Tag: Learning

From “Wait To Fail” To “Teach First”: Why Washington’s SLD Shift Matters For Our Kids

Washington is finally moving away from a model that labeled children off a test score gap and toward one that asks a simple question first: how were they taught. For students who were pushed into Special Education because of discipline, bias, or adult frustration, this shift is a chance to stop hiding harm inside an SLD label and start telling the truth with instructional data. Thoughts Cost has been calling for this since Covid, when it became obvious that you cannot call it a disability if a student never had a real shot at learning.

Turning Stories Into Proof: How To Make Narrative Count As Data In Schools

Narrative is not the soft side of education. It is evidence. It is the living pulse inside the data we claim to honor. When a student finally asks a peer for help, when a family sees independence taking root at home, when a young person takes a step forward that no scoreboard will ever measure, those moments are the data. The job is not to shrink stories to fit spreadsheets. The job is to structure the story so clearly, so precisely, so truthfully, that no one can deny its weight. Story becomes measurement. Observation becomes evidence. Growth becomes visible.

Tracking Gen-Ed Minutes as Inclusion Proof: Who We Believe Our Children Are

In every school building, there is a quiet arithmetic that tells the truth long before any mission statement does. It is not the language on the walls, not the slogans about excellence or equity. It is the simple count of where a child spends their minutes. Those minutes do not lie. They testify. For students with IEPs, general education minutes are not a small technical detail in a long document. They are a declaration of belief. They reveal whether a system sees a child as a full member of the learning community or as a visitor, escorted in and out of spaces where other children are presumed to belong by default. If we claim to believe in equity, then we must count the minutes where that equity is either practiced or denied. The minutes tell the story. Tracking them is how we decide to stop lying to ourselves about who our schools are truly built for.

Mentors Built Me, Now We Build Pathways

College and career go together. Use IEP transition planning to combine dual credit, Career and Technical Education, apprenticeships, paid work, and industry certifications. Add mentors from Black owned and community owned businesses, and from real workplaces like professional kitchens. Track completion rates, paid hours, and supervisor feedback with work based learning logs, then organize artifacts with a student Portfolio Checklist.

Rewriting the Narrative: Changing the Language of Special Education

Language in Special Education is not neutral. Terms like “case manager” and “caseload” mirror the criminal justice system, not a learning community. This is a clear connection between SPED and carceral culture. I choose Advocate and Student Roster, because our students are people, not files. Change the language, change the culture.

When the Dream Costs More Than Money: VEqual, ReadEase, and the AI IEP Assistant

Over the past three years, I have invested one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars of my own money into building educational technology solutions designed to close gaps that harm students with disabilities. From VEqual, an immersive virtual school that began as a science lab, to ReadEase, an AI-powered reading tutor, to the AI IEP Assistant that helps teachers focus on delivering services rather than just writing plans, these tools were built to create real change. This is not a story of failure. This is a call for partners who believe in equity, inclusion, and innovation in special education.

Emojis as a Game Changer in Education: A Lesson Learned from My Students

I have always been intentional about Universal Design for Learning (UDL), offering students multiple ways to engage with material. When I added emojis to a goal-setting worksheet, I thought they were just a fun visual. Five students interacted with them in different ways, revealing an unexpected way to make learning more accessible. That moment reshaped how I approach lesson design, proving that small changes can make a big impact.

Four Years of Thoughts Cost: A Journey from One Student to Statewide Impact

Tomorrow marks four years since Thoughts Cost began with one student and a mission to create meaningful change during the uncertainty of the pandemic. From humble beginnings with no plan or income, we have grown into a movement that builds programs, develops EdTech tools, and secures state-level contracts to empower students, families, and educators. This journey has been defined by resilience, creativity, and a commitment to equity and inclusion.