A Special Education Teacher, Administrator and Lawyer walk into a bar....all you ever wanted to know about special education

Listen in as Robin and Abby interview David Tynes, the Director of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts' Saturday Program (and many other things). David is also the Head Coach of the Cambridge Special Olympics Men's Basketball team, The Warriors.

The Warriors have an 88 game winning streak and this year will represent Massachusetts at the United State Special Olympics basketball tournament held in June 2026 in Minnesota.

David shares how his sister's experience led him to the Special Olympics in 1970 and he has never left.

If your interested in supporting the Team on their journey - they are still fundraising and have $3,000 left to go to reach their goal. Here are some key links:

Check out the Special Olympics website Team Massachusetts page here.

Here is an overview of the larger program David directs in Cambridge, MA

Here is a link to a video of David sharing more about the program.

And if your interested in the play's David directs (and sometimes writes himself!) here is the link to the Cambridge program's You Tube Channel for drama

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There's a different way of thinking about child development and how special education services fit in that turns the medical model upside down. Listen in as Robin and Abby discuss the Five F-Words and the model they represent. In 2011, Rosenbaum and Gorter published a paper titled: 

The "F-words" in childhood disability: I swear this is how we should think! in the journal Child: Care, Health and Development.

That articles talked about a revision of the medical model for treatment of children with disabilities to focus on:  function, family, fitness, fun, friends and future. 

Since, then - the approach has grown in popularity and there are many resources at their website to check out.

F word resources

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Listen in as Robin, Angela and Abby take a spin in the way back machine all the way to 2002.

That's when Cheryl Jorgensen and her colleagues at UNH wrote the Essential Best Practices in Inclusive Schools, Rappaport et. al 2002 (revised 2012), the manifesto of "look fors" in inclusive schools and classrooms.  It is linked here as a resource and there is a lot to talk about.

Here is the resource to the comics mentioned in the pod as well.

by Michael F. Giangreco (Author), Kevin Ruelle (Author)

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Join Angela, Robin and Abby as they take a look at the factors courts and schools consider when determining effective progress. Spoiler: they are usually not the same!

Here is the article written by Perry Zirkle and Mitchell Yell that was referenced during the pod.

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Have you seen this apple accessibility video? In our 1st episode back in season 6, Abby, Robin and Angela talk about the cool tools out there supporting students at the college level and if they are accommodations if they are universally available to everyone.

AT resources by State.

Here is the SETT Framework Robin referenced.

Learn more about universal design here

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Listen in as Angela, Robin and Abby discuss two big dates in November and December - the actual 50th Birthday of the IDEA and National Inclusive Schools Week 2025. Here are some links related to both events and a link to help you identify who your local legislators are so you can send them an email reminding them about how important the IDEA is during this period of federal defunding of the Department of Education.

Happy 50th birthday IDEA

Write your congress rep HERE

Inclusive Schools Week

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Last week Robin, Abby and Angela were live on NASET (National Association of Special Education Teachers)'s monthly webinar for a mini pod and Q&A.  Here is the recording of that episode-  enjoy! 

Check out their website and all of the resouces that come with membership.

https://www.naset.com/

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Listen in as Angela, Robin and Abby discuss the new Massachusetts regulations redefining Time Out and Seclusion. For documents related to the discussion see the link here.

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Sometimes, people lose their cool in Team meetings!! Listen in while Angela, Robin and Abby discuss strategies you can use to manage these moments in real time, intervene beforehand so they don't happen at all and follow up if they do.

 Teachers and Parents are human beings and stress and anxiety can take over during heated moments - listen in for a conversation about approaches, responses and big picture frames to consider before your next team meeting to support everyone's participation and input.

BIG NEWS! The Pod is going national - on 11/13 Angela/Robin/Abby will be the featured speakers for the November webinar of the National Association of Special Education Teachers. Check out their information here.

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Sorry! We couldn't record this week, so please enjoy a repeat episode in which Robin and Angela discuss steps that can be taken when a student case starts to get litigous. 

We'll be back next week! 

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