Fish Out of Water

Effective communication can help parents of special needs kids

This Thursday at 6:30 PM the Mashpee SEPAC is hosting a workshop called Effective Communication. If you're the parent of a child with special needs and you live close by, whether it's Mashpee or another Cape town, I'd recommend dropping in -- it happens at the Quashnet school library, at 150 Old Barnstable Road in Mashpee.

Resolving conflicts and developing effective lines of communication with sped staff are issues that come up over and over again when I talk with parents of special needs kids, as chairman of the Mashpee SEPAC. Almost invariably, parents will run up against problems in getting what they want or what they think their kids need from their local special education office. They also don't always feel like they're active participants in the IEP or 504 plan process, which determines what sort of services or accommodations their kids are entitled to.

And who can blame them? Parents are put in a difficult position, having to advocate for their kids without any sort of formal training, and often with only the barest ideas of what their legal rights are. There's a different vocabulary to use, there are bureaucratic concepts and laws to get your head around -- it's really scary and overwhelming for a lot of folks. It certainly was for my wife and me at first, as it it is for just about everyone I talk with. Even teachers who have kids of their own with special needs are often overwhelmed.

So that's what this workshop is all about. It'll help you learn to communicate effectively with the special ed and regular ed teachers you're working with, and it'll also help you develop some techniques for avoiding and de-escalating potentially explosive situations, so you're working with your special ed team, not at odds with them.

The Web site asked for people to RSVP by yesterday, but it's okay -- drop us a line if you can, otherwise just stop on by on Thursday night. We'd love to see you.