Tag: Teaching

Rising Together: How Mark Ingrassia Is Using Special Ed Rising To Empower Families and Educators

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If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed navigating the world of special education, you’re not alone. This week on the Just My MomSense podcast, I talk with Mark Ingrassia, the heart and voice behind SpecialEdRising.com, to talk about his inspiring journey and mission to uplift families, educators, and students everywhere.

Mark is a passionate advocate and educator who has dedicated his career to supporting children with diverse learning needs. Through his podcast and website, Special Ed Rising, he’s built a safe and welcoming space for conversations about inclusion, advocacy, and understanding.

In our episode, Mark shares his journey into the world of special education, the lessons he’s learned along the way, and the inspiration behind Special Ed Rising. We also talk about the importance of community and how support, understanding, and a shared mission can make all the difference for children and the adults who champion them.

🔗 Listen to the Episode

For more about Mark’s work, visit SpecialEdRising.com and follow Special Ed Rising on social media.

When the Student Becomes the Teacher

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‘J’ has been receiving speech therapy for 1 year and 6 months. Prior to speech therapy, he was a big grunter. Grunts took the place of words. To sit here today and see how far he has come amazes me.

Now that his sister has been starting to talk, he has taken on the role of trying to teach her new words. He says them slowly, points to his mouth and tries to get her to repeat them. It’s beyond adorable. Of course it typically happens when my camera is not easily accessible.

Why I haven’t put GoPros on them by now, I have no idea.

We are so thankful for his speech therapist. We hit the jackpot with someone that ‘J’ took to, feels comfortable with and talks about even when she’s not around. He has learned so much from her, which he is now using in his teaching style with his sister.

He’s still working on perfecting words and his sentence structure, but he gets better everyday. Soon enough we will have not one but two chatterboxes in the house.

From Grunts To Words: Our 1st Year With Speech Therapy

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I wrote this back in September. Although a little outdated, it explains how this journey began.

September 2017

10 months ago our 2 year and 3 month old son grunted instead of talked. His birthday is in June and we knew at that point since he wasn’t talking, he either needed a little more time or we may need to have him evaluated. We decided to go through the summer, give him some time and see what September brought. 

Where It Started

At about 4 months old, he started sleeping with a Mickey stuffed animal and at 14 months he was saying “Mickey.” This was also the time he started walking so we thought he was right on track with developmental milestones. After a few months, we noticed new words were not being introduced. Sometimes he babbled mama and dada but never in context. Every once in awhile we thought we would hear a “hi” but it was a stretch. About a month before his 2nd birthday, we realized we hadn’t heard “Mickey” in awhile. We kept an ear out for awhile and realized he wasn’t saying it, whether prompted or not. This was our first red flag. Not only had no new words been introduced, but now the 1 word he did have was gone. He spoke in grunts, pointed to things he needed and wanted and we understood it all. He turned 2, we gave him the summer and by September nothing had changed. We were afraid of pushing him if he wasn’t ready but more afraid of holding him back from being the best he can be if he needed help. 

We started looking on our county’s website for the details regarding Early Intervention Services and getting him evaluated. We kept going back and forth as to whether or not we should move forward. Were we too worried? Maybe he just needs more time. Maybe we need to be doing more. Ultimately, we decided to move forward in the process, which we heard could take some time.

He was evaluated on his gross motor skills and his speech. The evaluator for his motor skills knew quickly he was right where he needed to be in that area. The evaluator for speech could tell he understood everything she said, but wouldn’t use words to communicate back. She had a toy that popped. She played with it over and over saying “pop” until he did.  After a few tries, he said it and we were amazed! A few weeks and many signed forms later, we began speech therapy twice a week for 45 minutes each. Luckily, the therapists we were working with also conducted a mommy and me class twice a week and we took the opportunity to attend those as well. All of this was covered by the county and we paid nothing for our son to begin his journey towards speech. 

Once he was approaching his 3rd birthday, about 7 months in, he had to be re-evaluated since the services would fall under the school district once he turned 3. There was a debate as to whether or not we would be able to continue because of how much he knew and understood. Luckily, they could see that he still needed work on sentence structure and pronunciation. We were approved to continue services twice a week for 30 minutes each until his 4th birthday. 

Where We Are

One year later from starting the process, we’re about 10 months into services and have a chatterbox that just started Nursery School. I’m not crying, you are…

Looking back at these 10 months, we think about all the little milestones. Saying “boo” for blue-amazing! Using words in context-wow! Putting 2 and 3 words together and now using sentences, asking questions and singing the Frozen and Moana soundtrack – verbally he’s a completely different child. 

To say I’m grateful for the service coordinators and speech therapists we’ve worked with, would be an understatement. They offered support and care for our son and our family that we could never begin to repay. The work they do, the patience they have and the guidance they offer is above and beyond any expectations I had. I’m happy we will continue to work with our same speech therapist. Our son is so excited when she’s coming over and to us she will always be family. 

My advice to other parents would be to trust your gut. If you feel there may be a physical or speech delay, have them evaluated. The evaluators will let you know if your child needs more time or if they could use some help. It’s worth it for them to have the best opportunity to grow!

Now that we’re in January I can say that he absolutely loves school! His teachers and friends are great and he’s learning so much. His speech continues to improve and I’m so excited by all the progress he’s made!