Category: School
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Counting the Costs: How School Trauma Impacts the Entire Family
When we discuss school trauma, we often confine it to the child, a single incident or outburst filed away. Yet, this trauma rarely stays contained. It spreads, infiltrating the family’s entire world: the home, the marriage, the siblings, the finances, and the very identity of the parents. I learned this painful truth firsthand. My autistic…
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Keeping All Students Safe Act Reintroduced: It’s Time to End the Use of Seclusion in Schools
The Keeping All Students Safe Act (KASSA) has been reintroduced in the 119th Congress by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Representative Don Beyer (D-VA), Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), and Representative Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ). This bill aims to prohibit seclusion, mechanical…
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As a Former School-Based SLP, I Knew About the Harm Caused by Seclusion and Restraint, Then It Happened to My Son
I worked as a school-based SLP for seven years in Washington state. My population consisted of elementary and middle-school-aged children, and I purposefully volunteered to work with special population students, including autistic children. The caseload was enormous, and it was an eye-opening experience into the disparities in teaching and support for the population of students…
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Hacking School Discipline: A Short Book Review
Current research demonstrates that autistic learners face rates of school suspensions and expulsions at much higher rates than their non-autistic peers. It is likely that many of these punitive and exclusionary discipline practices are a direct result of unmet environmental needs within the school environment. While not specifically focusing on neurodivergent learners, Jeffrey Benson’s Hacking…
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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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From Tough Love to Trauma-Informed: An Educator’s Journey Toward Transformational Teaching
Twenty-six years ago, I began my teaching career with a passion for making a difference and the advice, “Don’t let them see you smile until January.” My first position was teaching third grade in a predominantly Black, low-income community. I entered the classroom ready to love my students and lead them with firm expectations and…
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Parallel Battles: Advocacy in Healthcare and Education for Vulnerable Populations
Every day as a nurse and mother of a child with a disability, I find myself navigating two very distinct worlds – one rooted in healthcare and the other in education, both, however, interconnected by a demanding commitment to advocacy. Through my experience as a nurse and my daughter’s experience within the public school system, I…
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We Don’t Understand You: Understanding Trauma Matters
For the longest time, humans knew next to nothing about the organ that resides in their own skull: the brain. A vital organ that controls our actions, thoughts, and behaviors. A price of misunderstanding the workings of the brain has led to detrimental effects, like traumas known as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). From a multitude…
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Neurodiversity in Schools: Progress Since I Was a Student?
Before touching on my professional experiences, I want to give a quick summary of what I recall from my school days. I went through the public school system in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I specify not to age myself but to remind readers that our knowledge of neurodiversity has made great progress since…
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What If We Presumed Need in Addition to Presuming Competence?
You may or may not have heard the edict “presume competence.” It is a crucial part of creating neuro-affirming spaces. I was first introduced to it through the world of supporting non-speaking or minimally-speaking Autistics in the film “This is Not About Me,” featuring Jordyn Zimmerman. In the movie, Jordyn shares her experiences as a…