Dear friends of Exceptional Lives,
As 2025 comes to a close, we’re reflecting on how far we’ve come together—and how much more we can do for children with disabilities and the families and educators who support them.
This year, we leaned into what we do best: helping schools and districts build meaningful, trusting family relationships so Special Education is easier and better for everyone involved.
❤️ In 2025, we focused on what matters most: relationships
The research is clear: when schools truly partner with families in Special Education, everyone wins.
Family engagement improves student outcomes, helps prevent staff burnout, reduces legal conflict, and strengthens families.
This year, we built out resources to help educators put true family engagement into practice in Special Education:
- Professional development sessions
- Small-group coaching
- Practical tools to help you start strong with families new to Special Ed
We created resources on strategies like Plain Language writing so families can easily understand the information they get about their child’s services.
We worked side-by-side with school and district teams to practice new ways to communicate, listen, and include families as true partners on the IEP team.
🫶🏽 We supported families and educators through a year of uncertainty
This has been a year of big questions for families of children with disabilities. Changes at the federal level, shifting policies, and new proposals have left many parents wondering: What does this mean for my child?
We made it our job to put things in perspective, keep you informed, and understand what changes in Special Education policy mean for your children.
Our goal is make sure families knew what to expect and how to prepare so they can make informed decisions and advocate effectively for their children.
⚜️ We learned alongside two Louisiana districts
We have continued our multi-year pilot projects with St. Tammany Parish Schools and St. Bernard Parish Schools in Louisiana. These districts are doing the hard, brave work of changing how they relate to Special Education families across the whole system.
Together, we are learning what it really takes for a district to build trust with Special Education families. How can districts make it easier for families to get the information they need? What can improve IEP and transition meetings for both staff and families?
This work is about culture change at the district level:
- Truly listening to families
- Communicating in a way that builds trust
- Making sure families are not just “invited” to the table, but truly welcomed as partners.
We were honored to share this work on a national stage at the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (NAFSCE) conference in New Orleans. Our panel lifted up real stories, hard lessons, and practical strategies that other districts can use as they start their own journey toward stronger family engagement.
👶🏾 We sharpened our focus on early childhood
This year, we had the chance to present to audiences at Head Start, the National Association of Educators of Young Children, and other early childhood gatherings.
One theme was clear: early childhood professionals need more support in talking with families about developmental delays and disabilities.
We are helping early childhood providers learn how to:
- Talk with families in plain, compassionate language
- Share concerns in a way that builds trust instead of fear
- Connect families quickly to evaluations, services, and community resources.
By supporting family engagement early we can change the story for children and families long before Special Education even starts.
✈️ We took our message on the road
In 2025, our team took to the road and skies to bring this work to a national audience. We presented at 17 conferences across the country, including stops in Portland, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Baton Rouge, and many more communities.
We met community school liaisons, Special Education administrators, early childhood care providers, teachers, and family support specialists.
Everywhere we went, one message resonated: Trusting relationships are the foundation for success—for students, for educators, and for families.
Your support allowed us to share that message widely, and to give educators and family-facing professionals concrete tools they can start using right away.
🔮 Looking Ahead to 2026
With your partnership, 2026 will be a year of even greater impact. Here’s what’s coming:
- An even better Disability Services Finder. Our searchable, bilingual directory of resources for children with disabilities is getting a major upgrade. Watch for better search tools, easier switching between English and Spanish listings, and faster ways to find what you need.
- New, practical resources for families and schools. We’re developing a new and improved IEP Welcome Kit to support families and educators before, during, and after IEP meetings. Our goal is to help you make Special Education easier to understand and easier to navigate—for everyone at the table.
- Expanded early childhood work. We’ll build on our early childhood efforts in Baton Rouge, across Massachusetts, and beyond, so that families of young children with delays or disabilities get support sooner and feel less alone.
- More chances to connect in person. Look for us at the International Conference on Autism, Intellectual Disability and Developmental Disabilities, the Perkins School Early Connections Conference, the CW Austin Conference on Learning Disabilities, and many other gatherings. Please come find us!
🙏🏼 Thank you
Everything we’ve described here is possible because of you.
To our donors:
Your generosity fuels this work. You help us keep our family resources free, expand our reach, and stand beside families and educators who are doing the hard, hopeful work of inclusion. Please consider renewing your support so we can continue this work in 2026.
To our families, educators, and partners:
Thank you for trusting us, learning with us, teaching us, and sharing our tools with the communities you serve.
Together, we’re showing that navigating complex systems doesn’t have to be so hard.
When families and schools work together, children with disabilities can thrive.
With deep gratitude,
Anne Punzak Marcus, Co-Founder and CEO, and the Exceptional Lives team
