September is here and the beginning of the school year is right around the corner. School supplies are piling up on the dining room table, bedtime routines are starting earlier and in many households, you can feel excitement, but also anxiety in the air. Is this your child’s first year of school, last year of school or somewhere in between?  

There are various ages and stages parents navigate through. There’s the initial transition into school. Sometimes that occurs for kids in preschool, others in kindergarten. Then there’s the eventual transition from elementary school to middle school. Before you know it, your child is then transitioning from middle school to high school and then finally high school to some sort of adulthood plan. This could be a life skills program, college, technical school or some other adult program.  

Are you prepared for the age and stage of schooling where your child is at? Does your child have the tools they need to be successful in this stage of their life, with regards to their schooling? Do you have the tools you need to help guide them and advocate for them?

Washington Autism Alliance (WAA) is here to offer guidance and support. Along with our Free Legal Clinic , 1:1 coaching by an attorney or Senior Legal Assistant, conflict resolution and legal representation in education disputes, Blueprints to Special Education training workshops (coming up on Saturday, September 9th from 9:00-11:30 am via Zoom)  to help families navigate the IEP system, WAA’s Special Education Law library offers  tools to help families advocate for the Special Education accommodations their child needs. In addition, we help identify services and supports, working with care providers and other agencies to ensure children have access to the educational support they need, regardless of economic, language, or cultural barriers.

Additionally we are building out our calendar this year to add additional Lunch & Learn training opportunities to help our community. We are currently trying to identify autistic adults and parents of autistic children willing to share their ages and stages experience and talk about what helped them through their journey.  Our community has families at all different stages and at WAA we feel we can benefit from listening and learning from one another.  Would you be willing to participate?  If so, please email engage@washingtonautismalliance.org