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Special Education’s Difficult History
Norena Hale, the former state director of special education, researched and wrote an ICI-sponsored book about the history of special education teachers in Minnesota from the 1840s to 2023. It is a story of laws ensuring an appropriate education for young people with disabilities, teacher training, low salaries, and dire labor shortages.
The Voices of Ordinary Citizens Make Change Happen
Kentucky didn’t have an autism training center, and Laurie Spezzano and her network of families of children with autism weren’t professional lobbyists. Yet they collaborated, advocated, copied successes elsewhere, lobbied legislators and aides, and testified in hearings. Result: Kentucky now has an autism training center that benefits people with autism, their loved ones, and staff.
“We learned that if you can ‘fly under the radar’ by asking for something that’s NOT the big agenda item, legislators are eager to look good and do good by passing laws that meet the needs of the citizens.”
Expanding Access for Rural, Highly Mobile, and Military-Connected Families
The University of Minnesota’s TeleOutreach Hub is creating a provider ecosystem to help military families and those living in geographically dispersed areas with developmental, emotional, or behavioral health concerns.
“We do a lot more than training. This model and these efforts have been building a provider community.”
