Special education teachers at Albertville High School work to prepare children with special needs for life after high school
ALBERTVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – As someone with a learning disability or as a parent of a child with LD, there are many decisions to make about life after high school. In Marshall County, two special education teachers held an event Tuesday night to help parents make that plan.
Lawanda Mitchell and Paula Keillor, two special education teachers at Albertville High School, say many of their students’ parents don’t know where to start when it comes to planning for life after high school. They say it’s a statewide issue that parents are struggling with knowing what’s available to them.
The event, called Stepping Stones, was designed to educate parents of special needs students in grades seven and up across the county about the importance of starting the process early.
Several representatives from several community organizations were present to explain what they have to offer and where to start for parents.
Presentations cover SSI benefits, employment, college opportunities, and more. contains information about
Mitchell and Keillor hope parents will come away with a better understanding of what they enjoy.
“We wanted to share this with our parents because we want them to be fully involved and we want them to be fully informed about their options,” Mitchell said.
“It helps our parents get in line, fill out the proper forms and be in the right channels because everything (with the state) — there’s a process and it’s usually long,” Keillor added.
John Gladden, a school board member for the Albertville City School System, said his son is part of Auburn University’s Eagles program for students with developmental disabilities. She tells News 19 her son is in second grade!
“Every child with special needs, I understand, has an IEP—an individualized education program. You have to tailor his IEP to what the Auburn Eagles program wants to accomplish (or rather, what we did). It is promoted through a program called the Advanced Eagles Program. Ultimately, her goal is to become an assistant choir teacher,” Gladden replied.
Mitchell and Keillor hope Stepping Stones will become an annual event.
The pair have a Facebook page with all the information discussed Tuesday night, as well as contact details for the various agencies involved.
All news on the site does not represent the views of the site, but we automatically submit this news and translate it using software technology on the site, rather than a human editor.
