Caregivers and families play an important role in a child’s development and are instrumental to their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being. Caregivers of children with disabilities or delays may need additional support to understand their child’s special needs. Caregivers might also need help in finding and accessing information and services for their child and…

As students and teachers make their way back to school, preparing for a smooth transition and successful year is important. Students with exceptionalities entering the classroom face new and familiar challenges and the demand on educators to skillfully support these students is rising. More than 60% of students ages 6 through 21 served under IDEA,…

Before we can discuss early language skills, we need to be clear about the definition of language development. Language development and communication are about more than talking. They refer to the different ways a child understands and communicates, only part of which include spoken words. Language development is important for children to adequately exchange information…

A recent study released by the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) and Understood, entitled Forward Together: Helping Educators Unlock the Power of Students Who Learn Differently, reveals an unfortunate reality impacting the education of the 1 in 5 students with learning disabilities and attention issues: “Even though more than 70% of students with LD or ADHD spend at least…

Helping children through the process of social emotional learning and setting them on the path to social emotional competence is an important role of the adults involved in their lives. Social emotional competence is associated with so many factors related to leading a productive, fulfilling life, including personal mental well-being, school success, positive relationships, responsible…

Potentially more than any other aspect of early childhood education, researchers agree on the importance of a child’s social emotional development, or social emotional learning (SEL). This is because social emotional competence is associated with so many factors related to leading a productive, fulfilling life, including: personal mental well-being school success positive relationships responsible decision making…

Multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) is a more proactive, effective and efficient practice of supporting students in reaching their full potential than traditional “wait to fail” models. The foundation of an effective behavioral MTSS system is a strong tier one that includes all of the research based core components for effectively managing challenging behavior of…

Students with an autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, think, learn, and process information differently from most of their peers. Beyond the facts and figures of subjects like math and language arts, there’s an enormous amount of data that students must pay attention to, interpret, organize, and act upon. Students with ASD also need to observe…

Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month In 1987 President Ronald Reagan proclaimed March as “Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month.” Much progress has been made since that time toward the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in all areas of community life, including education, employment, and community living. However, there is still work to be done. For example, bullying…

3 New Courses Added to Our Autism Spectrum Course Category We are excited to release this new 3-part online professional development course series, created in partnership with expert-author Catherine Faherty. These courses will help teachers and paraeducators working with students with autism spectrum disorder better understand and implement  structured teaching best practices! Watch this short overview…