By Dawn Thomas, President of SESI As Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week ends, I wanted to highlight a certain segment within the K-12 education sector that’s close to my heart, the exceptional professionals devoted to the world of special and alternative education. These compassionate educators work tirelessly to unlock the potential of each unique student, which has become more important as the number of students receiving special and alternative education has grown over the past decade.    During this important week, I’ve reflected more than usual on what I’ve learned during my first year as president of Specialized Education [...]

 By Dr. Diane Myers, SVP, Special Education—Behavior at SESI Summer break is a time associated with being carefree, enjoying the sun and some down time, and limited structure. Families of children with behavioral challenges may not experience the same excitement when summer break nears, as removing the structure that comes with a regular school routine can lead to severe disruptions in the home. Here are some tips to help families prepare for and support children during an extended break.  Utilize schedules and calendars to maintain structure  Maximizing structure to the greatest extent [...]

Eight students at The Graham Academy, a special education elementary school for students living with autism and students living with behavioral challenges, can now say “I am a published author”. Their writing activity assignments for World Kindness Day in November were collected and published into a professionally bound hardcover book. "What Kindness Means to Us" is now in print. Teacher Michelle Toepfer found the idea for the book publishing program online at Studentreasures Publishing. She sent away for the free kit that included a step-by-step guide to submit the student’s creations. Illustrations accompanied a hand-written sentence from each child on what [...]

By Diane Myers, PhD, SVP, Special Education – Behavior at SESI Brittany Croteau, MSW, LCSW-C, Director of Behavior Support at SESI Ask any educator about the most challenging time of year and you’re likely to get a response related to state or district testing. While we all understand the need for annual assessments as a measure of progress, students and staff alike often experience heightened stress during “testing season.” In addition to the disruption to regular routines, many students experience test-related anxiety. Test anxiety can affect students for a variety of reasons: previous poor performance, difficulties with academic content, pressure [...]