Blog Archive 2014

The Washington State legislature recently passed legislation that starts the important work of developing a career path and better training for para-educators in Washington State.  Washington is the first state in the nation to do this. According to the lead organization representing para-educators (PSE/SEIU 1948) “para-educators provide more than half of all instructional hours in Washington’s […]

Inappropriate use of restraints in schools is a serious issue that warrants national attention. “There is no evidence that physically restraining or putting children in unsupervised seclusion in the K-12 school system provides any educational or therapeutic benefit to a child. In fact, use of either seclusion or restraints in non-emergency situations poses significant physical […]

The state Medicaid ABA plan is being submitted to CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) and we should have federal approval soon.  We recognize Medicaid is struggling with Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) provider capacity, reportedly due to providers being unable to accept Medicaid’s reimbursement rates. We are deeply saddened that hundreds of children have […]

When parents send a child off to school, they assume that their child will be cared for and safe. For parents of kids with special needs, especially those kids who are non-verbal, families place a huge amount of trust in the ability of teachers and other staff to create a safe learning environment. Over the […]