We offer professional development, coaching, family education, and ready-to-use-resources.
This school year, with support from LDOE, we will work with two districts to build family engagement in Special Education. There is no cost to the districts for this work. Applications are now open for all districts.
Each participating district will get:
- Support in developing a yearlong plan to address your district’s needs and family engagement goals
- Professional development training for staff
- A small-group leadership coaching series
- Family workshops on Special Ed basics and how to partner with the school
- Bilingual family resources, communication tools, and access to the Louisiana Disability Services Finder
- And, more!
Throughout the partnership, Exceptional Lives and the district will collect feedback and participation data to evaluate progress and identify opportunities for continued growth.
Each district will receive a final summary with findings and recommendations for sustaining effective family engagement practices.
Offerings
Professional Development
Training for Special Education staff focused on practical ways to strengthen communication, collaboration, and relationships with families.
Family Workshop
A workshop designed to help families better understand their role as partners and build the skills needed to work collaboratively with their child’s school.
Coaching Series
Four hands-on coaching sessions that help district or school teams create and carry out a practical plan for improving family engagement in special education.
IEP Welcome Kit – Plus One Option
A customizable, bilingual toolkit with templates districts can use to explain the IEP process to families in clear, easy-to-understand language.
The Clarity Clinic – Plus One Option
Hands-on support to help Special Education teams make family-facing communication clearer, easier to understand, and more effective using Plain Language.
This project also allows districts to choose an additional professional development session as their Plus One option.
