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🚨BSEA JUST DENIED HOME HOSPITAL SERVICES🚨

Translation: Your child with cancer treatment, seizure disorder, or complex medical or mental needs? Tough luck. Figure it out.

It's just a child who needs education, right?
A child fighting cancer? A child whose seizures require medical monitoring? A medically fragile child? What if your child needs to attend PHP. They would need to leave the house for this... They are homebound for clinical care.. That does not mean not leaving the home.

Not BSEA's problem.
IDEA says FAPE. ADA says accommodations. OSEP says medical needs can't be barriers.

BSEA says: We don't care.
Parents: This is wrong. File complaints. Get an attorney. Do not accept this. Your medically complex child deserves education AND medical support—not a false choice.

Who else is tired of BSEA failing our most vulnerable kids? 💙

ASD ADHD sensory processing CVI… the list goes on.

Do you think this would help your child?
You can have it added to an IEP as an accommodation for reducing visual stimuli!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BcDgh8xzs/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Someone shared with me this week that a school had adopted the concept of ‘mullet classrooms’ to support learning.

Mullet, as in the mullet hairstyle. Business at the front and party at the back.

This is a brilliant concept and would be so beneficial for children with cerebral visual impairment (CVI).

Keep the learning spaces at the front of the classroom visually clutter free, so that it is easier to focus and process the learning material.

At the back of the classroom, have the artwork and other displays that are important in the classroom. But at the back, they won’t distract attention from the learning.

ADMIN SHUFFLE – HERE WE GO AGAIN 🎪🍿

The Admin Go Fish is officially underway, folks!
🔄 You know the drill: old admins are out 👋, shiny new admins are in ✨, and everyone's pretending they have a master plan for special education while secretly Googling "what is an IEP?" 🤔📱

Here's the insider scoop:
🕵️‍♀️ Want to know the REAL story about the new administration? Skip the fancy interview presentation and call your SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Council). 📞
They've got the TEA. ☕
They know who these admins really are—the wins 🏆, the losses 😬, and the mysterious meetings that went nowhere 🤷‍♀️.

Don't be charmed. 🎭 Yes, they smile 😊. Yes, they say all the right things about "supporting families" 👨‍👩‍👧 and "collaborative partnerships" 🤝. They can fake it like pros and play a good game 🎬. But here's the truth: interviews and presentations are basically Broadway performances for education 🎭✨. (Spoiler alert: They're lying. 🚨)

Check a few times. 🔍🔍🔍 Do your homework. Look at their track record. Search for Prior Written Notices (PWNs) 📋, due process complaints 😤, or BSEA hearings ⚖️. These documents tell the REAL story about how new admins actually handle special education. No spin. No performance. Just the facts. 💯 (Hint: The facts are usually messy. 🍽️)

Why does this matter? 🤨 Because it could be YOUR kid next. 👦👧 Your student's IEP. 📚 Your battles. ⚔️ Your advocacy. 💪 Your sanity. 😅 So before you trust the new regime, do the work. 🔨 Talk to parents who've dealt with them. Ask the hard questions. Get references from people who've actually sat across from them in IEP meetings without wanting to flip the table. 🪑💥

The bottom line: 📍 The Admin Shuffle happens every few years. 🔄 New faces 👔, same challenges 😩, different strategies 🎯. But one thing NEVER changes: informed parents win. 🏆 SEPACs know. 🧠 Parents who check the record know. 🔎 And that knowledge? It's POWER. 💪⚡
Pro tips for the uninitiated: 💡

Call your SEPAC → They're basically the Yelp reviews of administration 📱⭐
Read the PWNs → This is where admins accidentally tell the truth 😬📄
Talk to other parents → You'll hear stories that make your hair stand on end 👻
Check BSEA outcomes → Nothing says "we don't follow the law" like a hearing loss 📉😳
Trust your gut → If it feels sketchy, it probably is 🚩

Remember: You're not being paranoid. 😌 You're being prepared. 🛡️ There's a difference. Know the difference. WIN the IEP game. 🎮🏅
Good luck out there, warriors! ⚔️🛡️

👑 May your IEP meetings be short, your admins be competent, and your coffee be strong. ☕💪

🎓 YEARLY REMINDER 🎓

How We Talk to Our Graduates Matters

This is your yearly reminder
**DO NOT ask students graduating where they're going to college in the fall!!!!!.**

Instead, ask about their priorities and goals for the fall.

Here's why this matters:

Not every student attends college, and that's completely valid and they don’t need to be left to feel less than for not going:

• Exploring a career path
• Traveling and discovering themselves
• Taking care of a loved one
• Navigating life skill needs that require different options
• Building skills through apprenticeships, trade programs, or entry-level work
• Taking a Gap year for mental health reasons
• Making fiscal choices to better prepare themselves for next step goal’s
• Serving our county

**Try these questions instead:**

✓ Do you have any plans for the fall?
✓ What's your biggest goal after you've graduated?
✓ Tell me something you're excited about?
✓ What's one thing you learned this year?
✓ What's one thing you'd like to tell me about yourself now that you've graduated?

These questions affirm their autonomy, celebrate their growth, and honor the diversity of their choices.

🤦‍♀️ ADMIN GONE WILD 🤦‍♀️

So your child has ADHD diagnosis and you want an evaluation? BOLD of you. 🙃 They also are entering Kindergarten and you want to set them up for a great start to school ... HOW DARE YOU?!🙃

School: "We'll evaluate! 30 minutes should do it!" ⏱️
Also school: doesn't talk to daycare staff
Mom: "Um, that seems short..."
School: "Fine, FINE. Second evaluation. Still 30 minutes tho." 😤

Eligibility meeting rolls around:
Mom and Advocate : shows up ✋
School: "Only the OT and BCBA are here, sorry!"
Mom: "Where's the admin? The regular ed teacher?"
School: "...who?" 🤐

CONGRATS SCHOOL! 🎉 You just earned yourself an IEE bill for not doing due diligence!

That's what we call a FREE INDEPENDENT EVALUATION AT YOUR EXPENSE! 💸

Plot twist: There WAS a team chair... it was the same person who did the 30-minute assessment. No conflict of interest here! 😇
However the whole team was not there.

P.S. - DAYC-2 results? What results? 📄❓They must consult teacher even if they are day care teachers.

Happy Mother's Day

If you are a CANVAS LMS and API of Power School district ask if you have been victimized by another attack?

FERPA LAWS matter here

A Cyberattack on Canvas Could Cause Lasting Aftershocks for Schools Data from millions of students might have been compromised.

Thank you to The Boston Globe for highlighting how schools use fancy terminology to obscure seclusion practices.

This reporting is critical: parents who don’t know what to ask for can’t advocate effectively. If parents aren’t given clear language about the behavioral interventions used with their children, they cannot truly be equal partners on the IEP team. A law under IDEA.

But this is just the beginning. School districts are engaging in far more troubling practices. They are using confusing language and selective information to keep parents from understanding what’s actually happening in classrooms and during behavioral interventions.

It’s gaslighting, plain and simple.
Parents deserve transparency.

Children deserve accountability. It’s time districts changed these practices.

From our good globe friend Mandy from the Globe

Hi Massachusetts friends!

My former colleague at the Globe Chris Huffaker is looking for families affected by anxiety-induced absenteeism.

Last time the Globe reported on the issue, we found schools weren’t equipped (or willing) to support kiddos with anxiety back into the classroom.

If you know anyone who may be willing to be interviewed for a Globe story, [email protected].

Send a message to learn more

I am honored to be speaking THIS Thursday at Perkins Transition Center with Perkins School for the Blind

With a focus on accessible housing, as a mom and advocate of innovative housing solutions such as tiny homes, it is an honor to support such a fantastic school with decades of experience in supporting those with differing educational needs.

If you see me say HI! I would love to chat!