My mother works in administration at a University that trains students in all sorts of fields of study including special education.  In her 20 plus years there, she’s had a few chances to share a parent’s perspective of the special needs education system to prospective teachers.  One such opportunity came this week. 
Working with the developmentally and [...]

Day in and day out I have the opportunity to witness little miracles, and by “little” I mean in the literal sense as the children about whom I’m speaking are all under the age of three.  In the ARC Marion Early Intervention Program(EIP), children with varying intellectual and developmental disabilities attend classes five days a [...]

An annual treat at ARC Marion is the “costume parade” of the children in the Early Intervention Program.  Many of the children come dressed in costumes for the special day, but the EIP program also has an assortment of dress-up clothes for those who aren’t already in fun attire.  The children go to all of the [...]

Recently I was talking with the Director of the Early Intervention Program at ARC Marion and mentioned to her a very vivid memory from my childhood about my sister.   When she was born, she had very limited movement and couldn’t rollover or sit up or stand because her little legs weren’t strong enough.  She also [...]

Imagine living with a nonverbal developmentally disabled individual who has no means of communication whatsoever.  She crawls around the house, eats at the dinner table, plays with some toys and goes to school on the short bus every day without any way to tell her family what she wants. Ever. Then picture the day when [...]