Special Education in Five Minutes
If you are a parent, general educator, or special educator wanting to stay up to date with your knowledge of special education, this program will provide you with expert knowledge in concise (+/-) five minute episodes.
David Poeschl is your host. He is a retired school district special education director and Cal-State University lecturer. He currently works as a no-fee advisor to parents of children with disabilities in Northern California.
The content of the podcasts comes from his extensive experience as an educator and the most asked questions parents bring to him in his practice.
The purpose of the program is to share information about those questions and more so parents can be on equal footing with school staff they are working with. In addition, many general education teachers need and want additonal ways of helping kids with disabilities, as well as ways to improve their instructional practices.
Episodes
34 episodes
Social Stories: A Powerful Tool for Social Growth in Children with Autism
In this episode we’ll discuss Social Stories, created by special educator Carol Gray. Social Stories use real situations that kids with autism face and puts those situations into story form. The stories include ways for the child to view ...
Back to School and Neurodivergence: the Need for Additional Supports
While back to school time is exciting and fun for some students, neurodivergent kids often suffer severe anxiety that sometimes leads to school refusal.What can the parents of neurodivergent students do to help the situation...
Behavior Series #6: Why is This Behavior Happening? Functions of Behaviors
Why a problem behavior occurs is the basic question that Positive Behavior Support (PBS) and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) needs to be answered for the process to work. This is because almost every behavior is due to an underlying legit...
Are Public Schools Toxic for Neurodivergent Children?
It has been clear for years that the school system in the United States is not welcoming to neurodivergent (ND) students. School is an intensely intimidating and frightening place for many ND kids. As the percentage of identified ND...
The IEP Process: Implementing an Agreed Upon IEP
Once an IEP is signed by school district staff and parents, it needs to be implemented without undue delay.However, what does the implementation look like? Are the goals being worked on for the time promised and is the child making...
Speech to Text Technology - Writing Revolutionized
In an earlier podcast, We looked at text to speech technology that can make a significant difference is the lives of students with reading issues.Speech to text does the same for students with literacy, organization, language and fine mo...
The Self-Determination Series #1: Student Led IEPs - The Importance of, and Why They Are Largely Ignored
The idea of students with disabilities actually leading their own IEP team may strike some as a noble, but impractical goal.However, research is clear that, for those students who play a significant role in choosing their IEP accommodati...
Home – School Conflict: Effectively Using an “Escalation Ladder" Model
A consistent complaint I hear from parents of kids with IEPs is that they don’t feel like their child’s school listens to them in a meaningful way. At times, it doesn’t feel like anyone wants to take responsibility for making sure an IEP ...
Students with Moderate/Severe Disabilities and Adult Transition: What Does a Successful 18-22 Year Old Program Look Like?
Students with IEPs who do not complete high school with a diploma are entitled to instructional services from a school district until they are 22 years old.The quality of these programs is spotty, with most not providing the instruction ...
School Refusal and Neurodivergence - Is It a Child or Institutional Problem?
Parents of neurodiverse (ND) children know well how difficult school is for their kids. They understand the anxiety and sensory overload they often feel at school.Due to the increasing numbers of neurodivergent children, It’s not s...
Behavior Series #5: "Frontloading" Services for Behavior Plan Implementation
The effective implementation of a school based Positive Behavior Support Plan for a child with a disability in a general education setting is greatly affected by the training and skills school staff have. In addition, they need...
Parental Trauma: “Our child’s school has no idea how difficult, and even traumatic, this special education journey has been for our entire family”
The parents of children with disabilities have an incredibly difficult job. Having a child with a disability is, in many cases, a traumatic experience. This program discusses the reasons.On the positive side, research ...
Special Education Complaints and Legal Processes
This episode looks at state compliance complaints and special education due process. These are viable methods to pursue if less formal means have not worked.Parents have significant rights, and thus power, in the special education system...
The IEP Process: Parent Concerns – How to Keep Your Concerns Front and Center in an IEP Meeting
Parent concerns should be noted at every IEP meeting. However, parents are often unprepared when asked what their concerns are regarding their child’s IEP. This is a mistake. A well-prepared parent concerns statement can...
The IEP Process: Services - Where the Rubber Meets the Road in Special Education
This episode will address the critical role of the human side of an IEP, who works directly with a child and how effective is that work? Frequently asked questions that parents the host works with are answered and lots of reference...
SMART Goals: Clear and Concise Goals Lead to Good IEPs
SMART goals in special education stands for, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound.This episode will provide a clear example of a SMART goal and the skills that a student needs to learn to master it....
The IEP Process: Legally Required IEP Team Members and Roles
Who is required to be at an IEP meeting. In this episode we briefly look at IEP meeting roles and legal requirements for participation.This is the first of the For Parents (mainly) series that will look at how parents interact with...
General Education Behavior Supports: the Importance of Attitude, Training and Relationships
With more students with disabilities have been placed in mainstream classes over the last 50 years has increased exponentially. In 1975, while there are no official numbers, it was exceptionally rare to see a child with disabilities being...
General Education Class Sizes and Inclusion: Bigger is Not Better
Does class size affect student achievement. For decades, this debate has been shaped by the studies conducted to measure achievement.Math and first (native) language test scores showed a negligible effect. As these were the o...
When Father Christmas is the Gaslighter: Parents' Experiences with Special Education
Parents of children with disabilities in the Global North share an unfortunate reality; schools don’t always have the best interests of their students as a first priority. Schools are under pressure from many directions,...
Behavior Series #4: Behavioral Skills Training (BST): Research Based Training for General Education Teachers and Classroom Assistants
A huge gap exists between a written Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) and its actual implementation.One of the primary reasons for this is the lack of training and support general education teachers and instructional assistants receive fr...
Text to Speech Technology - A New Day for Students with Reading Deficits
Technology has advanced enough to start making a dramatic difference in how struggling readers can keep up with grade level curriculum.Reading pens, text readers, and other text-to-speech devices and apps are now sophisticated enough for...
Behavior Series #3: Reinforcement - the Heart of a Behavior Plan
In this episode we'll get into the most important part of a behavior plan, reinforcement. Learn what it is and what it looks like. Remember, the more you know about special education practice, particularly how Positive Behavi...
Special Interests: A Necessity for Many Neurodivergent Children and Adults (with a downside)
In this episode, both the vital nature, and significant dangers, of special interests are explored and put into context of how they are a non-negotiable for many neurodivergent children and adults. When does a needed and healthy in...
The Tragedy of Exclusion - Students with Emotional Disabilities
In the past 50 years the numbers of students with emotional/behavioral disorders who are suspended. expelled and or placed in isolated classrooms or schools has not changed in any significant way.Whlle Black boys are signifcantly more ap...