Spesh

The sweetest shoutout ❤️🖤🤍

🌟 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT 🌟

The CEC Family Resource Program would like to recognize Spesh for the incredible work they are doing to support the special education community across Kentucky. 💙 Their dedication to providing resources, advocacy, education, and support for families and educators is helping create a more inclusive and empowered community for individuals with disabilities.
We are thankful for organizations like Spesh that continue making a meaningful difference for so many families every day. ✨

Be sure to follow their page and support the amazing work they are doing! ⬇️

Inclusive VBS 🫶🏻⛪️

Anybody available to be a buddy this weekend? ⚾️🧢

We have filled the needed spots for this weekend! Thank you to everyone who shared and volunteered!👏💪🏟️

If you want to serve we have more spots available during the season!

Follow the link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfoXfdBKXD43bxGr0YYqkUvH7CptWrL9W8CLi1JTsNtc0T0-A/viewform

One volunteer can change a child’s entire game day experience — from helping them bat, run bases, celebrate wins, and make a friend on the field playing our favorite game⚾

If you can spare a little time this weekend, we’d love to have you join our Bambino family!

If you have volunteered this season already and over 18, or 12-17 year old buddies!

I want to talk about something that changed the way I see education and everyday life: universal design.

Universal design reminds me of Pete Hoechner, who first introduced it to me in a way that truly made everything click.

Once you start noticing it, you see it everywhere—captions on TV, elevators, texting, smart assistants, automatic doors… things designed for access that we all use every single day.

And it doesn’t stop there.

In schools, we often forget that education has never truly been “one size fits all.” Our classrooms include students with IEPs, 504 plans, RTI supports, gifted learners, English learners, and students with a wide range of needs and experiences. General education and special education are deeply connected—and always have been.

Here’s something I really want people to understand: accommodations are not only for students with formal plans. There is no reason students cannot access supports that help them learn, even if they don’t have a label or paperwork. When we design learning with flexibility from the start, more students succeed.

We’ve made progress, but we still have work to do. Inclusion isn’t separate from everyday life—it’s already part of it.

Read the full blog here:

Disability Rights Aren't Just for People With Disabilities Disability rights and universal design are often misunderstood as issues that only affect a small group of people. In reality, they shape the everyday tools, spaces, and systems we all rely on -- from captions and elevators to smart technology and classroom supports. This blog explores how inclusion...

New experiences can feel exciting… but they can also feel overwhelming for neurodivergent kids and autistic learners.

That’s why visual supports and social stories matter so much. 💛

They help children understand expectations, reduce anxiety, build confidence, and participate more successfully in the world around them.

I wrote a new blog sharing why accessible preparation can completely change a child’s experience — and why inclusion starts long before the event itself.

Read here:

Why Visual Supports and Social Stories Matter for New Experiences Visual supports and social stories can make an enormous difference for neurodivergent children navigating new experiences. From reducing anxiety to increasing confidence and participation, accessible preparation helps children feel safe, informed, and included in the world around them.

I didn’t leave education—I left the classroom 🍎

This is the story of how I got here, why I made the hardest decision of my career, and how Spesh was born in the middle of it all.

👉 Read here:

I Left the Classroom -- But I Didn't Leave Education I didn’t leave education—I left the classroom. I once planned to be a history teacher, but one unexpected opportunity working with a young man with autism changed my path. I loved teaching deeply, but I also care loudly, and eventually I couldn’t carry every gap alone. Leaving the classroom wa...

When our community has the opportunity to recognize, encourage, and support disability advocates, families, educators, caregivers, and inclusive organizations — we have to show up. 💙💛

The Disability Support & Advocacy Awards is more than an event. It is a celebration of people creating meaningful change in the disability community across Kentucky. This year’s event will partner with Churchill Park School in Louisville and will include advocacy awards, adaptive activities, support groups, resources, entertainment, an art show, and opportunities for connection and inclusion.

I would love for the Spesh community to get involved by:
• Making nominations
• Volunteering
• Donating supplies or resources
• Sponsoring the event
• Sharing the event with others
• Encouraging advocates, teachers, caregivers, students, and organizations to apply

There are awards recognizing advocates, special education teachers, support groups, inclusive community members, youth advocates, and more.

I am also happy to help anyone work through applications collaboratively. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part, and no one should feel like they have to navigate advocacy opportunities alone.

If you know someone making a difference in the disability community, this is the time to celebrate them. Recognition matters. Inclusion matters. Advocacy matters.

🗓 Disability Support & Advocacy Awards
📍 Churchill Park School — Louisville, Kentucky
📅 October 17, 2026

Please reach out if you would like more information, help with applications, or ideas on how to get involved. Let’s continue building a community that lifts each other up.

✨ Everyone has something special that makes them uniquely them ✨

Did you know I can crochet and sew? 🧶🪡

I love creating things with my hands almost as much as I love creating visual supports!

Now I want to hear from YOU 👇

What’s your talent? Big or small, fun or serious — share it below! 💛
Maybe you:
🎨 Paint
🎶 Sing
📸 Take amazing photos
🍪 Bake
🛠 Build things
🧩 Solve problems
🌱 Garden
💃 Dance
💻 Create content
💙 Encourage others

Your talent matters. Let’s celebrate each other in the comments! 🏆

It’s Fun Freebie Friday 🎉

GIVEAWAY:
I want to choose ONE parent, teacher, or therapist for a custom designed visual support (digital download) 👀

✅ Visual schedule
⭐️ Token board
😊 Task analysis
👏 Choice board
👍👎 Yes/No
1️⃣ First/Then
OR something we design together 🫶🏻

ENTER TO WIN:
Just comment below a visual support that would be most useful right now.

📢 I’ll announce a winner Sunday night at 7:00!

ETA: I create all custom visuals using Canva, and I know how to send out the editable template link! So you will have this resource to use again and again as student needs change 💙