Category: Education
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An autistic self-advocate’s journey and voice
Often it can be hard to remember things related to trauma (probably because the data is stored ‘in the back of the mind’ in the cerebellum rather than the prefrontal cortex). My earliest memory of abuse/neglect was as a toddler and I was left outside or locked in a room by myself sometimes for hours.…
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My Child Can’t Talk. How Will I Know if Someone’s Hurting Him at School?
My son is autistic and has a significant intellectual disability. He attends middle school in a self-contained classroom. Recently, we learned that one of his classmates was physically restrained by staff 33 times in a period of 8 weeks — at least once to the point of unconsciousness — without report to the child’s parents.…
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What’s the problem with this functional behavioral assessment interview form?
A parent recently shared with me a functional behavior assessment student interview form that was sent home for her son to complete. The form, pictured below included five questions for the student to complete: So what is wrong with this form? Well, to begin with, the form assumes that all behaviors are intentional. The form…
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“Hit him if he does that.”
It was hard to bring my son to school again. He had dutifully gone to school each day, unable to tell me about what he was being subjected to, never resisting or complaining. But the day he was to start at the new school the effect the experience had had on him was plain: he…
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Neuroplasticity is our human superpower!
I am determined and hopeful to share a deeper understanding of social and emotional learning through the lens of the nervous system and brain development as we move through year three of a global pandemic alongside many other adversities and challenges our schools are facing and pondering. Early in this school year, staff, educators, students,…