As a teacher Parental/Procedural Safeguards were never really something that I worried about too much. As long as we got it to the parent I considered it to be fine. I will say that this was definitely one of my weaknesses as a Special Education teacher. Because in all transparency, we should be explaining this to the parents and making sure that they have a working knowledge. As a tutor and now advocate, I do my best to make sure that the clients know their rights and have a

Having worked in Special Education for so long, I have been asked many times, “What’s the difference between 504 and Special Education?”. And I’m excited since this topic will allow me to delve into both. Also, this post may be a little heavier with legal terms and laws, so here is my obligatory glossary and disclaimer: Sped Acronyms and Glossary of Terms. As usual, please remember this is based on my experiences in Texas and Louisiana. Laws can change (it’s been over 5 year

Regression is a concerning problem that parents may not be aware of, let alone realize it’s impacting their learner. In school terms, it’s when a student seems to have forgotten what they may have learned previously and is unable to recoup said skills after a couple of weeks of instruction. This typically shows up during longer breaks like summer, winter holidays, and spring break. Learners in special needs classrooms seem to be more susceptible to this and special education

Once again, a current client of mine inspired this post. There seems to be a lot of confusion among parents and misunderstanding of STAAR Alt or the state’s alternative testing option. Obviously, this post will be focused on Texas’ STAAR Alt test, but if you need help from your state please reach out to someone from your school or district. AS usual, I’m attaching this document, just in case someone needs to reference any acronyms or isn’t sure what I’m referring to Sped Acr

I want to apologize, this post should have been out about two weeks ago. However, due to the winter storm and all of the unforeseen damage that came with it, I have been a little behind. But here it is, so enjoy! When I sat down to write this post, I wasn’t sure where to start. Least Restrictive Environment (wanting to educate the student in question to the maximum extent with non-disabled peers) seems like an easy enough term to follow, but my job as a SPED teacher has alw

I’m attaching this document, just in case someone needs to reference any acronyms or isn’t sure what I’m referring to Sped Acronyms and Glossary of Terms. Obligatory disclaimer, as usual, please remember this is based on my experiences in Texas and Louisiana. Laws can change so make sure you are referring to your district's and state’s policies and procedures. So as I’m moving into advocacy, I’ve had a few clients that seem to be confused as to what paperwork they should have