This toolkit includes videos and resources that outline the unique educational and environmental needs of students with PWS.
This toolkit includes videos to aid in preparing your child’s IEP at every transition period, sample IEPs and supporting documentation.
Thinking about homeschooling? This toolkit is for you. It includes a video by two veteran homeschool parents as well as several resources.
This toolkit includes videos and resources that outline the school’s legal responsibility when responding to behavioral challenges in the school district.
This toolkit includes videos that teach parents how to be effective advocates while building a positive relationship with their child’s school, sample letters to use when communicating with the school as well as templates to share information regarding your child.
This toolkit includes videos that explain special education law, IDEA and FAPE in laymen’s terms. You can also find a copy of IDEA 2004 here.
The School Success Program was created in memory of David Wyatt who was PWSA | USA’s first Crisis Intervention and Family Support Counselor.
The School Success Program was created in memory of David Wyatt who was PWSA | USA’s first Crisis Intervention and Family Support Counselor.The School Success program, formally known as The Wyatt Special Education Advocacy Training (WSEAT) is generously funded by the PWSA | USA Willett Fund and generous grants from the RBC Foundation and the Susan A. & Donald P. Babson Charitable Foundation allowing PWSA | USA to provide these resources free to the PWS community. © Original content created and designed by Evan Farrar and Ben Karp in 2017 and updated by PWSA | USA’s Family Support staff. © Prader-Willi Syndrome Association | USA All rights reserved
The information provided in the School Success Toolkits are high level, not all inclusive, and should not be used as a
substitute for PWS training by experts in the field.
Jennifer Bolander has been serving as a Special Education Specialist for PWSA (USA) since October of 2015. She is a graduate of John Carroll University and lives in Ohio with her husband Brad and daughters Kate (17), and Sophia (13) who was born with PWS.
Perry A. Zirkel has written more than 1,500 publications on various aspects of school law, with an emphasis on legal issues in special education. He writes a regular column for NAESP’s Principal magazine and NASP’s Communiqué newsletter, and he did so previously for Phi Delta Kappan and Teaching Exceptional Children.
Evan has worked with the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association (USA) since 2007 primarily as a Crisis Intervention and Family Support Counselor. Evans works with parents and schools to foster strong collaborative relationships and appropriate educational environments for students with PWS.
Dr. Amy McTighe is the PWS Program Manager and Inpatient Teacher at the Center for Prader-Willi Syndrome at the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh. She graduated from Duquesne University receiving her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Education with a focus on elementary education, special education, and language arts.
Staci Zimmerman works for Prader-Willi Syndrome Association of Colorado as an Individualized Education Program (IEP) consultant. Staci collaborates with the PWS multi-disciplinary clinic at the Children’s Hospital in Denver supporting families and school districts around the United States with their child’s Individual Educational Plan.
Founded in 2001, SDLC is a non-profit legal services organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the legal rights of people with disabilities throughout the South. It partners with the Southern Poverty Law Center, Protection and Advocacy (P&A) programs, Legal Services Corporations (LSC) and disability organizations on major, systemic disability rights issues involving the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the federal Medicaid Act. Recently in November 2014, Jim retired.