Down Right Capable Hosted by: Marla Murasko and Brian Herndon

The IEP process can be such a draining experience for parents of children with disabilities. Even for the seasoned veteran, these meetings can feel overwhelming, emotional, adversarial, confusing, etc. Welcome to the Down Right Capable Podcast. Today my co-host Marla Murasko and I, Brian Herndon are going to talk to you about our experiences with IEP’s, the good, the bad, and the ugly!

Come listen as Brian and Marla share their stories of when IEP's didn't go so well, were horrible, or some that were productive and showed how when IEP's collaborate meetings can go well and everything in between.

#downsyndrome #downsyndromepodcast #downsyndromeparenting #specialeducation #iep #downrightcapable #advocacymatters #trisomy21 #theluckyfew #nothingdownaboutit

Presuming competence is such an important aspect of raising and educating a person with Down syndrome. Welcome to the Down Right Capable Podcast. Today my co-host Brian Herndon and I, Marla Murasko are going to talk to you about how important it is to the success of our children when we presume competence instead of presuming incompetence.

Come listen along as Brian and I share times with our sons that the school presumed comptenence and least dangerous asumption when it came to their education.

Link to article from Julie Causton on Presume Competence: https://inclusiveschoolcommunities.org.au/resources/toolkit/presumption-competence

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#downsyndromeparenting #specialeducation #iep #downrightcapable

Being a part of the school community is more than just showing up to the building and spending the day in one classroom. Welcome to the Down Right Capable Podcast. Today my co-host Brian Herndon and I, Marla Murasko are going to talk to you about how your child can and should be a part of the school community before, during and after school. Today we are talking about extracurricular activities and electives, and how your child should be a part of them. So, Brian, I think this is an area that gets missed so often on IEP’s don’t you agree?

Come take a listen, comment and please share!

Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast to stay up to date when new episodes release. If you would like to sponsor or be a speaker on our podcast, please email us at [email protected]

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As we are all very painfully aware, this pandemic has affected all of us in a variety of ways and for our children, the school year was overwhelming. Welcome to Episode 1 of the Down Right Capable Podcast, I am Brian Herndon and I am here with my co-host Marla Murasko, During the 2020-2021 school year, many school districts offered in-person learning and virtual learning, as well as a combination of each of those. Marla and I each made some very tough decisions for that school year regarding the education of our boys and in today’s episode, we will be sharing each of our son’s school experiences from last year, as we both made different decisions for our boys.

Please make sure to subscribe to our podcast, and if you would like to sponsor us you can email us at [email protected]

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So, today, you get to hear from me! Like I said, my name is Brian Herndon. I am a professor of education at John Brown University in Northwest Arkansas. I teach mainly literacy and special education courses to undergraduate and graduate education majors. Little did I realize that my journey into the world of special education would start with the birth of my son, Nate. I had been an elementary teacher and swore that I would never get involved in the world of special education, but in 2008, my son, Nate, was born with Down syndrome, and the doors of special education opened up without me even realizing it. 

Being an advocate for my son has led me down some really interesting paths. I’ve served as a general education teacher with students who have special needs in the classroom, as an elementary school principal and early childhood special education director/principal where I was the LEA for literally hundreds of IEP meetings, as the direct of the Parents as Teachers program at our school in Missouri, as a special education advocate for families frustrated by the system, and now as a professor, teaching general education and special education majors more about special education. 

I am passionate about my son, of course, but I am also passionate about working toward a more just and equitable world where people like my son and Marla’s son are seen as valued and valuable members of the communities in which they live and are seen through the lens of ability and not disability. Marla and I have hosted the Down Right Capable Show on Facebook for two years prior to the pandemic, where we took a bit of a break. We have switched the platform for this show to a podcast, and I’m super excited about that! I also serve on the National Down Syndrome Society Inclusive Education Taskforce. Locally, I serve on the Board for the Northwest Arkansas Down Syndrome Connection. I’m so glad you have found us and spending your valuable time with us. Please subscribe to our podcast so you don’t miss any of the great information we will be sharing!

Hi and welcome to the Down Right Capable podcast, I’m so happy that you are here with us today and in today’s episode I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to myself. Hi, my name is Marla Murasko and when people ask me to share a little about who I am, I share that: I am an Award-Winning Down Syndrome Advocate, Speaker, a Co-Host to this podcast show, an Author of two books and the job that I am MOST proud of is that of a Mom to a teenage boy, who just so happens to have Down syndrome.

I have a passion for advocacy, especially for individuals with Down Syndrome. I see firsthand the challenges that individuals with Down Syndrome experience on a daily basis, and know personally the barriers that parents face when advocating for the rights of their child.

I am dedicated to spreading awareness for inclusion and understanding for individuals with Down syndrome. And I also love to empower Moms to find their advocacy voice!

As a recognized speaker I have spoken on several different stages, but my proudest moment was when I had the privilege of speaking on the global stage at the United Nations in New York for World Down Syndrome Day in 2017.

My life’s mission is to help make the world a more accepting place for my son and for all individuals with Down syndrome. I am proud to say that my family launched our nonprofit called “Special & Determined”, where our mission is to

Hello, and welcome to the Down Right Capable podcast my name is Brian Herndon and I'm here with my co host Marla Murasko.

And the Down Right Capable podcast is here to flip the script on down syndrome, we want the world to view people with Down Syndrome through the lens of ability, rather than disability.

Hi Brian, it's great to be here with everyone, so we are two passionate parents who are here to share our stories your stories information resources and expertise from experts in the field with the hopes of changing the way society sees individuals with Down syndrome.

It's great to see you again Marla it's been a while, but you know we've done this before we had the Down Right Capable show on Facebook.

For two seasons and I think we have more than 10 episodes that are out there, we actually took all that information there's so much great information out there.

And sometimes it was us talking, sometimes we had special guests and experts with us, but we took all that information and we put it on our YouTube channel. So if you go to https://bit.ly/drcshow you can find our YouTube channel, if you have trouble remembering that will make sure to put that link in our show notes or you can also just go to YouTube and search Down Right Capable, it should be the first option, you find.

We plan to post a new episode of this new podcast every two weeks, so we hope that you will subscribe to our podcast and share it with others, that you feel will benefit from the topics that we have to talk about.

And since we're new to this podcast world, we would ask that you please give us a positive rating, as it allows our show to be see more often.

That is right, Brian i'm looking forward to doing this with you on this new platform I think it's going to be so much more easier for our audience to access.

So just to close out this episode, with all of you just wanted to let you know we are available to speak at your next event at a conference or any organizational meeting.

All you to do is just contact us at this email [email protected] and as Brian said that will be in our show notes and again, thank you for joining us here at the Down Right Capable podcast and we'll see you on the next show.

#downsyndrome #downsyndromeawareness #downsyndromeparenting #downsyndromepodcast #inclusion #specialeducation