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Steve Watson and high school counselor Lindsey Holbrook discuss strategies that parents can use to set children up for a successful high school experience. Steve and guests are joined by co-host, Laurie King.

Raising Special Kids – Help and Hope for Families Raising Special Kids. Help and Hope for Families. Raising Special Kids exists to improve the lives of children with the full range of disabilities, from birth to age 26, by providing support, training, information and individual assistance so families can become effective advocates for their children. raisingspecialkids.org Parent Resources - Arizona State University Early Intervention/ Disability Services and Agencies Animal Therapy, Support and other Services Local Early Intervention Agencies Local Early Intervention and Disability Associations/ Support Groups www.asu.edu Arizona Early Intervention Program | Arizona Department of Economic Security The Arizona Early Intervention Program (AzEIP) is Arizona’s statewide interagency system of services and supports for families of infants and toddlers, birth to three years of age, with disabilities or delays. des.az.gov The Child Find Process Under federal law, public schools must look for, find, and evaluate kids who need special education. This is called Child Find, and it covers kids from birth through age 21. It applies to all kids, including those who are homeschooled or in private schools, plus kids who are migrants or without homes. https://www.understood.org/articles/en/child-find-what-it-is-and-how-it-works

Steve Watson, and current classroom teachers Tara Dale and Yolanda Wheelington, discuss strategies that parents can use to make sure their parent-teacher conferences are positive and productive.

Steve Watson, and former Arizona PTA President, Beth Simek, discuss strategies that parents can use to better engage with their child's school. Steve and Beth are joined by co-host, Laurie King.

During coronavirus, many parents are starting to homeschool their children and got a lot more involved. This is a positive development to have hybrid learning and ensuring it's effective, even though for younger students it's necessary to have an adult to help navigate the learning process, whether teacher or parent. Students have a great deal of opportunities from field trips and outdoor activities to sports and competition.

John Watson has more than two decades of online learning and digital instruction experience. Today, however, this is still a lot to be done to add to the tremendous work going on in school districts. During COVID, schools learned they've had the tools for 20 years, but not necessarily ready to develope and use them just yet. We have an opportunity to be creative and proactive now.

As a teacher, Watson was greatly influenced by McNulty who talks about change in K-12 education. Do we do things differently now compared to 1989? Where are our opportunities now? Our delivery model has remained the same — face to face — that’s where our training is. But online learning is here to stay and shaking things up with multiple delivery models.