Howard Margolis

Howard Margolis has been a reading specialist and special education teacher in urban and suburban areas and a professor of special education at the State University of New York (SUNY) and a professor of Reading Disabilities and Special Education at the City University of New York (CUNY). His upcoming book, "Negotiating Your Child’s IEP," was co-authored with Dr. Gary Brannigan, Prof. Emeritus of Psychology at Plattsburgh State University of SUNY.

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Articles by Howard Margolis

• Simple ideas to strengthen struggling readers’ achievements

  Wednesday, July 28, 2021

  Though many struggling readers want to succeed in reading, writing and other schoolwork, they don't know how. Many have learned to think they're "stupid" though they're not. Many have abandoned hope of becoming successful readers and writers. Our job, as parents, teachers, support staff and administrators, is to change such mindsets. To do so and to accelerate learning — in reading and writing, as well as math, social studies, and so on — requires us to show readers how to succeed.

• Struggling readers: Questions needing answers

  Wednesday, July 14, 2021

  ​Given COVID-19's domination of the 2020-2021 academic year and the severe damage it did to the education of countless struggling readers, parents and teachers need to ask critical questions; questions that will help to accelerate the reading and writing achievements of struggling readers. For special education students, it's best to address these questions to the child's Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team.

• Grade retention: Perpetuating failure

  Friday, April 02, 2021

  Years ago, I read an article by a teacher who was worried about Gretchen (a pseudonym), a conscientious, enthusiastic, and hardworking struggling learner. The teacher feared that his district’s policy would force him to fail and retain her. He feared the negative consequences. His article was touching, perceptive, and troubling. It dealt with common fail-retain-and-repeat decisions that I had frequently encountered, decisions that continue to demoralize and undermine countless struggling learners, their families, and their teachers.

• Grade retention: Will it help?

  Tuesday, February 23, 2021

  Retention rarely helps struggling learners, especially those with reading disabilities. I’ll say it again: It rarely helps. It often backfires. Combinations of negative feelings abound: Humiliation, bewilderment, anger, despondency, resentment, despair, and so on. Magnify this by the widespread isolation and anxiety caused by COVID-19 and you have a formula for continued despair, resentment, and turmoil.

• Anxiety’s spiking: Here’s how to help our students

  Friday, February 05, 2021

  COVID-19 has caused untold numbers of America’s students (and family members, teachers, and school support staff) to suffer mild to severe anxiety. Some will be helped by the passage of time and new coping skills. Some won’t. For those who won’t, especially those who suffer from severe anxiety, who intensely fear the future, it’s a crisis. It’s also a crisis for their families, their teachers, and America writ large. We can lament that, "The pandemic’s horrible. Anxiety's a natural outcome. We can't do anything about it. It’s here. We’re all victims." Or, we can face the problem. We can ask and answer this question: How can we help affected students help themselves?

• Homework and independent assignments: Avoiding problems, encouraging success

  Monday, January 18, 2021

  Many struggling learners "hate" homework and in-class assignments that they need to complete by themselves. Why? Academics confuses, frustrates, and overwhelms them. Their struggles humiliate them. Expectations of failure send shutters down their spines. Ask yourself: Day after day, would you want your success to depend on confusing and frustrating work that overwhelms you, that you fail at, that leaves you feeling incompetent and worthless? I doubt it. Even in this era of remote instruction, where direct, in-person instruction is often rare, where struggling learners must often work alone, and where it’s often difficult for them to get the help they need, teachers and support staff can improve this situation.

• Remote instruction: The importance of interest, attention, and memory

  Monday, November 30, 2020

  Before COVID-19 ravaged the nation, countless struggling learners had a problem. They quickly forgot whatever was taught. Today, the problem continues. Some are bored; they give little if any thought to what’s taught. Others attend diligently but focus on the wrong information. And when they focus on the right information, they can’t remember much. The reason is simple: They don’t know how to remember. Now, in the era of COVID-19’s isolation and remote instruction, these problems have intensified. Teachers (and parents) are finding it increasingly difficult to create and sustain struggling learners’ interest and focus.

• Improving in-person and remote instruction: Critical elements

  Tuesday, November 03, 2020

  Remote teaching alone cannot easily and fully create and sustain many of the critical elements needed to meaningfully advance struggling learners’ academic, social, and emotional progress. These elements include listening and acting with empathy; helping parents successfully address COVID-19’s anxiety producing obstacles and dangers; understanding how to help struggling learners achieve their IEP or section 504 goals; and helping them take well-earned credit for their efforts and accomplishments.

• Struggling learners’ difficulties have intensified: Here’s what can help

  Monday, October 19, 2020

  In this chaotic, volatile, and frightening era of COVID-19, struggling learners’ difficulties have intensified. Wherever remote learning has replaced some or all in-person instruction, many struggling learners have found it extremely difficult to focus, to understand, and to apply what teachers are trying to teach. What’s the answer, the answer that will vanquish these problems? There’s no one answer. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. But for some struggling learners, the suggestions in this article can help. They can help learners, they can help teachers, and just as important, they can help parents.

• Increasing motivation: Personalized reinforcers and persuasive comments

  Monday, June 22, 2020

  In normal times, it's often difficult to teach struggling learners (SLs). Now, with the life-threatening dangers of COVID-19; the widespread restrictions to daily life; the isolation, loneliness, and anxieties felt by innumerable children, parents, and teachers; and dependence on remote instruction like Zoom and Google Meet, it's even harder. Nevertheless, teachers and parents must do whatever they can to help SLs achieve academic, social, and emotional success. As always, this requires minimizing or eliminating barriers to success while directly promoting success.

• Avoidable struggles: Willpower stacking and dour expectations

  Monday, March 23, 2020

  For struggling learners (SLs), success is often difficult. In many cases, their difficulties emanate from our views of teaching: Here’s an all-too-common example: "Just tell them what they need to know. Then let them practice. Correct their work. When necessary, keep telling them to focus and try harder. Then move on. We’ve got a lot to cover." When done repeatedly, this view undermines critical aspects of motivation and learning.

• Struggling learners: Critical IEP questions and a critical Supreme Court decision

  Monday, March 02, 2020

  Regardless of their child’s disability, parents worry about getting their child an IEP that meets his or her needs. Typically, they want to know how to effectively prepare for the IEP meeting. To develop an IEP that is likely to produce substantial progress in important areas, it's critical for parents to write down the questions that need answering and to share them with the case manager at least two weeks in advance of the meeting. This helps to focus and structure the IEP meeting on their child's most pressing needs.

• Non-negotiable needs for struggling learners

  Monday, January 27, 2020

  When teachers and other IEP team members work tirelessly to accelerate struggling learners' (SLs) rates of progress, they often fall short of their goals. Often, progress regresses, stagnates, or crawls forward by only small inches rather than the 10 yards the IEP team had deemed realistic. Why regression? Why stagnation? Why only a few inches? Some of these SLs try hard but unsuccessfully to succeed. Some don't focus, some lack energy, some show little interest, some angrily resist instruction, and some disrupt instruction with ingenious antics.

• I think my child has a reading disability. What should I do?

  Monday, October 07, 2019

  It’s 6 a.m. on the first day of school. It’s time for Julio to wash up, dress, make sure he packed all his school supplies, and have breakfast. He grumbles and says, "I’m not hungry. I don’t want to go to school. I won’t open a book." As his eyes well up with tears, he murmurs, "I can’t read. The other kids know. They’ll call me stupid." You ask yourself, "Does he have dyslexia? Some other reading disability?" Then you shutter. You fear the future. You’re certain Julio has a reading disability.

• Parental participation in IEPs

  Monday, August 05, 2019

  Some parents of children with disabilities readily accept whatever the school’s IEP team members recommend. After all, they reason, these people are the professionals. They know best. Other parents believe it’s critical that they participate in every aspect of developing, implementing, and assessing their child’s IEP. They believe that they know a great deal about their child’s needs that school-IEP team members need to address but may not know or fully appreciate. They see much that school personnel don't.

• Struggling readers have no time to lose: Social-emotional learning

  Monday, July 15, 2019

  People are social and emotional beings. Some have great social and emotional understanding and skills; others barely squeak by. Generally, those with greater social and emotional understanding and skills do far better in every major aspect of life than those who struggle. Compared to those who struggle, they’re happier, healthier, and more productive. Usually, they enjoy and keep their friends and tend to avoid the life-threatening dangers of loneliness. Unfortunately, difficulties with the social-emotional aspects of life severely wound many struggling readers (SRs).

• Struggling readers have no time to lose, so let’s do what works

  Monday, July 08, 2019

  Many teachers of struggling readers (SRs) know what works. They’ve studied the research; spoken to experts; observed the programs, methods, and strategies; and discussed implementation with well-informed colleagues. But many is not all. Other teachers continue doing what’s traditional; what’s marginally helpful to SRs; what they’re comfortable with; what’s hyped by testimonials and advertising; what politicians, administrators, and parents want; or combinations of these. Do these other teachers intentionally stress instruction they believe will, at best, perpetuate trivial progress? No.

• The needless struggles of struggling readers: Tutoring

  Monday, June 10, 2019

  For reading instruction to effectively capitalize on struggling readers’ (SRs) abilities to remediate their academic and social-emotional difficulties, schools must fully and accurately identify their abilities and difficulties. Doing so is often far easier said than done. It requires updated knowledge about the complexity of reading and writing as well as the research on effective interventions. Knowledge, however, is not enough. It also requires the ability to successfully put such research into practice.

• The needless struggles of struggling readers: Progress monitoring

  Monday, June 03, 2019

  In my many decades of critiquing special education evaluations, IEPs, and progress reports from various New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware schools, and in speaking to innumerable parents, teachers and other IEP team members, I’ve gained an overwhelming impression: Little, if any, valid progress monitoring occurs. Instead, many special education teachers and case managers rely primarily on their subjective memories to judge their students’ progress.

• The needless struggles of struggling readers: Professional preparation and expertise

  Thursday, May 23, 2019

  Once in special education, struggling readers (SRs), such as students with dyslexia or mild-to-moderate cognitive impairment, often make little or no progress in reading and writing. They often regress. This doesn’t make sense. After all, they have smaller classes taught by special education teachers. They have highly personalized Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that meet all their academic, physical, and social-emotional needs. They have case managers who closely monitor their progress, and when warranted, quickly call a meeting to make program adjustments. It sounds flawless. It’s not.

• 3 critical conditions for teaching struggling learners that often go missing

  Monday, May 06, 2019

  For struggling learners (SLs) to have a good chance of mastering the subjects and activities with which they struggle, it’s critical that schools, teachers, and parents create and sustain conditions for success. This article features three of the many conditions that provide a foundation for successful learning. Too often, however, they’re ignored. Not surprisingly, these create powerful barriers to success.

• Are Lexile reading-level scores flawed?

  Monday, April 22, 2019

  The progress of many struggling readers is undermined by slavish adherence to Lexile reading-level scores. Though I haven't observed that a majority of teachers, learning consultants, and school psychologists are subservient to these scores, I’ve observed it far too often to think it’s rare. In contrast, it’s obvious that Lexile scores, flexibly used as tentative guides, can advance decision-making but cannot take the place of a highly knowledgeable and insightful teacher’s observations. Essentially, Lexile scores are produced by readability formulas that analyze the difficulty of texts, such as passages, articles, and books. To do this, they analyze the length of sentences and the frequency with which words occur.

• He struggles with reading. How can ‘EARSS’ help him?

  Monday, February 11, 2019

  Like all children, struggling readers learn best when they attend classes in which they feel physically safe and emotionally confident. But given their all-too-common histories of failure, peer taunting, and humiliation, they often view school as threatening. As stated in my previous article, Professor Patrick McCabe's principles can help struggling readers feel safe and emotionally confident in their classes. But principles are not magic. More may be needed, and the EARSS acronym, which shares substantial DNA with McCabe's principles, can point the way. For many struggling readers, EARSS can multiply the effectiveness of McCabe's tools: stack the deck for success, offer well-deserved praise, and offer persuasive comments.

• He struggles with reading. He fights it. How can his teachers help him?

  Monday, January 21, 2019

  Unfortunately, many children with reading disabilities feel hopeless and helpless about learning to read. They believe it’s better to give up than to try and fail. Several of the struggling readers I’ve evaluated made it clear: "I can’t do it. I won’t do it. I hate it." Fortunately, by working together, teachers and parents can often multiply their positive influence and daily effectiveness. Together, they can help struggling readers minimize and perhaps abandon their beliefs that they’ll never learn to read. Only by helping struggling readers to start to believe that they can learn to read will they start working to become motivated, competent readers.

• Assaults on Medicaid: Threats to America’s most vulnerable children

  Monday, September 10, 2018

  Throughout America, the 2018 election may prove to be a momentous turning point for parents and supporters of vulnerable children, like children in poverty, children with chronic illnesses, and children with mild-to-profound disabilities. Not voting or voting for the wrong candidate may devastate these children. Ongoing assaults on Medicaid help to explain why. They explain why every vote by Americans who care about these children should reflect their distrust of both the executive branch of government and the current Congress.

• My child doesn’t get enough sleep: Dangers and remedies

  Monday, August 13, 2018

  Many special and general education students of all ages and achievement levels don’t get enough sleep. They suffer from sleep deprivation. They routinely get far less than the roughly eight to 10 hours of sleep they need. The long-term consequences of sleep deprivation put them at serious risk for obesity, diabetes, accidents, heart disease, and premature death. In school, at home, and with friends, the consequences are immediate.

• A danger sign for parents and schools: Poor sleepers

  Monday, May 14, 2018

  In his 2017 book, "Why We Sleep," Dr. Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, clearly summarized much of the neuroscience of sleep, including the dramatically different effects of quality sleep and poor sleep. Among other consequences, he explained how quality may lessen emotional distress and strengthen cognition, learning and memory, and problem-solving. Meanwhile, the consequences of poor sleep aren’t neutral; they’re destructive.

• Using instructionally-relevant questions to develop evaluations and IEPs

  Monday, April 30, 2018

  Many schools have traditionally limited their special education evaluations to brief observations, informal measures, rating forms, and norm-referenced tests. These are tests that compare the student to large groups of students but offer incomplete and superficial glimpses of what the student knows and can successfully do. For students with mild-to-moderate difficulties, such as struggling learners with learning disabilities, they often dismiss or quickly wink at instructionally-relevant questions that influence academics, communication, and social, emotional and physical functioning.

• Summer programs for struggling learners: The parents’ role

  Monday, April 09, 2018

  ​Over the summer, many parents of struggling learners will strive relentlessly to teach their children the reading, writing and mathematics proficiencies they've yet to master. Some of these parents will succeed, but history shows that their efforts will usually backfire, igniting one or a combination of stress, anxiety, resentment, anger, despondence and depression.

• ESY programs: The summer slide, eligibility and instruction

  Monday, March 19, 2018

  It's anxiety time. Summer is around the corner, and the crunch of Individualized Education Plan (IEP) season has started. You, like untold thousands of parents of struggling learners, might be antagonizing over another summer slide: "This summer, will Harold again forget so much of what he learned that he'll struggle for months to relearn it? Will this cement his resistance to learning?"

• To strengthen IEPs, stop blaming, start solving

  Monday, March 12, 2018

  When parents, students and school personnel disagree about the specifics of individualized education programs (IEPs), they often fall into the trap of angrily blaming one another. Bitterly, parents may accuse teachers, IEP team members and school administrators of not caring a wit about their child, caring only about dollars. School personnel may respond in kind, scornfully staring, rushing through proposed IEPs and presenting them with little if any further discussion, on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. Though all parties think they're right, they're usually wrong.

• Poor sleep: A powerful — but often ignored — culprit in learning

  Monday, February 19, 2018

  It blocks learning, causes memory difficulties, depletes energy, incites anxiety, evokes arguments and lays the groundwork for serious behavior and health problems. But when students struggle with reading, writing, math and other problems, it's usually ignored, immeasurably adding to the students' struggles.

• A guide to observing your child’s instruction

  Monday, January 29, 2018

  As your child begins the second part of his (or her) academic year, you shudder with anxiety and anger as you learn that his motivation has plummeted as his learning difficulties have intensified. You wonder if his teacher is competent, if she's even following his Individualized Education Program (IEP).

• My child struggles with reading. Can music therapy help?

  Monday, November 27, 2017

  ​Can music therapy help? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, but often it’s well worth a try. Emotions affect learning. Many struggling readers feel extremely negative about reading. Your child may feel depressed about his (or her) struggles. He may keep telling himself (or herself) any number of self-doubts and harmful things. The longer and deeper pessimistic thoughts and negative emotions plague these children, the longer their mental health, motivation to read, and achievement will suffer.

• Response generalization difficulties: A powerful barrier to learning

  Monday, September 25, 2017

  Many struggling learners suffer from difficulties with response generalization, difficulties that can dramatically slow their rate of learning. If, for example, Edwin learned to organize his science notes, but without direct instruction couldn't seamlessly organize his consumer studies (CS) notes, his response generalization difficulties will create a barrier to learning, one that requires extra instruction. He'll need extra instruction to learn what many of his peers will automatically do — apply the knowledge and skill they learned about organizing their science notes to organizing their other notes.

• Allington’s 6 T’s of exemplary reading instruction

  Monday, August 14, 2017

  Simply put, there’s no perfect method or commercial program for teaching struggling readers how to read. Every method or program has flaws. As Richard Allington, past president of the International Literacy Association, has noted, no program is complete, and no program is as important as the teacher. Allington found that exemplary teachers used six key features to guide reading instruction, features that were far more important than methods or commercial programs. He called these features, found in a series of studies, the Six T’s.

• Solving the problem of student motivation

  Monday, July 17, 2017

  To achieve excellence, most students must be highly motivated to achieve. Unfortunately, many students with learning problems, such as learning disabilities and cognitive impairment, appear unmotivated to learn what teachers are teaching. This can become the most difficult and vexing instructional problem that teachers, parents and support personnel face.

• How the AHCA will affect those with pre‑existing conditions

  Tuesday, June 13, 2017

  On May 4, Republicans in the House of Representatives repealed the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) and passed the American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA). President Donald Trump lauded the bill and held a congratulatory ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.

• Improving your child’s reading evaluation: A strategy for parents

  Friday, May 26, 2017

  As a parent, you felt Warren's frustration. You heard his anxiety. You saw his last ounce of confidence vanish. Why? He struggled to read, and he "struck out" every time he tried. He felt horrible. In anguish, he screamed, "I'm stupid, stupid, stupid!"

• Anxiety skyrockets as IEP season arrives

  Monday, May 01, 2017

  ​For many parents, anxiety is skyrocketing. They fear the worst. It's IEP season. Past experiences have taught them to expect a bitter struggle, followed by feelings of powerlessness, despondence and anger.

• My child struggles with learning. How can I help her at home?

  Monday, April 24, 2017

  This question — "My child struggles with learning. How can I help her at home?" — plagues many parents. When the Garcias tried to teach Juana to sound out words and answer questions about what she read, she snapped at them, pushed the book across the table and threw a temper tantrum. When the Ashers tried the same with Ben, he sobbed.

• The promise and burden of the Supreme Court ruling on disabilities

  Monday, March 27, 2017

  Throughout the country, parents of children with disabilities and advocates are celebrating the Supreme Court's unanimous Endrew F. v. Douglas County decision on March 22. And they have every right to do so.

• My 4th grader hates reading — What’s wrong with him?

  Friday, December 09, 2016

  "​Joey, my 10-year-old son, struggles with reading. That's understandable. But why does he hate it? Why does he fight it? Why doesn't he try harder? He knows it's important. Why does he have such a bad attitude? What's wrong with him?" In most cases, nothing is "wrong" with him.

• Failure, retention and graduation denied

  Friday, November 18, 2016

  ​Several years ago, The New York Times published ​an essay by Chicago high school teacher Will Okun. He was worried about Etta, a conscientious, enthusiastic, hard-working struggling reader whom he might have to fail. His blog was touching, perceptive and troubling. It continues to resonate strongly with me. It dealt with an all-too-common dilemma that affects struggling readers and their teachers.

• The key to motivating struggling learners

  Monday, November 07, 2016

  Should teachers recommend the promotion of struggling learners to the next grade if they've worked hard but achieved little? The answer is yes, but ... But provide learners with whatever supports they need. Needed supports may well include preteaching, mentoring, cooperative learning, peer teaching, active co-teaching and 1-1 tutoring. For all such learners, it will require individual and group activities, homework and materials at their proper instructional and independent levels. Frequently, this alone will prevent struggles and accelerate progress.

• Stimulus generalization: Often critical, often ignored

  Monday, October 24, 2016

  This is bad, and it's far too common: Struggling learners fail to generalize what they've learned in class. When it's needed in other places, it seems "lost" or "foreign" to them. In the example below, what Marco seems to have mastered in his resource program, he doesn't apply outside of class. Like many struggling learners, he has problems with a mysterious sounding concept: stimulus generalization.

• What’s the best reading program for my struggling child?

  Monday, October 03, 2016

  ​Parents often ask me, "What's the best reading program for my child? He struggles with reading. It's awful." Unfortunately, this question can't be answered. Why? Programs do not teach reading — teachers do.

• Is your student having homework struggles? There’s one solution

  Monday, August 01, 2016

  Here's a phone call that closely resembles countless calls I've received, "My son struggles at least two hours a night to finish his homework. And often he gets it wrong. If his homework is incomplete, his grade goes down. He hates homework. What can I do?" You can prevent the problem with a policy statement allowed under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004.

• Critical factors in helping struggling learners to remember

  Monday, June 20, 2016

  If you teach special education or have a child in need of remedial or special help, you may soon start asking “Why does he keep forgetting? What’s wrong with him?” Maybe he forgets because he doesn’t attend to or understand the important information, concepts or processes. And maybe, in full or part, he’s a struggling learner with memory problems. But physically, directly, legally and morally, you can’t get into his brain to rearrange his memory cells and synapses as he’s a real child, not an android in a bizarre science-fiction movie. So, you’re helpless. Right? Wrong. You’re not.

• Strengthening the memory of struggling learners: Starting points

  Monday, June 13, 2016

  No doubt about it. Most struggling learners have a strong propensity to forget, no matter how many times teachers and parents tell them something. This adds tremendous complexity and uncertainty to teaching while frustrating teachers, parents and learners alike.

• Is progress monitoring a waste of time?

  Monday, May 23, 2016

  ​Do teachers and tutors quickly and accurately know whether their struggling learners are sufficiently benefiting from their academic program? And if the benefit is meager (or far exceeds expectations), do they adjust the ineffective program to meet the needs of struggling learners?

• The missing ingredient: Helping struggling learners to remember

  Monday, March 14, 2016

  Struggling learners often suffer from a widespread problem that dramatically affects their learning: Forgetting, forgetting and forgetting. "Yesterday, when I taught it to Wilson, he knew it. Today he doesn't," teachers often lament. "It’s like he's never seen it. And this happens again and again." Unfortunately, this problem does happen again and again. Unless the countless numbers of Wilsons get the help they need, they and everyone who cares about them will suffer.

• Struggling readers: Missing ingredients for success

  Tuesday, February 16, 2016

  "Mom, I can't do it. I won't do it," Amir sobbed. "I'm dumb, I'm stupid, I'm confused. John told the other kids that 'Amir's dumber than a rock.'" Sadly, struggling readers, such as children with dyslexia, often make comments like this. They believe and suffer from them.

• Excessive stress: 6 strategies for helping struggling learners

  Tuesday, January 19, 2016

  ​Excessive stress — unjustified, overwhelming and relentless demands adults thrust upon children — can devastate all children, especially struggling learners: "Stress is bad for children. It's associated with health problems, school failures and youth delinquency," ​Dennis W. Creedon writes. "High stress levels have been associated with ... asthma and depression ... Stress directly affects 'attention, memory, planning and behavior control.' When the mind is under emotional stress, it produces the peptide cortisol. ... Cortisol generally is a blessing because we don't become controlled by our past negative experiences. However, if cortisol is not kept in balance, learning can and will stop."

• The key to making independent educational evaluations work

  Monday, October 12, 2015

  You're happy. You sent your child's IEP team a brief request for an independent educational evaluation (IEE), and they agreed with it. Like you, the team members said they wanted greater insight into your child's struggles with reading, writing and related problems.

• How can you get students with LD to change their behavior and habits?

  Monday, September 14, 2015

  ​Many parents of children with educational disabilities know their children need to rid themselves of behaviors and habits that jeopardize their future. They need to develop ones that propel and sustain progress. This, after all, is the primary aim of special education's Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA), the volumes of legal decisions supporting it, and Individualized Education Program (IEP).

• A song of loneliness, empathy and action

  Monday, July 27, 2015

  ​For at least 100 times over the past several days, I’ve listened to Vivian Green’s rendition of "Oh, Freedom." Her performance was morally powerful, personally humbling, and haunting in a bittersweet way. In its courage and moral power, it offers lessons to those of us concerned about the needs and dignity of children and adults with disabilities.

• How the BRRRRR strategy can help you chill out at IEP meetings

  Monday, July 06, 2015

  ​If your child will soon have a new Individualized Education Program (IEP), you have to ensure it meets all his (or her) educational needs. Ideally, to develop a high quality IEP, you’ll work cooperatively with the school's IEP team members. But what if you disagree with them? What if you believe they're just trying to save money and don't care about your child?

• 18 ways to advocate for your child with learning disabilities

  Monday, June 08, 2015

  With summer vacation here, scores of IEPs are in disrepair. And many parents feel bewildered. They know they must advocate for their children, but don't know what to do and how to do it. Consequently, many act in self-defeating ways, inadvertently undermining their children's education.

• My child struggles with writing: Why typical evaluations don’t do the job

  Monday, May 04, 2015

  Typical writing evaluations are often inadequate. Knowing this may help you convince school or private evaluators that your child needs a different kind of writing evaluation, one that might use but doesn't depend on standardized tests to compare him or her to other children. Instead, outside of standardized testing, it directly examines what he or she can and can't do well and tries to identify external barriers to progress. There are several important written requests you may need to send the school. If you're faced with resistance, there are possible actions to lessen or eliminate it.

• My child struggles with writing: How can we discover the cause?

  Monday, April 20, 2015

  ​Parents of struggling writers worry about their children's struggle. They see their children's tears. They hear their protests. They feel their pain. And generally, they ask three questions.

• How can I prepare my child for the upcoming IEP meeting?

  Monday, March 16, 2015

  ​Parents often ask me how to prepare for IEP meetings. One way is to send your child's case manager a list of questions you need answered. Let the case manager know that you need the answers to effectively contribute to the development an appropriate IEP — one likely to produce important progress in important areas. Send the list at least six weeks before any scheduled IEP meeting.

• How can we increase the value of a student’s evaluation?

  Monday, February 16, 2015

  An evaluation is only as effective as the questions it aims to answer. And often, evaluators fail to see the precise, critical questions that need answering. They don't know the child or situation well enough to identify them. Therefore, they tend to do what they normally do, often leading to boilerplate evaluations and reports that leave parents and teachers wondering, "What new and valuable answers and recommendations did the evaluator provide?"

• Tanya always forgets. What’s wrong with her?

  Monday, February 02, 2015

  ​On Friday, Tanya's teacher sighed sorrowfully, "Tanya forgot all six sight words she knew on Monday. I spent 30 solid minutes teaching them to her. This always happens. What's wrong with her?" What's wrong? Maybe nothing. Maybe she just needs the right kind of practice.

• Learning disabilities: An easy way to avoid homework’s pitfalls

  Monday, January 12, 2015

  Homework creates anxiety, frustration and failure for untold numbers of children with learning disabilities. Conflict ensues among children, parents and teachers. Children's motivation for schoolwork plummets. Confidence disappears as resistance emerges.