Stacey Jackson, special education advocate, parent, engineer & past school committee member stopped by the podcast to give us an update on her daughter's out of district placement as well as engage in a discussion on the transition process.

Stacey discusses how the immersive experience living away from home in a setting such as Riverview School, a co-educational boarding school placement, can be beneficial for those with "complex learning challenges" and has served her daughter well. Keeping the big picture in mind while advocating for the most effective programming for our loved ones challenged by special needs and trying to stay positive while making and keeping connections, are a few tools that have served Stacey well over the years. She urges parents to keep setting the bar high and remember that the main goal of any transition is that our loved ones are able to hold a job and live independently as possible.

She states, "I don't know if it's just people have pity on kids with special needs....oh their lives are so hard that you know... let's not push them anymore. Let's keep them happy. But she's the type of kid that like most kids, if you're not going to push her, she's not going to take on anything herself, she's going to sit back and coast and play Uno all day if they'll let you. But at the end of the day, we're doing these kids a tremendous disservice because, okay, we might be keeping them happy, but that's going to help them later on. Is that going to help only hold a job or live independently or have you know, great friendships with people if they're not pushed outside their comfort zone? "

To hear the original podcast episode with Stacey Jackson: https://www.spreaker.com/user/8658658/stacey-jackson-take-2

Stacey's Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stacey.w.jackson.9
Riverview School: https://riverviewschool.org/