Parents Helping Parents Blog

Children with special needs are assessed by professionals . These assessments are used to determine if children qualify for special services. They are also used for many things such as goals, modifications, and accommodations in a child's IEP. The question becomes how reliable are these assessments and how much do they truly represent the many facets of your child's abilities.

Your child knows more than testing can reveal

An assessment tells us about your child in just one point in time. It is not the “end all - be all” and gives you a very small snapshot of what your child...

We have now been in quarantine for 8 weeks. Remember when this started? We ran to the store waiting in huge lines to stock up on everything. The shelves were bare without toilet paper, wipes, canned goods, and so much more. Amazon dried up and online shopping was a disaster. We began disinfecting everything and the gloves came out to fight a viral enemy none of us could see.  Schools were going crazy and teachers were scrambling to get online. Our kids could feel the mania and we were all on high alert. We will never forget it. It will be etched into my brain forever!

After eight...

We are celebrating Mother’s Day this week which will be a bright spot within the quarantine journey!  There is no doubt that moms everywhere deserve to celebrate having made it this far through the COVID19 pandemic!

When I think of a crisis I often think of my own mother. When I was five years old, my oldest brother and I went to the park to play. There was a group of boys standing by that decided to cause trouble. They picked up crab apples from the ground and started throwing them at us. I distinctly remember the back of my brother’s head directly in front of me. Suddenly...

PARENTS ARE HEROES!

There have been few crises in the world that compare to the devastation COVID19 has or will cause. To those of you that have been parents through this crisis, I would like to devote this blog to you.

Currently, parents are the foundation that is keeping the world solid and all of its children surviving and safe on a daily basis. You play a critical role.  The greatest resource any country has are its people and you are caring for those we hold nearest and dearest to our hearts, our children.

 I would like to thank each of you as parents for the heroic job you...

Are you Feeling the Impact of Social Distancing?

Social distancing, although required and essential, has certainly had an impact.  Those who have always suffered from the feeling of isolation are really feeling it exponentially now. 

For children with special needs, especially those with social issues, this has been nothing less than confusing! I have spent the last 22 years getting my son to converse with others and introducing himself through handshaking. Now ironically, I am training him to maintain 6 feet between himself and others. He needs to avoid elbow pumps unless the...

Why is Homeschooling Essential?

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, homeschooling should not be foreign to any of us. It is nothing new to me nor should it be new to any other parent.  Looking for teachable moments in everything we do is essential. Schools have 6 hours a day with our children, and when you factor in how far behind many of our children with special needs are, 6 hours is only drop in the bucket. Without significant help at home our children will exponentially fall further behind.

There is no question that parents who learn the art of homeschooling, in addition to what...

Get Support You and Your Child Need!

The coronavirus has consumed our lives. Most of us are at home on lockdown and isolated due to mandatory social distancing. Fear of what will happen with education, jobs, retirement accounts, and a looming major worldwide recession is enough to leave many of us paralyzed with fear and anxiety. The best thing to do is join together to help each other.

Pathways is here to help in the following ways:

1. We have set up a dedicated email that you can use to ask questions or get help. We don’t know everything, but we have a vast network of people. If we...