32 THE BEST OF MONTEREY BAY® FAMILY 2026-2027 cial education services, understanding how the system works, and what they can do to advocate for their child and participate in the decision-making process on the services their child will receive. School districts, Special Kids Connect and Special Education Local Plan Area in Monterey County (SELPA), which is responsible for guaranteeing available programs for students with a disability in public schools, provide workshops for parents on special education. Mariposa, a parent support group in South County, and Special Kids Connect offer support group sessions where parents of children with disabilities share their experiences. “That peer-to-peer support is so helpful,” Luzader says. “To be able to sit in a room with other parents that have been overwhelmed and have managed to navigate the system and get over those hurdles and those challenges, is super important.” “It’s a learning process among parents; we have to help each other,” Gomez says, noting that sharing experiences with other parents and having a supportive spouse have helped her to keep going. She focuses on the positive aspects and the steps her sons are accomplishing, such as using pictograms to communicate or making a quesadilla by themselves. Once a child has an educational diagnosis (such as a learning disability or language impairment), school districts form a team that includes a parent or guardian, a special education teacher, an interpreter if needed and others to create a plan called an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for the student based on data and the student’s needs. Having a medical diagnosis for a disability, for example, doesn’t guarantee a child will automatically qualify for special education at school. “We’re looking at how, if there is a disability, it is impacting their education,” Rais says. Parents and experts say it’s important for parents to have an active role in their kids’ EIP and to have both parents on the same page to generate a comprehensive plan. Gomez’s 7-year-old son is nonverbal, and she learned about one-onone instruction through Special Kids Connect. She says she advocated for one-on-one instruction for her son, and after several evaluations, it was determined he needed that level of service. In California, regional centers through the state’s Department of Developmental Services diagnose and provide services for children from birth to 3 years old. At 3, the responsibility in most cases shifts to school districts, even if the children aren’t enrolled in an early education program or class. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, during the 2022-23 school year, 7.5 million students, or 15 percent of those enrolled in public education, ages 3-21 received special education or related services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, also known as IDEA (California is below the national average with 14 percent). AUSD has a student population of 7,500; roughly 1,100 have an IEP. Rais says some factors have increased the number of students in special education. For example, districts are better at evaluating students, while parents’ requests have increased. “More and more parents want their children evaluated, which is slightly different from what happened 20 years ago,” Rais says. “The awareness is there. The support is here.” While awareness has increased inside and outside the classroom, parents say the community should offer more empathy, and there should be more resources available to create more inclusive spaces among children and adults. “It would be wonderful if the community taught its children not to discriminate because someone has a condition [a disability],” Gomez adds. REACH programs at Special Kids Connect, such as basketball (above) and art (left), bring together neurotypical youth with those who have disabilities in a recreational setting. COURTESY OF SPECIAL KIDS CONNECT COURTESY OF SPECIAL KIDS CONNECT
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