The greatest allies a special education teacher can have are the student’s parents. Parents are student’s first support system. Teachers should collaborate with parents and the student to help the student achieve the best quality of life as an adult. In Agran (2014), Michelle Sommerstein and her parents discuss their views on Michelle’s education and the affects the experience had on the family. Michelle was very determined to experience college, make new friends, travel, make money, and experience other adult activities. Michelle got to do the things she had wanted to do after high school. To help Michelle achieve her goals her parents researched schools where Michelle could continue her education. Her family states that they were able
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The more the family knows the more empowered they feel when establishing different supports for their child. Parents need to feel that their thoughts are being heard.
It would be awesome for all parents to be financially secure but this is not realistic. There are ways for parents to get the financial support they need for their child. For students with severe disabilities there are some medically funded resources that can be funded by medical insurance. In addition there are grants and scholarships that students may qualify for post-secondary school or services. Teachers should try to develop a resource guide for parents that contains all the resources available to the students after high school that parents can refer to.
Another topic that Michelle’s case discussed was independent living. Michelle wants independence from living under another person’s rules. Michelle’s family helped support her by finding out that Medicaid would cover support of Michelle to live independently (Agran, 2014). Reading this section was interesting because I do not have any knowledge of Social Security Disability (SSDI) or Medicaid. Teachers should research both of these agencies to see what supports are available to their
The more the family knows the more empowered they feel when establishing different supports for their child. Parents need to feel that their thoughts are being heard.
It would be awesome for all parents to be financially secure but this is not realistic. There are ways for parents to get the financial support they need for their child. For students with severe disabilities there are some medically funded resources that can be funded by medical insurance. In addition there are grants and scholarships that students may qualify for post-secondary school or services. Teachers should try to develop a resource guide for parents that contains all the resources available to the students after high school that parents can refer to.
Another topic that Michelle’s case discussed was independent living. Michelle wants independence from living under another person’s rules. Michelle’s family helped support her by finding out that Medicaid would cover support of Michelle to live independently (Agran, 2014). Reading this section was interesting because I do not have any knowledge of Social Security Disability (SSDI) or Medicaid. Teachers should research both of these agencies to see what supports are available to their