by Common Ground | Feb 12, 2022 | Features
Auditory processing is a neurological communication between the ears and the brain that is responsible for helping us make sense of what we hear. In auditory processing, the brain must identify the incoming sounds and make an analysis of those sounds and attach...
by Common Ground | Dec 20, 2021 | Features
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has issued an advisory calling for swift action to respond to a growing mental health crisis among youth that has worsened due to stressors related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The advisory notes that national surveys have shown major...
by Common Ground | Oct 4, 2021 | Features
By Debra K. Meyer, PhD, Professor of Education, Elmhurst University As a college professor of educators who are entering the profession (pre-service teachers) and teachers returning to earn their master’s degrees and advanced endorsements (in-service teachers), I am...
by Common Ground | Aug 30, 2021 | Features
For the Latinx/Hispanic community, mental health and mental illness are often stigmatized, resulting in prolonged silent suffering. This silence compounds the experiences that may have contributed to the original mental health condition, including immigration,...
by Common Ground | Aug 30, 2021 | Features
College means new freedoms and new opportunities, but making the transition to college isn’t easy, especially for students with mental illness. Classes will be harder, and students must plan ahead to study. There will be new stressors, such as living with a...
by Common Ground | Jun 18, 2021 | Features, Parents, Professionals, Teachers
Several recent research studies have identified alarming numbers of teachers reporting Compassion Fatigue working during the pandemic. The American Psychological Association defines Compassion Fatigue as the burnout and stress-related symptoms experienced by...
by Common Ground | Jun 18, 2021 | Features, Parents, Professionals, Teachers
Compassion Satisfaction is the antidote to Compassion Fatigue. It encompasses the pleasure and satisfying feeling that comes from helping others. Many people enter helping professions because they have empathetic attitudes for others’ difficulties and a strong...
by Common Ground | Apr 20, 2021 | Better IEPs, Features, Parents, Students, Teachers
The end of the second COVID school year is near, and many parents are asking whether their school district has met the requirements of their child’s Individual Education Program (IEP). For students expected to graduate this year, these questions are particularly...
by Common Ground | Apr 20, 2021 | Capitols, Features, Parents, Professionals, Teachers
On March 3, NJDOE issued a broadcast memo to provide guidance to schools, students, parents/guardians of students with disabilities, advocacy groups, and other key stakeholders regarding compensatory education for students with disabilities. The changes in school...
by Common Ground | Apr 20, 2021 | Courts, Features, Professionals, Teachers
The COVID-19 pandemic and its disruption of education has had schools, parents, and advocates wondering about accountability for services for students with disabilities that were lost under school closures, and due to remote and virtual instruction. Dr. Perry Zirkel,...
by Common Ground | Feb 2, 2021 | Features, Parents, Professionals, Students, Teachers
For students, teachers, families, the impact of the pandemic on education has been all too clear. For our education system as a whole and policy makers, the long-term effects of the largest educational disruption in history are today not as easy to assess. What can we...
by Common Ground | Aug 6, 2020 | Features
In our last edition of Common Ground, we introduced issues impacting special educators and parents as schools and policymakers crafted early responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. While New Jersey’s broad response to the health crisis has, on the whole, been clear...
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