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

Listen in as Robin, Angela and Abby discuss the recent  wildly inaccurate, incendiary and harmful statements from US Health and Human Services (HHS) Director, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about people with Autism.

Click here to review the growing list of disability advocacy organizations that responded to his comments.

The Autism Society summary of group statement

Signatory Organizations:

Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Colin Killick, Executive Director

Autism Society of America, Christopher Banks, President and CEO

Autism Speaks, Keith Wargo, President and CEO

The Arc of the United States, Katy Neas, Chief Executive Officer

Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Sharon daVanport, Executive Director

Autistic People of Color Fund, Ly Xīnzhèn Zhǎngsūn Brown, Founding Executive Director

Autism Empowerment, Karen Krejcha, Co-Founder, Executive Director

Dan Marino Foundation, Mary Partin, CEO

Pivot Neurodiversity

Association for Autism and Neurodiversity

Organization for Autism Research

Els for Autism

Autistic Doctors International

Hussman Institute for Autism

Milestones Autism Resources

Easterseals, Inc.

Autistic Women’s Alliance

National Council on Severe Autism interview with NPR

Fact Checking RFK's statements - PBS article

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Ever wonder why people stim? Or what you can do to support students if they are stigmatized by a particular stim? Robin, Angela and Abby break it down. 

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Listen in as Robin and Abby discuss the weird and wonderful (potentially) world of A. I. adoption in public schools. Everything from the politics at the State level to individual teacher and student decision making is being impacted by this new development.

MADESE web resources on AI

Lots of Resources on AI

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Join us while we speak with Erika Bare and Tiffany Burns about their book Connecting Through Conversation A playbooks for Talking with Students.

Leveraging over forty years of combined experience, Erika and Tiffany are on a mission to empower every educator to transform student behavior and build a culture of connection in their school communities.

Listeners get a coupon code for $50 off their course- CTCpodcast

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Prompting is a key component of specially designed instruction and is often misunderstood. Listen in as Robin, Angela and Abby discuss the pros and cons of prompting and the many nuances of the most commonly understood prompting hierarchy.

For more resources on this topic check out:

https://www.unr.edu/ndsip/services/resources/tips/using-the-system-of-least-to-most-prompts

https://thinkpsych.com/blogs/posts/understanding-prompt-hierarchies?srsltid=AfmBOorBMSbBrRlmax3bGaYcXoOjomE5bh3vaYx5lB8Z8faB-U8MRn4r

ASHA statement on Facilitated Communication

NIH article on Facilitated Communication

Don't miss out on seeing Angela and her partner from Khan & Smagula at her upcoming legal workshop on all topics educational law!  You can join virtually! 

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There are always signs before a student case goes south...here are some tips from Angela and Robin your team can take to get things back on track.

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Happy International Down Syndrome Awareness Day (3/21/25). Join Robin, Abby and Angela as they talk about the 2025 campaign presented by CoorDown .

No Decision Without Me- video

World Down Syndrome Day- website

Secondary Transition Docs- DESE/MA

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Link to the original complaint in Texas v. Becerra

Link to the link to the Status Report updating the case.

Plain Language Explainer from multiple disability advocacy groups

Plain Language Explainer of Status Report from multiple disability advocacy groups.

Link to mechanism to contact your Attorney General

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For more information about the articles Robin and Abby discuss in this episode check out:

EdWeek February 13th - 

ASCD blog February 2nd - 

Redefining the Science of Reading

And Natalie Wexler's new book published by ASCD:

Beyond the Science of Reading: Connecting Literacy Instruction to the Science of Learning

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