Transition to College for Students with Mental Illness
College means new freedoms and new opportunities, but making the transition to college isn’t easy, especially for students with mental illness. Classes will be harder, and students must plan ahead to study. There will be new stressors, such as living with a...Let’s Talk About Compassion Fatigue
Several recent research studies have identified alarming numbers of teachers reporting Compassion Fatigue working during the pandemic. The American Psychological Association defines Compassion Fatigue as the burnout and stress-related symptoms experienced by...What is Compassion Satisfaction and How Can it Help?
Compassion Satisfaction is the antidote to Compassion Fatigue. It encompasses the pleasure and satisfying feeling that comes from helping others. Many people enter helping professions because they have empathetic attitudes for others’ difficulties and a strong...Graduation in the Time of COVID
The end of the second COVID school year is near, and many parents are asking whether their school district has met the requirements of their child’s Individual Education Program (IEP). For students expected to graduate this year, these questions are particularly...NJDOE Issues Guidance Regarding Compensatory Education Determinations for Students with Disabilities as a Result of COVID-19
On March 3, NJDOE issued a broadcast memo to provide guidance to schools, students, parents/guardians of students with disabilities, advocacy groups, and other key stakeholders regarding compensatory education for students with disabilities. The changes in school...Legal Trends: Special Education, COVID, and the Law
The COVID-19 pandemic and its disruption of education has had schools, parents, and advocates wondering about accountability for services for students with disabilities that were lost under school closures, and due to remote and virtual instruction. Dr. Perry Zirkel,...Education and the Long-term Impacts of COVID-19
For students, teachers, families, the impact of the pandemic on education has been all too clear. For our education system as a whole and policy makers, the long-term effects of the largest educational disruption in history are today not as easy to assess. What can we...Reopening Schools: Moving Targets
In our last edition of Common Ground, we introduced issues impacting special educators and parents as schools and policymakers crafted early responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. While New Jersey’s broad response to the health crisis has, on the whole, been clear...Special Education in the Time of COVID-19
For students with disabilities — roughly a quarter million in New Jersey and 7 million nationwide — AND their parents and teachers, the COVID-19 pandemic has been scary. Because such a circumstance is unprecedented in our lifetimes, much of what we know is what we are...How Teacher Preparation Programs Can Help All Teachers Better Serve Students With Disabilities
By Vasilisa Smith Roughly 7 million students in the K-12 public school system—14 percent—are identified as students with disabilities. Of these, more than 62 percent spend a large majority of their day in general education classrooms. Given the numbers, it is clear...Sensory Processing Issues: A Closer Look at Interoception
By Amanda Morin Children with sensory processing issues have trouble organizing information from the senses. This means they can be sensitive to and misinterpret information from the five traditional senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. Some kids may also...NJCommonGround.org, and the Common Ground E-newsletter are projects of the NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities
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- The Right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education
- What to Do if You Suspect Your Child has a Disability Impacting Their Education
- Initial Special Education Evaluations and Eligibility
- The Individualized Education Program (IEP)
- Special Education Placement
- Q&A: What are Extended School Year (ESY) Services?
- Q&A: Dispute Resolution