Category: Story
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Reflections on my childhood: Locked in the principal’s office
Today’s guest author is Jennifer Abbanat. Jennifer is a wife and mom to 3 kids ages 18, 16, and 13. Jennifer is an advocate and voice for her neurodiverse children. She and her family live in Northern California.
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Advocating for change in Billerica Massachusetts
Today’s guest author is Carole Reardon. Carole is an advocate and parent from Billerica Massachusetts. Currently, she is a stay at home mother, however, she spent over 20 years in the education field and has an undergraduate degree in human development, with a minor in early childhood education. Additionally, Carole has a Master’s degree in curriculum and…
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The power of believing in children
Today’s guest author is Amy Welch. Amy is a paraprofessional who has experience working with students on the Autism spectrum and those with behavior disorders. A lot of what she does with her students comes from her own personal experiences with her son. She was forced to become a well-educated advocate for him after facing…
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Making Positive Change Through Negative Experiences
The Story of Sam Maloney Today’s guest author is Debra Pierce Bellare. Debra has a background in education with a focus on alternative learning. Over the last ten years, she has been advocating to stop the harmful practice of restraint and seclusion used in the public and private school systems in New York State. Her son Sam,…
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Compassion and positive relationships – not restraint
I am a special education teacher of 15 years and have seen and experienced many challenging behaviors in children with disabilities. For many years, my job was working with severely disabled students. In the past year, I have been working with children with lower support needs. These are academically capable students some of whom might…
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Nightmares from the “the naughty room”
I often tell people that when our son Cole was born thirteen years ago with Down syndrome, that he flipped our world upside down in the best way. His love of life and ability to appreciate the moment is something we can all learn from. He has always been a loving, kind and funny little…
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Is your child being locked up at school in Canada?
With the help of Silas Brown of Global News, we are finally able to tell our story, and to warn other parents about what happened to our non-verbal, autistic daughter Lily, at her old school.
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Segregation and Restraint
A family’s journey Today’s guest author is Amber Dawn. Amber is a resident of Des Moines, Iowa. Amber is an advocate for better teacher-parent relationships in the education system. Amber is a parent who’s willing to stand up for her son and others. It all started in Kindergarten, a teacher told me something was wrong with my…
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A Moron Row, Knuckle Raps, and “Dunce Caps”
I started school in 1958 in a classroom in a house in the little town of Lost Creek, West Virginia. According to my mother, I was ready for school two years before I could start because I set about mastering the set of skills necessary for students to learn before entering school that were listed…
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If Johns Hopkins Children’s Center recommends it
Maybe your child’s teacher should read it too Today’s guest author is Shelley. Shelley is a stay at home mom, whose son is her full time job. I have a son with special needs who is in the 3rd grade. Approximately 14 months ago I took my son to the emergency room at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center due to…