Special Education

For weeks, I haven’t been able to sleep. Since January, the fear of what’s happening to public education—and especially special education—has weighed heavily on me. And I know I’m not alone. Parents of children with disabilities across the country are feeling the same deep anxiety about the future of our kids' education. This week, I had the opportunity to join Senator Patty Murray in speaking out against the administration’s reckless efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department

This is hard for me to write. I don’t like talking about controversial topics. I’ve spent most of my life keeping my views to myself, trying to fit in, trying to be who I was expected to be. I’ve always wanted to be liked, to be accepted. But today, I need to speak my truth—even if it makes me uncomfortable. In my last post, I wrote about the rapid unraveling of disability protections. It’s a topic that hits close to home, and my relationship with it is more complicated than

I have never been someone who speaks about anything remotely political. It makes me uncomfortable, and I don’t like placing blame. But I can’t stay silent anymore. I know others may not agree with my views, but I have to speak up—not just for my kids, but for all the families I help. As a mother of three children with disabilities and as a special education researcher, I find myself struggling to sleep at night. The weight of my worries is heavy. So much has changed in just a

A few weeks ago I was featured in Parents Magazine, sharing my tips for a more inclusive Halloween. I shared a lot of tips from how to plan costumes, to how to coordinate Trick-or-Treating routes. I have more to say on this topic so in this blog, I share our family’s experience with Halloween, how I realized I needed to change my thinking, and how I created new, better traditions.  When I first became a mom, I remember being so excited to pick out Conner’s first costume. He l

In this blog I describe some of the benefits of family involvement in special education - one of my favorite topics and a focus of my resear

I was asked to share my experiences and perspectives about remote learning for children who are deafblind, like my son Dalton. https://www.educatingalllearners.org/projects-leading-by-example/-Providing-Services-to-Students-who-are-Deafblind%3A-Coming-together-as-a-field Remote Learning for Students who are Deafblind: Sharing our Experience

Proud to have contributed to this blog: https://psucollegeofed.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/teaching-from-home-part-2-educating-children-with-special-needs/

My blog about my experience in school choice and education, to supplement the findings from interviews with families in New Orleans and Washington DC. https://www.crpe.org/thelens/we-see-challenges-school-choice-and-special-education-through-parents-eyes

Today I started the day in tears in my car, a reminder of the long emotional few weeks our family has been through. A few months ago, our two middle schoolers, Hunter and Dalton, started to struggle in school. The reasons were different but the family impact was the same. The reality is that we needed to move both of them to a new school that could better serve their needs, preferably a place where we could keep both boys together. Finding a “right fit” school for our son, Hu

As part of my efforts to help more families dealing with Usher syndrome, I was happy to be interviewed by Professor Amy Parker of Portland State University for her Orientation and Mobility On the Go Podcast. In this podcast, I share insights with Amy about the role of the Orientation and Mobility Specialist in supporting the development of self-determination skills from my perspective as a mother and from the perspective of a graduate researcher. I include practical advice fo

I’m excited to share my podcast about raising two sons with Usher syndrome. In my first episode, I tell you a little about my family, and our experience working with IEP teams. It can be stressful trying to advocate for your child, and I have learned a lot along the way about working with schools to support my sons Conner and Dalton. One of the best things we did was allow our kids to have input into their their IEPs, so I talk about the benefits of student involvement. My ho

I had the privilege of attending and presenting at the first-ever Network of the Americas Conference sponsored by Deafblind International and Perkins School for the Blind April 16. Leaders in the field of deafblindness from 20 countries in North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean attended this major conference. I was part of a team that presented preliminary data from research on Parent-School Collaboration and Conflict: Experiences of Parents with Deaf

A link to my talking about the research study I did on self-determination.