The Biden-Harris Administration Promotes Access to Early Intervention Services for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities

Katherine (Katy) Neas, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Department of Education
Sherry Lachman, Associate Director for Education, Income Maintenance and Labor, White House Office of Management and Budget
Bert Wyman, Program Examiner, White House Office of Management and Budget 


The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to improving the lives of young children with disabilities and their families. We are working to ensure that every child who needs individualized and high-quality early intervention services receives them as early as possible. We have called on Congress to double funding for these services and we have made strategic investments to expand the number of early intervention providers, including in underserved communities. We are also developing user-friendly resources and technical assistance on expanding access to early intervention for early childhood state and local administrators and service providers, families, and advocates. As part of this effort, on December 14, the Department of Education, in partnership with the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services, hosted a webinar where we released informational guides for early childhood stakeholders to promote innovative and effective strategies for identifying and serving all children eligible for early intervention services.

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Dyslexia Awareness Month: An Interview with a Parent

Note: October is Learning Disabilities / Dyslexia / Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Awareness Month.

Kristin Kane

Kristin Kane

Resha Conroy

Resha Conroy

By Kristin Kane

October is a great month for awareness, some impressive groups come together this month to share information about a specific issue. At the heart of it is a goal that helps others understand why the issue is important and why we should pay attention. Raising awareness can take different forms, but it is the connection of people that brings meaning to why a community raises awareness.

This month is Dyslexia/LD/ADHD Awareness Month, and I had the honor of sitting down with Resha Conroy, a parent of a child with Dyslexia. She is also a member of the National Center on Improving Literacy Family Engagement Advisory Board and has started her own non-profit, Dyslexia Alliance for Black Children

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What Will Her Life Be Like?

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month

Leyton Family Fall 2020

by Terri Leyton

Seventeen and a half years ago, our world was rocked when Kelsey was born.

Everything changed when she was whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for observation. The obstetrician and NICU pediatrician came back to tell my husband and me that Kelsey had a pretty significant heart defect, and they suspected she had Down syndrome. Many questions swirled in our heads: Could her heart be repaired? Will she survive? What will our life be like raising a child with Down syndrome?

What will her life be like?

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Voices From the Field: Interview with Montserrat Garibay

Working with Dual Language Learners

Montserrat Garibay

Montserrat Garibay is the Acting Assistant Deputy Secretary and Director for the Office of English Language Acquisition and Senior Advisor for Labor Relations, Office of Secretary, U.S. Department of Education. Previously she was the secretary-treasurer of the Texas American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and served as vice president for Certified Employees with Education Austin.  Ms. Garibay was a bilingual pre-kindergarten teacher for eight years and a National Board-Certified Teacher. She is a graduate of the National Labor Leadership Initiative with the Worker Institute at Cornell University and is a University of Texas-Austin graduate with a master’s degree in Education. An activist on education and immigration issues, Garibay came to the U.S. from Mexico City as an undocumented immigrant and became a citizen 20 years later. She has been instrumental in promoting opportunities for all students, including those from immigrant families.

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Anxiety and Learning Disabilities: The Worst Kept Secret

October is Learning Disabilities / Dyslexia / Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Awareness Month.
Athena Hallberg

By Athena Hallberg

My learning disabilities and anxiety have always gone hand in hand; however, while I was diagnosed at a very young age with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and an auditory processing delay, my anxiety disorder went undiagnosed for years. My anxiety disorder was my biggest secret — the worst kept secret, but a secret all the same.

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Voices From the Field: Interview with P. Kay Nottingham Chaplin

Vision and Eye Health for Young Children
Kay Nottingham Chaplin

Kay Nottingham Chaplin, Ed.D., is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for Prevent Blindness, working primarily with its National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health. She provides technical assistance about all aspects of a vision and eye health program, including early detection through screening and program evaluation and improvement. Dr. Nottingham Chaplin has worked in vision screening for 21 years. She assisted states in creating or revising vision screening and eye health guidelines, and serves as a panelist or presenter at webinars and lectures at international and national venues.

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Tom Hehir: A Champion for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

Thomas Hehir

We at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) mourn the loss and celebrate the extraordinary life and contribution of Tom Hehir, Ed.D. Throughout his decades-long career in special education, from special educator in Massachusetts, to director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), and faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Tom was a tireless advocate for children with disabilities and their families.

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Voices From the Field: Interview with Gregory Facey

Celebrating Fathers

Gregory Facey and Family

Gregory Facey is a husband and father of children with hearing loss. Gregory is also a special education resource consultant and literacy advocate for students with disabilities. He serves on the Citizens’ Commission on Public Service and Compensation and is a member of the National Alliance of Black School Educator’s Parent Commission. Gregory lives by a quote from Booker T. Washington: “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.”

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OSEP Releases Fast Facts on Educational Environments of School Aged Children with Disabilities

OSEP Fast Facts: Educational Environments of Children with Disabilities, Ages 5 (in kindergarten) through 21, Served under IDEA Part B. Percentage of Students with Disabilities, Ages 5 - 21, Receiving Services Inside a Regular Class 80% or More of the Day, in the US, Outlying Areas, and Freely Associated States: SY 2020-21. The map demonstrates the ranges of the percent of Students with Disabilities, Ages 5 through 21, Receiving Services Inside a Regular Class 80% or More of the Day in 2020-21 by State. Educational environments are defined in the IDEA Part B Child Count and Educational Environments for School Year 2020-2021, OSEP Data Documentation.

By the Office of Special Education Programs

OSEP released a new OSEP Fast Facts: Educational Environments of School Aged Children with Disabilities, which explores our IDEA, Section 618 data.

This OSEP Fast Facts takes a closer look at the environments where children with disabilities are receiving special education and related services.

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