Category: Special Education

Most parents these days wouldn’t dream of reliving their tween or teen years. Instead, here we are, guiding our kids through them. And these years don’t come with a roadmap (we wish!). You’re not just navigating puberty and big emotional shifts (which are a lot on their own), but also the added layer of disability, …

How to build supports around your child Have you ever found yourself Googling your child’s diagnosis at midnight, trying to piece together what support should actually look like for your child and what services, therapies, and specialists should be on your radar? Or sitting in an IEP meeting hearing terms, therapies, and acronyms that feel …

What does the law actually say about inclusive Extended School Year (ESY) — and how could it impact your child? In this episode, Lindsay Crain, Head of Content and Community at Undivided, introduces a candid and important conversation led by Undivided’s Karen Cull. Karen is joined by David German, Partner at Vanaman German, and Melinda Bird, …

Knowing your rights in the IEP process isn’t just nice to have — it’s what helps you speak up when something doesn’t feel right. And let’s be honest, even in the most positive, team-oriented IEP meetings, there can be moments where something doesn’t quite sit right. And when you’re sitting across from a full team …

What does “making progress” actually mean? You’ve seen the progress reports, but do you really know what they’re telling you? Behind every “goal met” (or not met) is data that can reveal a lot about whether your child is actually making meaningful progress. The catch? It’s only as good as how it’s collected, and most …

What does it actually take to make inclusion work — not just on paper, but in the classroom? Education and inclusion advocate Karen Ford Cull breaks down how families can move beyond placement and toward true participation in general education. From writing stronger, more inclusive IEP goals to using accommodations, behavior supports, and practical advocacy …

Inclusion — it’s the million-dollar word in any IEP meeting. Whether you’re thinking about the research-backed benefits or simply want your child to have a more typical school experience in a gen ed classroom, it’s what so many of us are aiming for. But here’s the truth: real, meaningful inclusion doesn't just happen by chance. ...

If you could invent a tool to make school easier for your child, what would it do? Read text out loud? Turn spoken ideas into written paragraphs? Maybe even use algorithms and machine learning to understand your child’s learning patterns, strengths, and challenges, and adjust the content to meet them where they are? Or it’s ...

What does FAPE really mean for your child? And how does the least restrictive environment (LRE) affect where and how they learn? In this Undivided conversation, Dr. Sarah Pelangka, BCBA-D, special education advocate and owner of KnowIEPs, breaks down key concepts every parent should understand about IEPs. She explains your child’s right to a free, appropriate ...

If you’re raising a child with a disability, chances are you’ve spent a lot of time trying to make sense of your child’s behaviors and big emotions — whether it’s an emotional outburst, hitting, avoiding tasks, shutdowns, head banging, wandering off, refusing to go to school, or constant calls from school about “non-compliance” and “discipline." ...