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Aug 31, 2020
2 min

How to keep your child engaged and available for instruction

While teachers are struggling with zoom proficiency skills, work on your child's willingness to look and respond to virtual instruction...

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Virginia Spencer

Aug 12, 2020
2 min

Chaperones are not welcome

Awkward and embarrassing? No, I'm not describing the teenager, but the parents.

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Motor skills are equal to academic skills

Virginia Spencer

Aug 10, 2020
2 min

Motor skills are equal to academic skills

Special Education includes specially designed instruction, modification to the curriculum and/or instruction. He clearly needed goals.

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Executive function goals should evolve with your child

Virginia Spencer

Aug 6, 2020
2 min

Executive function goals should evolve with your child

Unfortunately, in a misguided attempt to support a child, many educators and some parents continue to "wait on" their child.

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Services consistent with a child's hearing impairment & how to get them

Virginia Spencer

Aug 3, 2020
2 min

Services consistent with a child's hearing impairment & how to get them

If a school uses information from a prior private evaluation, this is a REED (review of existing evaluation data) and it is not acceptable.

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The statute of limitations; COVID-proof.

Virginia Spencer

Jul 29, 2020
2 min

The statute of limitations; COVID-proof.

Here is where you should know how long, in general, you have to complain through dispute resolution methods under IDEA.

11 views0 comments

Silence: what's heard when your child shuts down

Virginia Spencer

Jul 27, 2020
2 min

Silence: what's heard when your child shuts down

Whatever you observe and is applicable to your child, they are all a potentially serious problem.

13 views0 comments

Virginia Spencer

Jul 22, 2020
2 min

Make friends with cell phones.

As schools gave up resisting cell-phone usage on campus, there was an opportunity to employ them as a teaching tool.

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The Notice of Procedural Safeguards is a thrilling read. For real.

Virginia Spencer

Jul 20, 2020
2 min

The Notice of Procedural Safeguards is a thrilling read. For real.

If your child is being disciplined and not yet under IDEA, you could have a reason to request an expedited evaluation.

24 views0 comments

Special Education & return on investment (ROI)

Virginia Spencer

Jul 15, 2020
2 min

Special Education & return on investment (ROI)

Balanced Literacy is one method, still used for reading instruction, that has been scientifically discredited.

14 views0 comments

Virginia Spencer

Jul 13, 2020
2 min

The power of sticky notes

If you become an adult without mastering a system for visualizing how you will complete a task, you may struggle with time-limited projects.

6 views0 comments

ADHD Communication tips for parents of teenagers

Virginia Spencer

Jul 6, 2020
2 min

ADHD Communication tips for parents of teenagers

Your child may have an ADHD diagnosis, but your gut tells you that it doesn't explain everything you are observing on a daily basis.

9 views0 comments

Exceptional kids: gifted education is like special education

Virginia Spencer

Jul 1, 2020
3 min

Exceptional kids: gifted education is like special education

Here's a couple of reasons why the instructional grass is never really greener, whether your child has an IEP or not- in Texas.

3 views0 comments

COVID19 has nothing to do with it! The Specific Learning Disability that the school overlooked.

Virginia Spencer

Jun 24, 2020
3 min

COVID19 has nothing to do with it! The Specific Learning Disability that the school overlooked.

Any unexplained problem leads to suspicions that the school team has missed an area of educational need.

5 views0 comments

Virginia Spencer

Jun 17, 2020
3 min

Tips: ADHD & the Naughty Step

You may be more familiar with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder than the Naughty Step. However, many parents will associate ADHD...

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Why the Parent shouldn't be the Expert in the IEP meeting

Virginia Spencer

Jun 17, 2020
3 min

Why the Parent shouldn't be the Expert in the IEP meeting

I know you are already thinking that you ARE the expert in the meeting. This may be true, I don't doubt it, but here's why you don't want...

16 views0 comments

Individualized Education Plan, first; 504 plan, second

Virginia Spencer

Sep 17, 2017
4 min

Individualized Education Plan, first; 504 plan, second

First of all, if your child has a disability mentioned or implied in the IDEA, he/she should be evaluated for special education eligibility.

5 views0 comments

Back to School Series: 3) Goals and the dynamic IEP

Virginia Spencer

Aug 26, 2017
3 min

Back to School Series: 3) Goals and the dynamic IEP

Wait, let's back up. All plans have starting points so that they aren't built on thin air. Before we can write any goals we need to know...

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Back to School Series: 2) Transition Planning, Is the ITP good enough?

Virginia Spencer

Aug 13, 2017
3 min

Back to School Series: 2) Transition Planning, Is the ITP good enough?

When the ARD/IEP team talks about writing a transition plan, they are not referring to attending a new school or becoming a High School...

31 views0 comments

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