Entries by Michael Boll

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A Beginner’s Guide to the Special Education Legal Process: Are We a Good Match for Each Other?

    A Beginner’s Guide to the Special Education Legal Process This blog is based on the first of a series of podcasts called Special Education Matters, featuring Michael and our lead attorney Richard Isaacs. Michael and Richard discuss the process that begins when a family decides to work with us. Some of this process […]

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A Beginner’s Guide to the Special Education Legal Process #1 Are We a Good Match for Each Other?

Michael Boll, father to a son with autism and CSNLG team member, introduces our special series on the process of working with an attorney or advocate to help your son or daughter. This is a mutli-part series.

We start with how the process works here at CSNLG and what steps happen to go from someone seeking help and information to hiring a law firm.

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Can a Functional Behavioral Assessment Help Your Child?

If you have a child with special needs such as autism, you may quickly start hearing about Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and Verbal Behavior (VB) as therapies that are helpful to children.

Today I talk with Dr. Denise Eckman president and executive director of Creative Behavior Interventions. We discuss an overview of what ABA is and which types of children, and even adults, benefit from this type of intervention. We go a little deep and by the end of this show, you will have a functional understanding of behaviors, their antecedents and a breakdown of different types of communication we find in language. In fact, if you listen carefully, you may be able to discuss Mands, Tacts, Intraverbal and Echoic communication!

You Have an Equal Voice in All IEP Meetings

Dr. Susan Burnett, Paralegal and Advocate  Have you ever gone to your child’s IEP meeting with the uncomfortable premonition right from the start that it is going to be an adversarial meeting? You walk in and everyone is friendly enough, but then someone proceeds with a conversation laden with inaccuracies and diversions. When challenged, the […]

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Tia Jones Shares The Lindamood-Bell Program

‘Readin, ‘writin and ‘rithmetic, or the three r’s as they used to call it, it still a fundamental concern for parents and educators who see a student struggling in those areas. Additional help and instruction in those areas is often a successful way to catch a student up or move them further ahead.

Today I speak with Tia Jones, Executive Center Director of the Lindamood-Bell program in Newport Beach, California. We discuss her program, the specifics of how it works along with the time commitment and costs associated with enrollment.

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The Role of Trust and Communication Before, During and After an IEP

Having a successful IEP meeting, plan, implementation, etc. can involve a wide range of people and logistical efforts. Trust, based on constructive communication, is often the key factor in keeping all these moving parts working together.

Today I talk with Bree Tippets, a Pre-K, Special Education Coordinator for Orange Unified School district.

Bree helps us understand an IEP from the district’s point of view and what efforts we can make as parents to build a team focused on our child. Interestingly, Bree is the parent to a child with special needs and knows first-hand a parent’s point of view.

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Special Education Teacher, Parent and Advocate, Adrienne Oliviera, Shares Her Stories From Both Sides of the Table

Idealism and the desire to help people is often an overarching view of many young people fresh out of school and ready to contribute to the world. For Adrienne Oliveira, my guest today, she saw a career as a special education teacher as her chance to contribute.

Adrienne reflects on her time working in three different schools in three different states and the dramatic differences she found in each district. All these experiences gave her a unique perspective after her son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Suddenly Adrienne was now a parent at an IEP instead of a teacher.

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Are Social Skills Groups Right For Your Child?

Children with special needs, especially with autism, can find navigating the social world difficult and challenging. There are so many rules for social interaction and they constantly evolve depending on who is in the room, as we age, etc.

Today I talk with Brock Tropea a speech language pathologist by day and a social skills group ninja in the afternoons. We cover how social skills groups work, how to understand and see progress and the specific types of social skills targeted for an upgrade.