About: Mary McLaughlin

Mary has always loved learning, but was a struggling learner who couldn’t read until one day, the right teacher came along with the right methodology, and everything clicked for Mary. Understanding the struggles of children who just “don’t get it,” Mary has spent her career supporting children with learning difficulties and finding ways to excite them about education. Over her career, Mary has taught Second Grade, Third Grade, and served as a Middle School Administrator in Michigan, most often in the urban setting. In 2015, Mary relocated to Arkansas in search of new opportunities and is excited at all that has been placed before her. She currently teaches Special Education in a self-contained setting for children in grades 2-4.

Recent Posts by Mary McLaughlin

The Pros and Cons of Being a Principal: An Honest Look

Smiling school principal with arms crossed outside a school building, students talking nearby
The pros and cons of being a principal come down to reach versus distance: you shape a whole building's culture and earn a median $105,870, but you trade classroom relationships for evaluations, budgets, and every conflict that walks through your door. Most principals start as teachers and miss the room. [xyz_feat_school] If you've been teaching…
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Special Needs Prom: How One Student Led His School’s Grand March

Two rows of silhouetted figures in formal gowns and tuxedos, the top row in black and the lower row in deep blue
A special needs prom doesn't have to be a separate event. In this account from the 2020-21 school year, a special education teacher describes a student with profound disabilities leading his school's Grand March, and the planning her team did to make that night work for him. [xyz_feat_school] During the 2020-21 school year, at the…
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Behavior Management Training for Teachers: What to Ask For

Young child clenching fists and crying during an outburst while standing beside an adult in a backyard
Behavior management training for teachers varies by teacher-preparation program, by state requirements, and by the professional development an employer provides. It tends to arrive in a few recognizable forms: PBIS framework training, crisis prevention and de-escalation training, classroom management programs, and functional behavioral assessment work. What you get depends on where you trained and who…
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Taking Time Off From Teaching Without the Guilt

Hand placing a wooden block with a pause symbol beside blocks spelling PAUSE on a white table
Taking time off from teaching is not a failure of commitment. Whether you can use banked sick or personal days, and for what, depends on your contract, district policy, and applicable law. Plan the absence ahead, leave clear substitute plans, and treat the break as maintenance on the teacher your students need in June. [xyz_feat_school]…
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Teaching Students With PTSD: A Special Ed Teacher’s Guide

Classroom door standing ajar with a keyed deadbolt lock, green chalkboard visible inside
Teaching students with PTSD starts with reading behavior differently. What looks like defiance may sometimes reflect a stress or threat response. Predictable routines, advance warning before transitions, real choices, and a calm place to regroup do more than any consequence chart. Your school's counselor or mental health staff should know what you're seeing. [xyz_feat_school] Some…
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Special Education for Administrators: A Do’s and Don’ts Guide

school administrator in a suit checking his watch while carrying a stack of overstuffed folders past a row of lockers
Special education for administrators comes down to five duties: placement decisions, collaboration between staff, behavior support, inclusion in school events, and knowing the law. Some administrators enter the role with limited preparation in special education law. The IEP team determines placement, and school and district personnel are responsible for implementing the IEP. [xyz_feat_school] My friend…
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Group Work for Students With Disabilities: What They Can Do

Wooden letter beads spelling UNABLE, with a hand pushing the UN away from ABLE
Group work for students with disabilities works, but it has to be taught before it's expected. Front-load the routine and define each center's objective. Group strategically based on the lesson objective and students' instructional needs, while providing the accommodations, modifications, and supports required by each student's IEP. Structure is what makes participation possible. [xyz_feat_school] People…
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IEP Progress Monitoring: How Much Progress Is Enough?

Teacher and a young girl with Down syndrome giving each other a high five in a classroom
IEP progress monitoring is the regular collection of data showing whether a student is moving toward their IEP goals. Since Endrew F. v. Douglas County (2017), an IEP must be reasonably calculated for progress appropriate to that child’s circumstances. Monitoring gives the team data to evaluate that progress and whether the IEP needs adjustment. [xyz_feat_school]…
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What Can You Do With a Special Education Degree?

man in a light blue shirt with hands raised in an uncertain shrug against a plain background
A special education degree qualifies you to teach students with disabilities once you hold your state's license or endorsement. District roles like IEP case management, transition coordination, and instructional coaching often build on it, though requirements vary. Clinical work such as speech-language pathology or behavior analysis needs separate credentialing. [xyz_feat_school] Most articles that answer this…
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