Description
After tracing what's broken in special education — and why — Anya Kamenetz closes the series by asking what's actually working.
She reconnects with Beth Gellman-Beer, the former federal civil rights attorney from episode one, now a year into life after the Department of Education. Beth gives her honest read on what's happened to the Office for Civil Rights, and her hopes for what it could become. Anya also talks to Stephanie Cosey, a longtime special educator in Southern California, about a very different approach to the adversarial relationship between parents and schools — one built on coaching and collaboration instead of legal threats. And she meets Roberto Rivera, a father in San Francisco who turned his own fight for his son's speech therapy into grassroots advocacy, and who's now helping build a tool that translates dense IEP paperwork into plain language for other families.
For more on this topic:
Need another podcast?: Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids https://www.understood.org/en/podcasts/everyone-gets-a-juice-box
Explore: IEP Guide for Parents https://www.understood.org/en/guides/iep
Read: The Brief: Understood News https://www.understood.org/en/zero-reject-newsletter
For a transcript and more resources, visit Zero Reject on Understood.org. https://www.understood.org/en/podcasts/zero-reject/keeping-the-lights-on
You can also email us at podcast@understood.org.
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