Military families with special needs children have unique challenges they face every day. This webinar presented by four military spouses will focus on the experience military families have with special needs education, the problems and difficulties facing families, and potential legislative solutions that Congress can provide to fixing those problems.
A replay of the webinar will be provided for all registrants via email.
About our Presenters:
Michelle Norman, 2019 AFI Navy Spouse of the Year, is a Navy spouse of 25 years and mother of a 16-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy and multiple other disabilities. After years of successfully advocating and winning multiple legal cases to ensure her daughter receives the minimum education required by law, she was contacted by multiple military families around the country dealing with similar problems in public schools. Seeing that so many children will benefit from her dedicated efforts, the Virginia Beach resident has become a passionate advocate for other military families with kids with special needs.
Shannon DeBlock is a proud Navy spouse for the past 16 years and mom to 2 boys who are 13 and 11 years old. Her youngest son was diagnosed with autism at 16 months old. Both of his medical and educational needs have been difficult to meet across duty stations partially due to the severity of his disability and the lack of support from the civilian community, military community and lawmakers during times of transition. Shannon’s family endured a 2- year legal battle with Poway Unified School District in San Diego, CA where the district sued her 11-year-old son to remove educational supports that he had been receiving for the previous 5 years at a prior duty station.
Grace Kim, an Air Force military spouse, has been working on behalf of children with Special Needs since 2002 as a mother of a Special Needs child; a paralegal and law clerk who focused on Special Education, School Law and Juvenile Justice; and an attorney dedicating her practice to representing families of Special Needs children with legal and education-related issues. She is a J.D. graduate of the George Mason School of Law and has an M.A. from Alliance Theological Seminary and a B.A. from Nyack College. After her son was denied an appropriate education at one of their duty stations, she took matters in her own hands and attended law school to become a special education attorney.
Kaci McCarley is an active duty Army spouse and mother of a 14 year old son with Down syndrome. After gaining her undergraduate degree in special education and working as a teacher for several years, she joined Goodwill of the Olympics and Rainier Region as Director of Disability Services where she had opportunity to support military students transitioning from K-12 education into adult services. She became an advocate for students with disabilities after seeing the tremendous stress military families endure during times of transition, and the lost instruction that negatively impacts academic achievement and development. Kaci currently works for the Military Child Education Coalition who champions quality, inclusive education opportunities for all military-connected children.