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If You’ve Been Silent About Child Justice, We Need You Now More Than Ever
We have a problem. The global COVID-19 pandemic has not only created a storm of challenges in policy and practice for public education; it also has fomented political and racial divisions in parent...
IEP
Families Can't Afford for Schools to Continue to Treat Students With Disabilities Like an Afterthought
Every single thing we do is challenging. My kids are being forgotten. That’s Keri Akkawi, a Philadelphia mom of two boys with Fragile X Syndrome, a genetic mutation that can cause multiple...
IEP
5 Steps to Help Students With Special Needs Make a Smooth Transition to In-Person Learning
With the end of the pandemic in sight and some communities already reopening, it is time to understand what it will take for special education teachers to transition back to in-person learning. The...
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Teachers Are Working So Hard This Year, But Students With Disabilities Need More
I am a special education teacher with 17 years of experience in the classroom and a parent of two children with dyslexia. Recently, I learned that my daughter’s teachers have been modifying their...
IEP
As a Mom of a Son With Multiple Disabilities, I Have the Receipts on Remote Instruction
Here at brightbeam, our North Star is “How Are The Children?” As parents look back over the last nine months of COVID-related school disruptions and closures, it’s likely that many would find a...
IEP
I’m Glad To Be Back in the Classroom. My Students Need Me.
November 12th was our first day of school in-person since March of last year. On my drive to school, I was excited and grateful—thinking about my students who (unlike most teachers in the country) I...