A Christmas Message From Education Advocates of America

Winter break is a joyful reset—but for many students, long stretches without structured practice can lead to academic or behavioral regression. The good news? You don’t need a full curriculum or hours of daily work to keep skills fresh. With a few simple, school-approved strategies, families can support their child’s learning in ways that feel natural, stress-free, and doable.

Holiday gatherings can be a culmination of joyful, exciting, and overwhelming, especially for children with special needs. Bright lights, unfamiliar faces, changes in routine, loud noises and music can create sensory overload that makes this time of year challenging. However, with the right tools, you can help your child feel more comfortable, confident, and prepared in navigating through the holiday season.

Two of the most effective supports for children during this time are Social Stories and Visual Schedules. When both of these are used together, they can turn what can be holiday chaos into something predictable and manageable for children with special needs.

For many families and students, the jump from elementary to middle school feels big and really, it is. Your child is suddenly going to be experiencing new teachers, bigger and unfamiliar campuses and school grounds, changing schedules, lockers, shifts in social relationships and dynamics, as well as higher academic expectations and an increased sense of independence. This can leave both students and parents feeling a mix of excitement and nerves during the transition whether or not your child is on an IEP or has a 504 Plan. 

Here are some tips and strategies that you can implement during this transitional time:

December is one of the busiest and most stressful months for families, and that is often true for students with IEPs as well. The first half of the school year has passed, routines are established, and many parents are beginning to notice what is working and what is not. The good news is that you do not need to wait until spring or the annual review to make changes. Families have the legal right to request updates, meetings, and adjustments at any point in the school year, including mid-year.

A December IEP tune-up can help ensure that your child enters the new year with the support they need to make meaningful progress.

Are holiday schedule changes causing your child to feel overwhelmed, scattered, or dysregulated? I’m Dr. Gabrielle Baker, President of Education Advocates of America. Executive functioning skills—like planning, transitioning, emotional regulation, and flexibility—can take a major hit during the holidays because routines shift, expectations change, and predictability disappears. Many kids who rely on structure feel thrown off by early dismissals, assemblies, family gatherings, and unplanned interruptions. One simple but powerful tip: preview the day every morning and again before major transitions. Even a quick verbal or visual checklist can help your child anticipate what’s coming and reduce anxiety. You can also keep one or two anchor routines in place—like consistent bedtime rituals or morning organization time—to give them a sense of stability. Small supports can make a huge difference in how calmly they move through the holiday season. Read the full blog to learn practical strategies for supporting executive functioning when schedules get messy.

Mid-year teacher turnover is more common than parents realize. Whether a teacher resigns, goes on extended leave, or is reassigned, changes in staffing can disrupt routines, services, and the overall implementation of a child’s IEP. While schools are responsible for ensuring continuity, the reality is that transitions often create gaps that directly affect student progress.

Understanding how teacher turnover impacts special education services helps families know what to look for and how to advocate for stability and accountability.

Navigating through the world of special education can sometimes feel heavy, stressful, or even adversarial. However, it’s important to also recognize that there are also bright spots: teachers who go the extra mile to support your child, case managers who have clear and consistent communication, therapists who cheer your child on and celebrate growth, or administrators who step in with support for your child’s case. As we have entered the holiday season, now is the perfect opportunity to recognize and express gratitude for those efforts while also strengthening relationships with your child’s IEP team.

Executive functioning skills are the foundation of academic success and daily life in school. They include planning, organizing, initiating tasks, managing time, regulating emotions, and following multi-step directions. Students who struggle with executive functioning often fall behind not because they are incapable, but because the skills needed to navigate school demands are not fully developed. Advocacy is essential to ensure these students receive the supports they need to access learning, demonstrate their knowledge, and build confidence. Understanding what supports are appropriate at different grade levels can help families work effectively with school teams.

Behavior goals are most effective when they are specific, measurable, tied to the function of the behavior, and focused on teaching replacement skills rather than simply stopping unwanted behaviors. Goals should reflect what the child will learn to do instead of the unwanted behavior. Because all behavior communicates a need, the goal must align with the function: escape, attention, access to items, or sensory regulation. When a goal matches the function, it becomes meaningful, teachable, and achievable.

Navigating through the special education process can often feel daunting and overwhelming for parents and guardians. One document that can often be used as a tool to ensure your child’s rights are being protected and properly documented is called a Prior Written Notice. In today’s blog post we are going to outline what a PWN is, when you should request one from the school, and how you can use it as a tool to advocate for your child. 

“Stay-put” is one of the strongest procedural safeguards in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, but it is also one of the most misunderstood. Many families believe that simply saying “we are invoking stay-put” is enough to freeze a child’s services. In reality, stay-put is only activated under specific legal conditions. Understanding what it truly protects—and what it does not—helps families use it effectively.

As we reach the halfway point of the school year, December is the perfect time for parents to take a clear look at how their child is progressing. Schools often share progress-monitoring data every few weeks, but it can feel overwhelming to know what it all means. The good news is that you don’t need to be an expert to spot trends. With a simple system, you can review 18 weeks of data in just a few minutes.

Parent input statements are often overlooked, yet they are one of the most effective tools parents have in the IEP process. When written clearly and strategically, they strengthen your role on the team, organize your priorities, and create a documented record of your concerns and requests.

Students with anxiety often struggle with school avoidance, perfectionism, fear of failure, and difficulty regulating their thoughts and emotions during the day. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most effective approaches for managing anxiety because it teaches students to identify anxious thoughts, challenge them, and replace them with more helpful patterns. While schools do not provide clinical therapy, they can use CBT-informed strategies within the educational setting. When paired with clear 504 accommodations, these supports can reduce avoidance and help students remain engaged in learning.

In many classrooms and within the school setting, you’ll hear the word “break” used for a variety of reasons and may even see “breaks” written into your child's IEP or 504 Plan. It’s important to understand the difference between a sensory break and breaks that may be used as punishment because not all breaks are created equal. For students with sensory needs, attention difficulties, anxiety, autism, ADHD, or emotional regulation differences, a “break” can be a powerful support.

Families are often surprised to learn that the diagnoses used in schools do not always match the diagnoses given by medical professionals. A child may have a medical diagnosis from a doctor, psychologist, or specialist, yet the school team might say the child does not qualify for services—or qualifies under a completely different category. This can be confusing and frustrating, especially when families are trying to secure the right supports. Understanding the difference between medical and educational diagnoses helps clarify why this happens and what parents can do to ensure their child gets appropriate help.

Whether your child receives private speech therapy, occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), counseling, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), executive functioning coaching, or specialized tutoring outside of the school setting, you naturally want all of the adults supporting your child to work as a cohesive team. Coordinating private providers with a school system can often feel overwhelming and daunting, especially when each of those private therapies operate under different rules, schedules, and expectations with goals that may differ from one another. 

When families think about reading and writing supports in an IEP, they often imagine isolated skills: decoding, comprehension, spelling, or written expression. But effective literacy instruction isn’t a checklist; it’s a layered system. When each skill is addressed alone, students make inconsistent progress. When supports are integrated and intentionally aligned, students build the foundation they need to become confident, independent readers and writers.

At Education Advocates of America, we help parents and schools understand how these layers work together, how they should appear in an IEP, and what it looks like when a child is genuinely supported.

Students with chronic illnesses often face unpredictable symptoms, medical appointments, and periods of recovery that make traditional school schedules difficult to maintain. Section 504 exists to remove barriers like these so students can access their education without being penalized for circumstances outside their control. When crafted correctly, a 504 plan can support attendance, make-up work, and flexible scheduling in ways that protect the student’s rights and academic success.