If you have someone you love that has Down Syndrome, you spend the month of October smiling. Why? Because people with Down Syndrome are everywhere…all over the media, in my newsfeed on Facebook, written about in blogs or magazine articles. Everywhere people are sharing the joy and the light that is the fingerprint of people […]

Today we celebrate our first collaborative post with the CEO of Kids Included Together, Torrie Dunlap. A few weeks ago we were both lamenting the difficulties of creating an inclusive environment in our world and we both kept hearing the word “ready”…from The National Catholic Board on Full Inclusion’s side, the families are ready…sometimes the […]

Just a few days ago, I flew to Jacksonville, Florida to speak at the 2016 Catholic Educator Conference on Exceptional Student Education put on by IBCCES (International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Services) and the Diocese of St. Augustine…in particular, it was spearheaded and created as the personal vision of Kelly Noda. She had […]

Do you remember Bella? Bella is an 8th grader at St. Pius V Catholic School in Buena Park, California. According to her mother, Ana, Bella spent the majority of her early years suffering from refractory epilepsy. She was a non-verbal autistic and was in an extremely restrictive school environment. With the use of the Rapid […]

Two years ago, my son Patrick was graduating from St. James Catholic School in Davis, California. He had been fully included since kindergarten. He made all of his sacraments with his class, went to sixth grade camp for a week with his classmates, participated fully for all nine years. As it was coming to an […]

After a lot of planning and dreaming and imagining, the first ever Inclusion Summit for the National Catholic Board on Full Inclusion happened on March 28th at the NCEA convention. We sent out an invitation, we reserved a room at the beautiful Marriott Marquis Hotel in downtown San Diego, we ordered up some treats and […]

Sometimes we think we hear a whisper, or feel a nudge, or just know down deep, “I need to do this.” The National Catholic Board on Full Inclusion is just that. A big old nudge…a push…a neon sign. We all make a difference every single day. How we treat our people that spend our days […]

Happy Catholic Schools Week! It’s a very special week. This week we celebrate the beauty that is Catholic education. I work in public schools observing student teachers and helping their practice of teaching get better. Our teaching credential/masters program is very selective when it comes to placing our student teachers. The resident teachers that our […]

The Dandy Award comes around once every six months. The National Catholic Board on Full Inclusion gives an award in November and in March, celebrating the month we began, November 2014. Our first Dandy Award was given to two principals at St. Matthew Cathedral School. Located in the shadow of the great University of Notre […]

Happy New Year! It is 2016 and it is going to be a beautiful year. This is our mantra: take the first step. Ask. Say yes. Open the door. We can do this.  I’m so happy you’re here with us.  Together we’re better. The landscape for inclusion is moving and shaking. Did you feel that […]