Category: Education
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Cultivating Inclusive Futures: Supporting Neurodivergent Learners Through Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
Creating inclusive and supportive environments is essential for everyone. This is especially true for neurodivergent children, people with disabilities, and racial or ethnic minority communities who often face systemic barriers. This literature review explores how Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) principles are applied in education, healthcare, and community settings to make these environments more…
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My Journey: Heart-Strong International Changemakers for Children
This past week, I was very proud to receive my certificate in the Heart-Strong International Changemakers for Children course, taught by Sandi Lerman. Signing up, I already knew that anything Sandi and Heart-Strong International had put together was going to be amazing! AASR has a long-running relationship and collaboration with Sandi and Heart-Strong International, including…
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It’s All Just Part of the Routine: How Touch Becomes Restraint in Early Childhood Education
Every child deserves to feel safe in their body. Every early educator wants to be someone a child can trust. If we truly want to build environments rooted in care, we have to be willing to pause, reflect, and make changes. There are amazing, wonderful things happening in early childhood education settings every day. I…
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What We Got Wrong About Discipline
It is common to associate discipline with punishment, for some, that includes spanking, beating, and other severe forms of what is now considered abuse. I know that some claim they are “okay” even after experiencing these practices. However, I have yet to see any credible evidence that disproves my belief that they did little more…
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When a Field Trip Ends in Prone Restraint
The most recent restraint occurred while on a field trip. My son was having an anxiety attack related to his aide leaving and his crush telling him that she did not want to be his friend that day. Restraints were placed on him, and his safe people were not around. Instead of the special education…
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You Don’t Get to Clutch Your Pearls at the Destination You Helped Build the Road To
Ableism is deeply embedded in early childhood education. It appears in our policies, practices, and the casual, everyday language and behaviors of educators and administrators. It shows up in how we pathologize children’s behaviors, dismiss their needs, and treat their differences as disruptions to be managed through compliance. And it shows up in how we…
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Yes, the Preschool-to-Prison Pipeline is a Real Phenomenon
In recent years, advocates have drawn attention to a troubling and embedded trend in our society: the preschool-to-prison pipeline. While the phenomenon may sound hyperbolic at first, it reflects an ingrained pattern of harmful and disproportionate disciplinary actions and systemic inequalities that can begin as soon as a child is born. The continuation of the…
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Neurodivergent Students Don’t Need a Calm Corner, They a Whole Classroom Rooted in Calm, Connection, and Compassion
“Just make a calm-down space in your room!” they say, as if emotional regulation can be solved with a bean bag chair, a glitter jar, and a cute sign that says “breathe.” But here’s what so many people miss: when I’m dysregulated when my nervous system is in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn I’m not…
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Both Sides Get Social-Emotional Learning Wrong And Keep Pushing the One System That Harms Kids Most, PBIS
In today’s chaotic and polarized political environment, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) has become one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented concepts in education. What should be a universally embraced tool to help students develop self-awareness, emotional regulation, empathy, and resilience has instead become a lightning rod for controversy. Politicians from both ends of the political spectrum…
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A Step Forward: Department of Justice Settlement with Montcalm Area ISD Signals Ongoing Commitment to Protecting Students from Seclusion and Restraint
The Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint welcomes the recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Educational Opportunities Section regarding its investigation and settlement agreement with the Montcalm Area Intermediate School District (MAISD) in Michigan. This development is a powerful signal that there are those in the federal government who remain committed to protecting the…