Family Engagement
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Description: This is an opportunity for families to visit PEATC staff in-person! PEATC is working on bringing office hours to each and every region. For current hours and locations visit the Regional Community Office Hours page. Current Regional Community Office Hours include: Abingdon (Washington County) Damascus (Washington County) Dinwiddie Hopewell Norfolk Prince George Roanoke Tappahannock (Essex County) If your city is not listed, subscribe to our newsletter here to be...
Description: What is Consent? Consent means that you agree to something.You say YES.We consent to all kinds of things every day like scheduling appointments or whether to buy the new car that the salesman is showing us. But consent isn’t just saying YES.We need our consent to be “informed.” Informed consent means that when you say YES, you understand exactly what you are agreeing to and what the results may be. Informed consent is especially important in sexual matters.Your child needs...
Description: PEATC is Virginia’s federally mandated Parent Training and Information Center (PTI). PEATC has staff in your region of the state, ready to provide free and confidential assistance to Virginia’s families of students receiving special education services. Read the Special Education Family Support Centers one-pager to learn more. Additional languages: Amharic Arabic Spanish Urdu Vietnamese
Description: Family engagement is crucial during the transition process. Research shows that when families are meaningfully and continuously engaged in their children’s learning and development, they can positively impact their child’s health, development, academic, and well-being outcomes into adulthood. Use these family engagement resources and training opportunities to begin engaging meaningfully with the families of students and youth with disabilities.
Description: Mississippi Department of Education Specially Designed Instruction Guidance Document - SDI for Transition is discussed on pages 43-50. Transition Services Taxonomy for Transition Programming Virtual Work-Based Learning Experiences
Description: Adaptive Toys for Children with Disabilities and General Toy Safety Inclusive Gifts for Kids with Disabilities and Their Families What Are Switch-Adapted and Switch-Activated Toys and Games?
Description: Creating an Autism-Friendly Holiday: Strategies for a Joyful Season - The holiday season can be overwhelming for many. Disrupted routines, travel, increased social gatherings and expectations, can contribute to stress and dysregulation. This article shares ideas on how to reduce stressors to contribute to a more joyful season for the entire family.
Description: This Microlearning Training provides small bites of learning on hot topics focused around foundational knowledge and easy-to-implement skills and strategies. Microlearning is always available and take just 10-15 minutes to review. This Microlearning series includes: Social-Emotional Learning Early Childhood Toolkit Classroom Essentials: Schedules Strategies to Support Autistic Learners Strategies to Support Everyday Transitions Foundational Five for Families
Description: Decision Tree: How to Assist and Support Students through Interventions - When a parent, teacher, another person, or a school-based team thinks a student has a health condition, learning difficulty, or other challenges that are affecting the student’s ability to learn, the school should take a proactive approach to determine the type of support and/or services that will help meet the student’s needs. This could be a range of informal and/or formal services provided by one or more of...
Description: Video- Play in Early Childhood: The Role of Play in Any Setting - When children play, they can reduce sources of stress, strengthen core life skills, and build responsive relationships with caring adults—all of which are core principles of early childhood development. This video highlights the importance of play.
Description: Text and Online Acronyms Parents Need to Know - When it comes to texting, parents and children don’t speak the same language. Texting often includes acronyms. An acronym is an abbreviation, that consists of the initial letters of the other words and is pronounced as a single word. When you look at your child’s text messages or online chats, you likely won’t understand these acronyms. But they are popular on the internet and found mostly on social media platforms because they...
Description: The Brain Architects Podcast: Building Resilience Through Play - These days, resilience is needed more than ever, and one simple, underrecognized way of supporting healthy and resilient child development is as old as humanity itself: play. Far from frivolous, play contributes to sturdy brain architecture, the foundations of lifelong health, and the building blocks of resilience, yet its importance is often overlooked. In this podcast, Dr. Jack Shonkoff explains the role of play in supporting...
Description: Brain-Building Through Play: Activities for Infants, Toddlers, and Children - From infancy on, play is an important part of a child’s life. This handout series, developed with support from the LEGO Foundation, provides suggestions games and play-based activities based on a child’s age. The activities for younger children are designed for adults to engage in with children. Activities for later ages allow the adults to step back, enabling children’s independence to blossom...
Description: Virginia's students, families, and educators have long deserved a system that prioritizes high expectations for every child and provides clarity on how each school is preparing students for success. Virginia’s new accountability system, the School Performance and Support Framework, builds trust among schools, parents, and communities through transparent, easy-to-understand reporting on a school’s performance. The Framework shows how students are mastering grade level content,...
Description: Classroom accommodations for dyscalculia - Dyscalculia can make it hard to understand math concepts or do tasks that involve math. Explore this list of accommodations that can help. Download and print the list to use at school — and even at home. Introducing new concepts and lessons Giving instructions Completing assignments Completing tests More resources
Description: Dyscalculia is a learning disability in math. People with have trouble with math at many levels. They often struggle with key concepts like bigger vs. smaller. And they can have a hard time doing basic math problems and more abstract math. Snapshot: What dyscalculia is Dyscalculia signs and symptoms Possible causes of dyscalculia How dyscalculia is diagnosed
Description: Engaging Families for Math Success - Asking children simple questions about the world around them can reinforce math skills and help them apply their math knowledge in new ways. Young children who have lots of opportunities to develop and apply their mathematical knowledge are more likely to achieve in school and in life. Helping families understand the importance of math and of supporting their children's math learning outside the classroom is one way to set children up for success.
Description: The Virginia Department of Education has launched a new online tool, the VQB5 Portal, to help families learn about early childhood programs across the state. With information on over 3,000 publicly funded early childhood sites, the portal makes it easy to check the quality, curriculum, and safety of programs for children from birth to age five. Families can search by location and review important details to choose the best option for their children. This tool is designed to help families make...
Description: Growth mindset printables for STEM - A growth mindset is a way of viewing challenges and setbacks. People who have a growth mindset believe that with hard work, their skills can improve over time. Having a growth mindset is important for students. It helps them face challenges and learn from mistakes. It’s essential for students who learn and think differently to have opportunities to practice a growth mindset. And is the perfect place to practice this. This includes printable resources:...
Description: Questions to Ask Your Child's Teacher About Math - Math skills are essential for life– including daily tasks, problem-solving, creativity, career options and more. This resource is intended for parents of students in Grades 3-8, and includes questions to ask your child’s teacher as well as tips and resources to support math at home. Questions to Ask Your Child's Teacher About Reading - This resource includes questions to ask your child’s teacher as well as tips...
Description: Virginia Parent Transition Survey - This updated survey is a way for parents to describe their expectations for their child/youth’s future and their expectations. Completing this survey before or during a transition planning IEP meeting will provide important information that can lead to improved planning and better outcomes after leaving high school. Not all of the sections or choices may be relevant to your child/youth, so please complete those that best describe your concerns and...
Description: Cell Phone-Free Education Final Guidance & Resources - After listening to and reviewing the thousands of comments and suggestions from Virginians on how to bring cell phone-free education to our children’s schools, VDOE has published final guidance for school divisions on policies and procedures to be implemented to establish cell phone-free education and remove cell phones from Virginia’s public school classrooms. The final guidance defines cell phone-free education in...
Description: Conducting Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team Meetings When Members Disagree - Parent participation and teamwork are fundamental to special education. Parent feedback is a necessity in ensuring that a student is receiving a free appropriate public education. However, team participants do not always agree and conflict is a natural occurrence in team dynamics. Recognizing that conflict will happen, but that a healthy relationship between all members is in the best interest of the student,...
Description: What should educators keep in mind when engaging with families of students with intensive needs? - In this video, Lindsay Jones the CEO of the National Center on Learning Disabilities, shares some considerations and strategies that educators can use to support partnering with families of students with intensive needs. Lindsay E. Jones is the President and CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), a national nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the lives of the 1 in 5...
Description: Strategies for Equitable Family Engagement - This resource provides an overview of evidence-based strategies that schools and districts may use to promote equitable family engagement practices. Organized around five categories of equitable family engagement strategies, this resource includes summaries of the research on equitable family engagement as well as examples of school and district practices across the country, linking to publicly available information where possible. School and district...
Description: Working with Families - The importance of collaborating with families to promote participation in educational decision-making has been identified as one of the key principles of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). IDEA provides for specific rights that enable parents to participate as equal members of the IEP team and to be involved in evaluation, placement, and special education and related service decisions. Family–professional partnerships have been defined as a relationship...
Description: Parents and families are critical partners in supporting students with intensive academic and behavioral needs. It is important to recognize that every parent and family member is different, with varying levels of knowledge and comfort with school; they may not consider their involvement in the school in the same way that the school perceives it. As a result, our approach to parent and family engagement should be differentiated. It is important to: share information about the school’s...
Description: This Wandering Resource Guide includes critical resources to increase safety at home and in the community. The Autism Society hopes that the resources can help you, your family, and other trusted caregivers have open discussions about safety and find solutions that meet your family’s needs.
Description: Factsheet for Virginia’s Parents Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) in Early Childhood Programs - Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), refers to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requirement that “children with disabilities not be placed in special classes or separate schools unless the nature and severity of their disability is such that education in regular classes with supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.”...
Description: New challenges kids face in middle school Middle-schoolers travel between classes on their own and store their books in lockers. Middle-schoolers usually have a different teacher for each subject. Students in middle school face more social pressure and often worry about their ability to fit in and make friends. New challenges kids face in high school There’s more homework and an emphasis on grades in high school. High-schoolers need to manage time well, stay organized, and take good notes....
Description: 6 steps to prepare your child for changes to routine in middle school - Moving up from grade school to middle school is a big transition — in more ways than one. The work is harder. The social scene is more complex. And often, the school building is much larger and harder to navigate. Kids with and without learning and thinking differences face new challenges. But the greatest adjustment may be to the changes in routine. For most kids, middle school is the first time they have to...
Description: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provides a variety of tools for school personnel, parents, and nurses.
Description: Call PEATC (703-923-0010) for free and confidential help with your special education & disability questions. PEATC's help is now available in over 300 languages!
Description: Family Engagement Checklist - It’s important for families and schools to work together to ensure student success. Families will feel and be more involved if they feel that the school is their partner. This easy-to-use checklist has simple ideas to help create and maintain real partnerships.
Description: The Healthy Minds, Thriving Kids Pre-K Project is a video series, based on mental health research, created to make important mental health skills available to preschool children (age 3 to 5). These videos introduce important ideas, taught the way young children learn best: through entertaining, relatable stories set in a vivid, imaginary world. Each video features a memorable song that reinforces the key messages. We invite you to watch the complete series with your children or students. You can...
Description: Families play a crucial role in preparing their child for college and careers through valuable work-based learning (WBL) experiences. WBL facilitates supervised experiences for students with disabilities organized by schools and vocational rehabilitation agencies in real work settings. These experiences help students develop interests and skills for employment. Work-based learning experiences connect classroom learning and real-world work to improve students’ chances of securing...
Description: Dott, Alphabott, and the Alphabotteers are teaching Dusty the Dog to read. That’s what makes them Reading Buddies! Combining the science of reading with lots of laughs, Reading Buddies is the fun way to teach aspiring readers the foundational components of reading.
Description: This section provides Parents & Families with practical ideas and strategies to help with reading and writing based on what works. Topics include: Dyslexia, Beginning Reading, Intervention, Screening, Advocacy and Partnerships.
Description: Resilience for Kids With Dyslexia, Learning and Attention Issues - Hear from Fumiko Hoeft, M.D., Ph.D., a psychiatrist and a cognitive neuroscientist, about how resilience can help kids with dyslexia succeed in school and in life. Learn how you as a parent can build resilience by showing support, providing mentorship, focusing on strengths, and building social/emotional resilience. With these tips, you can create a resilience framework for your child with learning and attention issues....
Description: Medicaid has a new program starting in January 2024. It's called Brain Injury Services Targeted Case Management (BIS TCM). This program can help you or your family member find and get medical and other services in your community.
Description: In response to feedback and collaboration with the field, as well as to legislation passed by the Virginia General Assembly, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has released the Video Guide to the Special Education Evaluation Process for Families as additional guidance to support accurate and consistent eligibility determinations and access to special education services across school divisions. These video modules will provide parents, families, and other stakeholders with a brief but...
Description: The purpose of ORTIi is to provide technical assistance to Oregon school districts implementing Response to Intervention (RTI) systems that provide targeted, effective instruction to meet the needs of all students and provide the framework to identify students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD). The focus of the project is on literacy, early intervention, and the use of evidenced-based practices.
Description: MTSS for All: Including Students with the Most Significant Cognitive Disabilities - The purpose of this Brief is to provide suggestions for ways in which MTSS can include students with the most significant cognitive disabilities so that MTSS provides a whole school and whole district approach to be implemented by educators. Ideas for how to make MTSS fully inclusive of all students are presented following a short history of MTSS and a summary of current MTSS models. Resources for Parents on...
Description: Challenging Behavior Tips for Families - Young children need help from adults to learn how they are expected to behave in social situations. Check out these helpful tips for how families can promote their child’s positive behavior during common routines that can sometimes be challenging. Disabilities coordinators can download and share the handouts with educators to use during home visits and family nights, or directly with families. Coordinators and education staff may consider creating a...
Description: As the Virginia Department of Education is working to issue formal guidance in response to Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order 28: Parental Notification, Law Enforcement Collaboration, and Student Education to Prevent Student Overdoses, the department is sharing best practices to support decision-making protocols that school leaders are grappling with when developing parent notification protocols and also re-enforcing best practices for law enforcement collaboration. Parent Notification:...
Description: Executive Directive 6: Student Safety Resources Considerations for Schools and Families - We recognize the impact of violence and trauma on our students, families, and school staff as we all struggle to process the lives lost, continuing violence and current world events, including the recent outbreak of war in Israel and antisemitic demonstrations around the world. School staff and parents may find themselves fielding questions from students and supporting them in processing what they have...
Description: The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) recognizes the impact that a well-established special education PRC can have on insuring that parents are informed of their rights and responsibilities related to the special education processes outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004) and the Regulations Governing Special Education Programs for Children with Disabilities in Virginia and, as such, have a direct impact on increasing outcomes for students with...
Description: Recorded Webinar: Expect, Engage, Empower: Successful Transitions for All - This session targets the recent OSERS initiative 3E: Expect, Engage, Empower. This initiative challenges our field to raise expectations, engage families earlier, and empower all who support students with disabilities to improve postsecondary outcomes. Staff from the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: The Collaborative (NTACTC) shared information and resources about evidence-based transition practices...
Description: 24 Tips for Traveling With Children - This article discusses how to make flights and road trips easier for children with autism, anxiety, and other challenges. What You'll Learn: How can families help kids with special needs prepare for air travel? What are some ways to make road trips easier for kids with special needs? How can families make hotel stays work for kids with special needs? Hidden Disabilities Sunflower - Some disabilities, conditions or chronic illnesses are not immediately...
Description: An issue in the Impact series that focuses on the brothers and sisters of children, teens, and adults with intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities (IDD) – what we know about them, their roles and needs across the lifespan, their feelings about themselves and their siblings, and how to support them. Siblings of people with IDD are frequently involved in their brother’s or sister’s life longer than anyone else in their family. They have unique experiences,...