Calú and Alesia are back for another episode of Soul of the Goal. This time we are talking about the emerging perspectives of the autistic and neurodivergent communities regarding masking. Their struggles with being taught to try and be the square in the circle. We talk about our early mistakes in working with these populations and what we have learned since those early days.

On this week’s episode, Calú and Alesia explore the wide world of recreation and leisure. Often this is an important set of skills missed by educators and families. Or their learners have interests and activities but they are limited. Why does it matter? They discuss this and more!

They are back! It’s a new school year and the hosts Alesia and Calú have some thoughts on all the changes and how schools are facing the consequences and challenges of getting “back to normal”

For this episode, Alesia & Calú are joined by a very special guest who will enlighten us about the most compassionate approaches to Mental Health in the educational setting.

We touch on how the situation is right now. Is the offer of mental health services enough for the population in need in our schools? Is anyone looking at the mental health of kids with other primary disabilities?

Link to the DREDF study of MH services in California: https://dredf.org/special-education/special-education-resources/mental-health-services-for-children-with-disabilities/

Calú and Alesia return to talk about Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)! How can such an amazing science be so controversial? They explain it’s importance and share insight into some ABA myths.

Alesia went on a weekend learning trip and brought back some thoughts and ideas to share with Calú about Neurodiversity and first person perspective on goals.

Calú and Alesia are back to talk about inclusivity! As students become identified with needing additional supports, do they slowly start to drift to be an outlier? We discuss what that looks like and why it’s important to address inclusion at an individual, classroom, school wide level and beyond!

Calú and Alesia return to chat with a very special guest about collaboration. They discuss collaboration from the perspective of a special day class special education teacher, their expectations from support staff, good experiences and the not so good experiences when collaborating with others.

Alesia and Calú return to discuss How to Collaborate. We discuss who is involved and the importance of collaboration. We provide examples of the good times and not so good times.

Introducing your hosts Calú (Speech Pathologist) and Alesia (Behavior Analyst) who work with students with special needs and school staff. We talk about the conception of the podcast and our overall goal of doing the podcast. We also talk about developing a goal from a specific skill deficit and how to look at the bigger picture.