Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Special Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parent urges Waunakee schools to adopt neurodiversity-affirming practices, specialist and universal design
Summary
A parent and DI committee member asked the board to require neurodiversity training for staff, add a district neurodiversity specialist, adopt Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and create a parent resource center.
A Waunakee parent and member of the district’s DI committee told the school board the district should adopt formal neurodiversity-affirming practices, increase staff training and hire an on-site neurodiversity specialist.
Jackie Sacobiak, who said she has three children in the district, told the board that about 20 percent of the population is neurodivergent and that many classroom practices and disciplinary tools are out of date. She urged mandatory training for all staff, a dismantling of ableistic beliefs in school culture, adoption of universal design for learning (UDL) and creation of a parent resource center to improve school–family collaboration.
Sacobiak criticized disciplinary methods such as lost-recess behavior forms and said schools should address underlying causes of behavior rather than treat symptoms. She also recommended a district resource to help parents navigate supports and said a specialist could reduce teacher time spent managing challenging behaviors.
Sacobiak cited examples of accommodations used widely in other contexts—closed captioning and voice-to-text—to illustrate how UDL supports access for all students. She concluded by urging the district to move from compliance-based practice to intentional inclusion.
