Special educators often carry dreams for young people who cannot yet dream for themselves. Many of our students come to us weighed down...

A Professional Perspective on Cell Phones, Gaming, and Special Needs Youth The Growing Concern Around Technology and Youth In today’s...

In special education—and in learning more broadly—task avoidance is a daily reality. Students may put their heads down, joke to distract...

Working in special education means more than providing accommodations and differentiated instruction. Many students carry invisible loads into the classroom—trauma, grief, abandonment, and instability—that overshadow their ability to learn. For these students, “emotional baggage” is not a metaphor. It is the daily reality that shapes how they see adults, how they respond to peers, and how ready they are to learn.

Discover how to make accountability instruction a daily routine through modeling, reflection prompts, low-stakes practice, repair strategies, and positive reinforcement—helping students connect cause and effect in meaningful ways. The article emphasizes teaching accountability as intentionally as reading or math, ensuring it becomes a consistent, structured, and restorative practice for students with emotional and behavioral challenges.

Address the “can’t yet do” behind the “won’t do” with strategies to teach task initiation, validate emotions, provide structured breaks, and create predictable routines that foster skill growth and independence.

Strengthen trust and engagement with relationship-first approaches, co‑regulation, micro‑win recognition, non‑verbal prompts, and validation before redirection.

By Charles Mathison When I first started working with “N,” a 13-year-old student in a residential treatment facility, he could only stay...

by Charles Mathison Today, I want to introduce you to The 4 B’s —a method designed specifically to support students with autism who have...