders. Read more ›
In this Community Educations session for educators, UCSF School of Medicine’s Dr. Fumiko Hoeft discusses:
– The resilience framework of dyslexia
– Cognitive resilience
– Socio-Emotional resilience
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