Learn Your Special Education Laws, Special Education Rights, and Share IEP Goal Ideas

Two questions underscore important points related to kids with special needs.

To understand that statement, answer each of the following questions: What color are road stop signs?  What color are yield signs?

If you answered “red” for stop signs, you were correct. Yet if you’re like the overwhelming majority who say yield signs are yellow, then you were wrong.

Yield signs have not been yellow since 1971. Truly. For more than 40 years, yield signs are red and white.

So, how is it possible people still think yield signs are yellow, and what does that have to do with special needs kids?

Well, we think yield signs are yellow for one of two reasons.  If you’re someone who drove in the ’60s—when they actually were yellow—then your brain never updated the information, even though you’ve passed thousands of red and white yield signs for decades.

In short, our brain doesn’t automatically renew and revise circuits. Instead, we have to consciously update our brain when new information comes our way.

If you thought yield signs were yellow—even though they’ve been red since you’ve been alive—then incorrect information was imprinted on your brain.  How could that happen?

Easy. The brain doesn’t have an automatic fact checker. For example, Google “clip art for yield signs” and we’ll find lots of yellow ones. We’ll also find red and white ones. Read the rest of this entry →

The following is a list of the most viewed special education advisor guest articles from 2011. Thank you to all of the guest authors that have submitted articles to Special Education Advisor in 2011. The quality of articles and their content has been outstanding and we really appreciate every single submission. Without your submissions we would not be able to fulfill our mission to families with children who have special education needs. Enjoy the list: Read the rest of this entry →

Four words revolutionize how we now view and help kids with special needs: The brain can change.  That’s a powerful statement with huge implications. 

Only a few decades ago, scientists were convinced the brain was hard-wired . . .  that was until modern technology, such as MRIs and PET scans, proved otherwise.  With the same certainty that we know the sun rises, we now also know that the brain has the ability to change and re-organize itself. This phenomenon is called neuroplasticity. Read the rest of this entry →