Whether a child should receive Sensory Integration Therapy from an occupational therapist is often controversial, especially when requested at an IEP meeting as  a related service. To address this issue, Susan N. Schriber Orloff, OTR/L provides perspective to understand what Sensory Integration Therapy can and cannot do.

Origins of Sensory Integration in Occupational Therapy Practice

By Susan N. Schriber Orloff, OTR/L

I get a lot of phone calls with parents asking, “Can you give my child sensory integration therapy, the teacher thinks he/she needs it?”  The question never fails to take me off guard.  Can I “provide it” yes, but when I say I need to evaluate the child first, parents hesitate: cost, time, “stress” on the child, and the like.

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FREE CONFERENCE CALL ON

GETTING AND KEEPING SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES IN TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES: PART II

MICHAEL INZELBUCH, ESQ., SPECIAL EDUCATION AND BOARD OF EDUCATION ATTORNEY

When: Thursday May 26, 2011 @ 9 pm EST

Phone number: Call (661) 673-8600

Use Access Code: 899615# (remember the #)

Length: Approximately 40 minutes

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A Note on Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds (www.reading2008.com)

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Free Podcast at www.reading2008.com

Getting And Keeping Special Education Services In Tough Economic Times

Staci Greenwald, Esq.

Special Education Attorney

Sussan & Greenwald

1249 South River Road

Cranbury, N.J. 08512

www.special-ed-law.com

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Chapters 7 through 13 of Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds discusses federal special education laws and shows how you can apply them to improve the odds of getting and monitoring the services your child needs.

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A Note on Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds (www.reading2008.com)

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FREE CONFERENCE CALL ON

GETTING AND KEEPING SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES IN TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES

STACI GREENWALD, ESQ., SPECIAL EDUCATION ATTORNEY

When: March 24, 2011 @ 9 pm EST
Phone number: Call (661) 673-8600
Use Access Code: 899615# (remember the #)
Length: Approximately 50 minutes

To submit questions in advance, please e-mail them to howard@reading2008.com.

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Can music therapy help? Maybe.

Emotions affect learning. And many children with reading disabilities have extremely negative emotions about reading.  Maybe your child is depressed about his struggles. Maybe he keeps telling himself:

  • I can’t read. I’m stupid.
  • I’ll always fail.
  • I’ll never read. No sense trying.

The longer such self-destructive thoughts and emotions plague children with reading disabilities, the longer their mental health, motivation to read, and their achievement will suffer. To reverse this, it’s critical to help them replace their negative, pessimistic emotions with positive, optimistic ones, ones that make them want to read, want to make the effort, want to enjoy a good book. For some children with reading disabilities, music may be key.

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From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

If your child is eligible for special education, perhaps. One key to getting help is to show the school that his social and emotional problems are impeding his learning or that of his peers. Another is to show that they’re blocking him from achieving a primary goal of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA): “To ensure that all children with disabilities have [an] education that [meets] … their unique needs and prepare[s] them for further education, employment, and independent living” (34 CFR § 300.1). A third is to show that involvement in a social and emotional learning (SEL) program is critical for him to achieve his academic goals.

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Perhaps.

If your child is eligible for special education, he may be entitled to virtually any nonmedical service he needs to benefit from special education. To get him services, you need to first learn what he needs and then request it. Here’s a reasonable strategy to increase the odds of getting him what he needs.

  • First, get written reports from well-credentialed, private specialists. Make sure you fully understand the reports and they tell the school what services your child needs, why he needs them, and why they’re essential for him to benefit from special education. Share these reports with your child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team.
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