We often tell children that learning math is so important to real life but we must point it out and model it for children so they truly understand how often we use math skills.  Children often see the connection between money and shopping and getting things they want or need but there are so many other ways to expand their real life math skills.

Try to think about math more globally than just numbers and basic computations.  Of course, we can find many every day activities that require the use of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing but math skills also include; time and time management, measurement of length, height, weight, volume, temperature and distance, problem solving, patterns, geometry, games, comparisons, fractions and so much more.

You can help your child understand time management by asking him/her to make a prediction about how long a task will take, timing the task and then discussing the differences in the prediction and the reality.  This often works really well with chores because kids like to beat their time so it increases productivity.

Measurement activities can be taught in many different real life arenas.  Cooking and baking are great activities for helping children understand volume.   You can help children understand the concepts of longer and shorter using items like carrots and green beans; and the concept of weight with items like a cup of flour versus a cup of butter.  Many kids also seem to enjoy activities that measure distance.  Using a pedometer when you go for a walk or a hike and then converting it into miles is an activity many kids like.  In addition, many kids enjoy looking at maps and calculating distances of places you are going to drive.

You can help you children identify different two and three-dimensional shapes in almost any environment.  When children are learning about angles you can point out angles you see in stores, in the home or in nature and ask them to identify the type of angle they see.

You can easily teach patterns during meals with utensils or food, during art activities with supplies, such as crayons and markers or with household items such as buttons, paperclips, screws and colored thumbtacks.  Many children can comprehend basic AB or ABC patterns but understanding irregular patterns is more difficult so using every day supplies can help them visually see something like an ABBC pattern.

Learning how to evaluate a problem and come up with a solution is a very important life skill that is related to math.  Helping children look at problems they come across in their day-to-day life, evaluating how to address the problem, picking a solution and then evaluating the process as a whole helps them not only solve problems more effectively, but also build essential social and cooperation skills.

Playing games as a family is the perfect way to teach math skills.  Many times the determination of who will start is based on ages or the roll of a die, or picking a card or a spinner.  All of these concepts are based in math.  Turn taking and moving in a clockwise fashion is also a math skill.  Games that require moving on a board often require the use of counting.

Comparing items by attributes is also a math skill.  Comparisons can be made about lots of things that you find while driving in the car, taking a walk or around the house.  Discussing or pointing out how things are alike and different is a critical math skill that spills over to language development and writing.

Fractions are really fun to teach using food items.  Of course, you can easily discuss fractions using items that are circular such as a pizza or a pie but you can also do it with items that are in casserole dishes or cake pans.  Before cutting point out that the item is one whole, then cut it in half and discuss that two equal halves are the same as one whole and then cut again to teach quarters and so on.

As you can see, with just a little creativity and keeping a broad perspective on math you can incorporate math into almost every activity you do with your child.  Once you get good at questioning your child and pointing things out to your child, it will become second nature and he/she will become less resistant to doing math because he/she will recognize that math concepts are clearly a part of life.

Please share other ways you have taught math concepts to your children so we can all expand our toolboxes.

My response was, “Absolutely”.  I also suggested that she request RTI strategies to be put back into place immediately to try to help him get through this first semester.  I always suggest to parents to put their request for their child to be evaluated in writing.  Technically, the clock starts running the day a request is made by a parent to have their child evaluated, whether it is a verbal request or a written request, but unfortunately, that often does not happen with verbal requests.  Written requests give parents a physical record of when the request was made.  Depending on the state you live in, the school district has between 30 and 60 days to complete their evaluations and write the IEP if the child qualifies for special education as a student with a disability.  Another thing you can do to expedite the evaluation process is to write in your letter requesting evaluation that you are also giving consent to begin evaluating your child as soon as possible.

The other issue this question raised for me was that many school districts use RTI Strategies as a way to delay assessing children for special education.  This is not the intent of RTI.  The intent of RTI is to intervene with children at risk before they need formalized services; it is a way to be proactive.  RTI is a process to look at how a student responds to research based strategies using data to either prove or disprove the intervention’s effectiveness.  Some RTI strategies are used with all students and some are used with specialized groups, including children who are gifted, children who are struggling academically and children who are English Language Learners.

Some children will respond very well to RTI strategies and will not need to be evaluated for special education, but they are not mutually exclusive.  School districts can use RTI strategies during the evaluation process for special education to determine what does and does not work for a particular student.  However, school districts should not tell a parent who has made a formal request for their child to be evaluated for special education that they must implement RTI strategies prior to the evaluation, according to a 2007 memo from The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services.  The school district can use data from RTI strategies as part of the evaluation process.

What has your experience been with school district in regards to evaluating your child and the use of RTI strategies?  Please share your experiences so we can all learn from them.

Unfortunately, it has been my experience that many school districts try to get away with providing the minimum level of services.  In my opinion, this is largely due to the costs of educating children with special needs.  Providing an appropriate education to children with special needs is expensive.  It is expensive to hire quality teachers, therapists and paraprofessionals. It is expensive to hire enough staff members to provide a quality education to children with special needs.  It is expensive to purchase appropriate supplies for children with special needs.  It is expensive to purchase and then appropriately train staff in using research based curriculums that meet the needs of children with special needs.

The cost of special education is a significant issue in today’s economy and something must be done at both the federal and state level to address this issue.  However, this issue should not dictate whether a child with disabilities receives necessary services, necessary equipment, necessary evaluations and an appropriate education.  It is not the parents’ responsibility to figure out how to pay for services provided in the child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP), it is the school districts responsibility.  A school district should never say to a parent that they cannot provide a service because it is too expensive or they have never provided that particular service before.  If the evaluations conducted by the school district conclude that a service is necessary then the school district must figure out how to pay for that service.

I bring this issue to your attention because I believe it is important for you to know what your child is entitled to if they are deemed eligible for special education because they are considered a child with disabilities no matter where you live in the United States.  If you believe that your child has educational needs in a certain area, push hard for that area to be assessed by the school district.  If you have the financial means available to you to get private assessments of your child, I encourage you to do so and to bring those evaluation results and recommendations to your child’s school district.  The school district is not required to provide services that a private evaluator makes but they are required to consider them when writing an IEP.  Intensive early intervention makes a significant difference for most children with special needs so advocate early and hard to get the education your child needs to progress, learn and live fully.

The reason for our move was that I was offered a job teaching children with autism and multiple disabilities in a therapeutic program in Colorado.  The students in this school are kids who cannot receive a FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education), usually due to behavioral issues that are often related to their lack of ability to communicate their needs and wants.  Not all of my students are nonverbal, but all of them struggle with how to appropriately communicate.

Many people have difficulty accepting that “bad behavior” in children is a form of communication, but in reality, it is.  In looking at negative behaviors, many people just believe that kids act poorly because of bad parenting and/or bad teaching.  While these two factors can sometimes explain the behavioral choices that kids make, many factors affect behavior.  All behavior happens for reason, even when you think to yourself, “I have no idea what just happened to elicit this behavior”.  Most antecedents (what happens just before a behavior) are observable such as a student being given work that is too difficult, another students hitting the child, teasing the child or harassing the child, being told, “No”, by an authority figure, etc. However, there are internal antecedents that are not readily apparent and are more difficult to change.  Children who have medical conditions, especially ones that are neurologically based, are constantly receiving internal input that we as parents and educators are not privy to.

This internal input in the form of a neurological impulse, a mineral deficiency or a sensory overload can cause significantly disruptive behavior that often appears “out of nowhere”.  It is important for you to know that school personnel cannot diagnose medical conditions and are often told not to mention a suspicion of a medical condition to parents.  The reason for this is that school districts have been sued for the cost of evaluations that school personnel suggested to parents.  It is really an unfortunate situation, because often teachers and other school personnel have been exposed to other children with similar symptoms and parents may be in the dark as to what may be going on with their child.  Therefore, it is important for you to try to read between the lines if a school district employee brings something medical to your attention.  It is worthwhile to discuss the issues with your child’s pediatrician to make sure there is not something internal affecting your child.

Some internal issues can be effectively addressed through medication, a change in diet or a certain type of therapy.  If this is the case, those interventions are usually covered under your medical insurance, including Medicaid.  Many people believe that their child’s doctor who only sporadically sees their child will just know if there is something going on.  However, doctors usually rely on information from you as a parent, so do not be afraid to speak up and ask questions.  It may have a significantly positive impact on your child’s quality of life.  I have seen many children, over my career, turn their behavior around after receiving an appropriate medical diagnosis with treatment.

The basic tenants of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are in direct contrast to her statement, but unfortunately that doesn’t mean her statement is untrue.  The basis of the law was to give children with disabilities a fair chance in being educated.  After qualification for special education services through being identified as a child with a disability, the regulations in IDEA aim to remediate academic and behavioral issues related to having a disability and to provide appropriate, research-based interventions to teach children with special needs in a way that will, hopefully, foster the most success.

I do not know exactly why the parent who wrote me felt as she did but I have some thoughts on different issues that relate to the issue she raised.

If IEP’s are not written collaboratively between educators and parents and goals and objectives as well as accommodations and modifications are cookie cuttered from a prewritten list, the IEP very well could be used to make life easier for school personnel.  This is one of the reasons why parents must be involved in creating their child’s IEP.  Although I would hope that most special educators would create appropriate, individualized IEPs, I know this is not always the case.  Do not rely solely on the school district to create your child’s IEP.  If there are items in the IEP, which you disagree with or feel will decrease your child’s accountability, share your rationale for your thoughts and tell them you want it removed or modified.

Prior to 1975 and the first version of what is now called IDEA most children with disabilities were sent away to residential homes to live so children with disabilities were not a part of the public education system.  Some people believe it was better that way.  Nowadays that would be considered discrimination.  A core tenant of IDEA is that children with special needs should be educated in the least restive environment (LRE).  This means they should be integrated with their non-disabled peers as much as possible based on the nature of their disability and their educational needs.

Some people believe that allowing children with disabilities to be educated in the public school has negatively affected the quality of education of children who do not have disabilities.  In my opinion, this is not true because the types of educational strategies and the ability to differentiate instruction to meet the individual needs of children benefits all children, not just children with special needs.  Good teaching is good teaching!

Some people believe that children who qualify under certain disability categories are not really “disabled”.  This is often associated with children who qualify with emotional and behavior disabilities under the categories of Other Health Impaired for ADHD or Emotional Disturbance.  Some people believe that children who have disorders in this arena are due to bad parenting, poverty and/or societal influences and therefore should not qualify for services like children who have more obvious disabilities such as an intellectual disability, a hearing disability or a vision disability.  I do not believe this to be true and apparently the legislators creating and revising the law did not believe it to be true either.

Some children with IEPs get many accommodations and modification to “level the playing field “ and more easily access their educational program.  Some people view accommodations and modifications as crutches rather than necessary education tools. I believe that these tools are essential to children with special needs getting a meaningful education.  It helps them to learn new skills and information that they might not otherwise be able to learn.

What do you think about this topic?  Please share your thoughts and questions by hitting the reply button below this post.

I want to share some information with parents about the precarious situation that educators are often put into regarding medicating and/or diagnosing children.  As an educator who has spent the bulk of my career working with children with diagnoses defined by behavioral and emotional indicators (ADD, Bi-Polar Disorder, ADHD, Autism, RAD, Asperger’s, OCD, SPD, and ODD to mention the most common) this is an issue I have often encountered and struggled with.  I am fully aware of and supportive of the decision about administering medication being left up to the parents and I think it is important for parents to know some of the situations that I, and other educators, have had to deal with.  It may enlighten you a bit, as to why this topic is often a touchy one with educators.

Many parents are unaware of the fact that educators cannot make a diagnoses (and really are not even suppose to bring up a diagnosis) related to behaviors exhibited at school.  This applies not only to teachers but also to school psychologists, school social workers and school counselors who often have training and experience in diagnosing medical/mental disorders in children.  Educators are not even suppose to suggest that medication may help a child as that is a medical decision to be made by a certified medical professional.  I know parents hear from teachers all the time that the teacher thinks their child has a certain disorder and/or that medication would help them a lot.  However, it is important to be aware that educators are not supposed to initiate a conversation about medical issues with parents.   Parents have often told me that they are confused by this because some educators readily tell them things they are not authorized or trained to do and others will skirt the issue completely because they have been told not to discuss these issues with parents.

This is one of those double-edged swords because many veteran educators have seen the educational benefits of a child being put onto an appropriate medication and many parents believe that the educator will share their concerns regarding medical needs and attention if they have them.  As a parent, you need to be aware of this issue and try to read between the lines if an educator is discussing behaviors consistent with certain disorders or the benefits of taking your child to the pediatrician to discusses behaviors of concern or anything related to medicating your child for his/her behaviors or affect.  If you have any question as to what they are trying to tell you, ask them because if you initiate the conversation they can give you their opinion.

I am a straight shooter and one of the issues I have continually had with regular public education is that most administrators do not want you to share unsolicited (and what I often deem to be critical) information with parents.  The main reason for this is…you guessed it…financial.  There have been cases where a school district employee suggested that a parent take the child in for an evaluation and then the school district ended up having to pay for the evaluation because they “referred” the parent for the evaluation.  I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who is familiar with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM-IV) and I find myself in an ethical bind, when I believe that a child is suffering from an emotional or behavioral disorder but I am not suppose to share that with the parent unless the parent brings it up.

I know that there are cases when educators make sweeping statements to parents about their child needing to be on meds because they are overly active or inattentive and this really is inappropriate.  There is a fine line here between giving parents information that they can decide to act upon or not and telling parents what they should do.  Except in cases of medical neglect, a parent’s decision about whether to give their child a medication or not needs to be respected by educators.  I believe that we must learn to educate children as they come to us, even if we feel that it is not the optimal learning situation for the child.

Please share your stories below about how and why you decided whether medicating or not medicating was the right decision for you and your child. I would also like to hear about whether anyone in the school system influenced your decision in any way.

It is easy for IEP meetings and the supplementary reports associated with the IEP meetings to be focused on deficits rather than on strengths because the nature of special education is to remediate deficits. A child only becomes a special education student if he or she qualifies for a disability.  The language in itself is negative.  Keep this in mind when you read reports about your child.  The therapist may not even be aware that they are portraying your child negatively, but may just be thinking about what they have to point out for him/her to continue to qualify for services in their area of speciality.

With that being said, it is a basic need for all parents (whether they have a child with special needs or not) to hear about the progress their child has made, the strengths their child possesses and their child’s general abilities as a student and person.  When I facilitated special education meetings, I always started with asking people to talk about the strengths, celebrations and/or growth that they had seen in the child.  I believe this sets a positive tone for the meeting and the difficult content that will often be discussed during the meeting.  No parent wants to be constantly reminded of all of their child’s deficits; they live with them day in and day out and most likely are keenly aware of them.

In my opinion, setting a positive and proactive tone is the job of the case manager and the special education team.  However, if this is not occurring during meetings or in reports I would suggest to parents to discuss this with the therapist, case manager or an administrator (if the case manager is part of the problem).  Explain your perception of the meetings and/or reports by pointing out specific examples (or non-examples) of how deficit focused rather than ability focused reports and/or meetings appear to you.

Parents often say that they feel like they cannot or should not show their vulnerabilities or state their genuine needs within the special education process because then professionals may view them as weak or needy.  Remember that you are human and that you are a parent.  It is good practice to ask for what you need.  It is also good to dialogue about your perception because all too often educators get so entrenched in their job that they lose focus and forget that they are there to help children and families.  In most situations, a gentle reminder will help the team be more positive and proactive.  If talking to individuals makes things worse, go up the chain of command and talk to the building administrator, the special education administrator and/or the superintendent.

Remember that advocating for your needs as a parent is directly related to advocating for your child.  Please share your experiences with talking to school personnel about the tone of their reports and/or meetings?  What has worked for you?  What has backfired for you?

I became an educator to have a positive impact on the world through educating, counseling, supporting and enhancing the lives of children with special needs and their families.  My career as an educator formally began in 1992.  Over the last twenty years, I have worked in three different states and five different school districts across the United States.  As time has passed, I have seen a very disturbing trend become more and more prevalent.  That trend is that the basis for decisions about services and programming for children with disabilities appear to be based more on financial constraints than on what is best for the child.  This has lent to many ethical issues in education, especially special education.

A parent recently e-mailed me and asked me if I thought that parents should let school districts slide on providing a quality education because of the current financial crisis in the country.  My answer to her was, “Absolutely not”! Every child deserves a quality education, period!  The reality is that special education services are expensive and that is not going to change.  School districts need to proactively consider how to make the best use of the resources they have.  I would like to suggest that administrators sitting in their offices in the administration building are not going to accomplish this.

Depending on the size of the school district, districts have at least one special education administrator and sometimes several who usually have offices in a building where there are not any children.  Does this make sense?  Does this keep the focus on the needs of the children?  Does this lend to the people who make financial decisions building any kind of relationship with the children and families who their decisions are affecting directly?  How can someone who is making life-changing decisions about a child never meet or observe the child?

Many people in my life (my colleagues, my family and my friends) were surprised that I left my most recent position teaching children with Autism in a public school over this and other ethical issues in education when I didn’t have another job to go to.  I will say that I was lucky that my husband had a job and that although we would have to live on significantly less income, we could get by.  I have left school districts in the past, before I was married, when I felt like the work I was doing to help children and their families was being squashed by disconnected administrators.  Let’s just say, I am not one of those people who will be forced to sit by quietly and watch the rights of children and parents be ignored because the money is gone from a budget line item.

I recently asked some parents of children with special needs what they would like to ask their child’s teacher if they could ask them anything.  The general theme in their answers was, ‘Why won’t you work with me and communicate with me about my child’s strengths and weaknesses so we can provide the best education possible for my child who is struggling?’

As a side note, before I get teachers telling me that they wish they had parents who would want to be involved, I will acknowledge that there are parents who are not involved in their child’s education at all.  I believe as educators we are obligated to keep reaching out to them and to not pass judgment upon them if they do not involve themselves in their child’s education.  To parents who are uninvolved, especially parents of children with special needs, I would like to suggest to you that your child will get a much higher quality education if you are involved.

In regards to the question that the parents above posed, I cannot speak for other teachers about why they choose not to join with parents who want to be involved in their child’s education. In my opinion, it is what is best for everyone in the scenario- the child, the parent, the family, me as the teacher and the school community.  I would like to share several different scenarios that occurred in my last two positions that led to me deciding I had no choice but to resign because I could not continue living with the unethical scenarios that my school districts were putting me in.

As you read this post, please take into consideration the fact that I am a veteran teacher with years of experience and a great deal of confidence that I am good at what I do.  It is standard in most states across the country that it takes three years to get tenure as a school district employee.  In all my years as an educator, I knew this was the case but it was never something in the front of my mind until my two most recent positions because it was constantly brought to my attention that if I wanted to get tenure I better keep my mouth shut.  “Excuse me; keep my mouth shut about unethical matters occurring with children in schools, I think not.” Hence, the reason I am not working for either of the last two school districts I was employed at.

I am by no means making excuses for why teachers choose not to join with parents who are willing and asking to be involved and I am wondering if my experiences over the last few years coupled with the financial situation have anything to do with it, which is why I will share some scenarios that I experienced with you.

• I emailed my supervisor that there was significant bullying behavior going on from children with behavior disabilities toward children with emotional disabilities and that if the building administration wasn’t going to take it seriously more children were going to be harmed emotionally.  I was told in no uncertain terms to never put the word, “bullying” into an email.
• I was told that because one of my students in my Autism program had done so well that the district would be moving him out of the Autism program (against my professional judgment) rather than transitioning him slowly to increase the likelihood of success because they needed to make room for another child who was more severe.  By the way, the parent did not attend the change of placement IEP meeting and was unaware that the district had made this determination when I saw her a week later.
• I told my supervisors that there was gang activity occurring in the classroom of children with behavior disabilities and that I was concerned that it was going to escalate.  I was told that because I was new to the state I could not possibly know this (never mind that I was trained as a social worker in Los Angeles).  Within one month of the issues not be addressed, three students had to be removed to out-of-district placements for gang and drug activity.
• I sat in an IEP meeting for a child in my Autism program where the parent requested that her son be placed in an out-of-district school that could better meet his significant needs while the case manager told by the parent that the district would never “put him out” because he was doing so well and he was not aggressive.  Prior to this, I had twice told the case manager that this child was my most severe child, that he was extremely bright, and that I felt that if he had a more intensive program he could be successful.
• When I went to a Board of Education Meeting in support of the district not outsourcing paraprofessionals, who play a critical role in the education of children with special needs, I was told that that was a very risky move to make as an untenured teacher.
• I had a child in my Autism program that was extremely aggressive towards both staff and peers and very disruptive towards the learning of other children.  After I tried many, many interventions to assist him with little success the district decided to send in a behavior specialist to conduct a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) and offer suggestions.  I readily accepted her into my classroom.  She and the case manager both observed the child once, analyzed my data and then created a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) that was completely inappropriate for a child with Autism.  When I told them I felt that the BIP was inappropriate and that the parents would not be in agreement if they understood what it meant, I was told that I better follow the plan if I wanted to keep my job.

I tell you these things not to horrify you, although I find them horrifying, unethical and unacceptable but to help you, as parents of children with special needs, understand the current culture of special education in the majority of public school in the United States.  The reason I began this blog and website is to arm parents with information about the laws that govern the education of their children.  I urge you to learn as much as possible about advocating for your child in a proactive manner because, unfortunately, I do not see things getting better anytime soon.

My personal circumstances have changed and it has necessitated me getting a new teaching position.  I was very purposeful in where I applied because I am determined to find a position where I can truly help children and families without all of the political diarrhea I have had to deal with over the last six years.  I have accepted a new teaching position in a day treatment program for children with Autism and I am hopeful that, although it is publically funded, its mission is in alignment with mine.  Although we will be moving to another state and I will be working full-time, I will continue to blog and provide content for parents of children with special needs because, I believe, it is part of my mission while I am here on earth.

I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts about this post.  Please comment below.

There are two primary purposes for a reevaluation.  The first is to determine through formal and informal assessments whether the child remains a child with a disability and therefore remains eligible for special education. The second is to use the information gained from the assessments to determine the child’s educational and functional needs and design a sound educational program outlined in the child’s Individual Education Program (IEP).

Many schools are choosing not to reevaluate children for their triennial revaluation IEP meetings.  If a school district feels that no new or helpful information will be gleaned from the evaluations or that there is no question about whether the child will still meet eligibility criteria as a child with a disability they can decide not to reassess, WITH THE PARENTS approval.  Following is the wording of this section of the law,

“If the IEP Team and other qualified professionals, as appropriate, determine that no additional data are needed to determine whether the child continues to be a child with a disability, and to determine the child’s educational needs, the public agency must notify the child’s parents of that determination and the reasons for the determination; and the right of the parents to request an assessment to determine whether the child continues to be a child with a disability, and to determine the child’s educational needs”.

I was recently contacted by a parent who told me that her school district told her they would not be revaluating her son because he was not qualified as having a specific learning disability.  When the parents said that they wanted their son to be reevaluated, the school district said they were not required to conduct reevaluations since he was not SLD.  A child’s disability category has nothing to do with whether a reevaluation should or should not be conducted.  If the parent or teacher believe that a reevaluation is necessary the school district is required to reassess all areas related to the child’s disability, which may include the follow domains as deemed appropriate; health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, communicative status, and motor abilities.

Some school districts also decide not to reevaluate children in certain disability categories because they know the child will re-qualify.  If the parent is in agreement with this decision that is fine and is in accordance with the law but I have seen this presented to the parent as a decision that has already been made without explaining to the parents that they have a choice in the matter.  This is not in accordance with the law and, in my opinion, is unethical.  Most parents believe that their school district follows all of the laws laid out in IDEA but unfortunately, that is not always the case, which is why I believe it is so important for parents to understand their parental rights and to ask questions when something does not feel or sound right.

Some people may wonder why a school district would choose to not conduct a reevaluation.  In my opinion, the main rationale for this decision is based on time and therefore money.  It can take a significant amount of time to conduct the assessments, write reports regarding the scores and other data learned from the assessments, explain the results to parents and teachers, create goals and objectives for the IEP based on the educational and functional needs determined through the assessments and coordinate meetings where all (or most) of the staff who assessed the child can be present to meet with the parents and create a new IEP.

In my personal opinion, as someone who has been a school social worker, a case manager, a special education teacher and a parent advocate for over 20 years, it would be rare that I would recommend to the parent to agree with the school district that a reevaluation is not warranted.  I strongly believe that appropriate assessments lead to better programming and services, which leads to more success for your child.  Appropriate educational and functional assessments are critical to setting up appropriate programs for children with disabilities.  Without current assessment data I feel like many teams are shooting in the dark when they create IEPs, especially now in the days of picking IEP objectives from a drop down menu rather than personally writing them based on individual student needs.

I would love to hear about your experiences with the reevaluation process with your child.  Have you ever been told that the team determined not to reevaluate your child even though you disagreed with that decision?  Did you know that they were supposed to conduct the reevaluation if you requested it?

Many children with special needs are educated during the school year with specialized curriculum designed to enhance learning for exceptional learners.  If you are able to get any materials from your child’s school to continue to work on some similar concepts, it will help your child’s transition back to school in the fall.  Many parents also choose to enroll their child in summer tutoring to keep working towards academic progression.  However, you can create opportunities for summer learning with every day activities.  Working on language development, vocabulary development, communication skills, social skills and behavior management skills can be brought into just about any environment you encounter in the summer.  If you are good at masking it as a fun activity or a game, your child may not even know they are participating in learning activities.  Summer is also a great time to help children expand their reading skills.  Trips to the Library or a book store where they can pick books on topics that they are interested in and/or passionate about (and quite frankly aren’t required reading given by the teacher) can keep many kids engaged, whether they are reading themselves or being read to by an adult or older sibling.

Use all of the teachable moments you can to extend your child’s learning.  When you go to the pool, the beach, the park, shopping, on a vacation, to a friend’s house or to a family party teach your children new vocabulary and/or expectations for the location.  Do not assume your child will just pick up on new words, concepts and expectations.  If your child has only swum in grandma’s pool, swimming in a pool at a hotel or a community pool will likely have different rules and this is the perfect opportunity to teach them, model them and work on them.  If you generally go to the grocery store, go to the pharmacy, go to home improvement stores and/or go to the mall while the children are at school and now they have to come with you, pick up items to see if they know what they are and what you do with them.  Many children with special needs need a lot of repetition to learn new concepts and to learn what function a known item has.  Involve them in the process by making your shopping trips into treasure hunts to find certain items.  When you teach your child new concepts or vocabulary you can then use down times to “quiz” them while you are riding in the car, walking somewhere, or waiting in lines.  You can get into a natural rhythm of communicating through talking, signing, or using assistive technology devices to expand their world.

If your child struggles with social skills and/or inappropriate social behavior, I suggest you make a list of your highest areas of concern and then rank them in order of importance.  Start with the skill you most want your child to work on.  If you decide you really want your child to learn to share and cooperate with his/her peers better, then set up social situations where this can be reinforced.  Share your goals with the other adults who will spend time with your child so everyone can reinforce the appropriate behavior.  Positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior is much better than negative reinforcement for inappropriate behavior.  This essentially means, when you see your child sharing and cooperating you want to praise him/her and maybe even give them a desired item to reinforce to them that this is the behavior you want to promote.

Many parents also worry about the loss of OT and/or PT over the summer break.  Be creative in thinking about activities where you can naturally continue to develop fine and gross motor skills over the break from regular therapy sessions. Arts and crafts projects, dressing and eating are great opportunities to work on fine motor skills. There are also many board games such as Operation, Don’t Break the Ice, Barrel of Monkeys and many more that require fine motor work.  Gross motor skills can continue to be developed by activities that require physical exercise such as running, kicking and jumping, activities that require lifting such as moving heavy boxes or rocks and dirt in the yard and activities that require balancing such as walking on railroad track boarders around play areas.

If money is not an object there are specialized summer camps around the country for most disability categories of children with special needs.  These camps often incorporate therapeutic components by trained staff into the traditional camp experience.  There are some wonderful programs out there, but they are unattainable for the majority of the population due to the cost.  If you want your child to have a camp experience check with your child’s school counselor or case manager about resources they are aware of in the community.  More and more city and county park and recreation facilities are setting up special camps for children with different disabilities.  You can also check with the local YMCA and charitable organizations such as the Lions Club.  Organizations such as these often has specialized camps and often offer scholarships based on financial need.  If you do an online search for your area, you might be surprised to see the array of opportunities available to you.

I would love to hear about how you plan to extend summer learning for children with special needs in your life.   What activities have worked best for you in the past?  Please share any advice or resources that other may find helpful.