The Helping Children Learn Podcast

Today’s episode of the Helping Children Learn Podcast is about the power of partnership, specifically when supplying special needs students with equipment they need to live better, more inclusive lives. Equipment that makes it easier to go to the park, the grocery store, communicate with one another, things we take for granted every single day. CLIU21 works with a non-profit organization from west...

On this episode of the Helping Children Learn Podcast, we're talking about Transdisciplinary Modeling in the classroom. That sounds like complicated term, but really it just means everyone working together knows how to do each others' job at least in some part. We sit down with MDSB teacher Kelly Ehritz and Occupational therapist Amy Pidgeon to see how classroom educators and rotating related serv...

Welcome to a new season of the Helping Children Learn Podcast! We start off with our Annie Sullivan Award Winner from the 2024-2025 school year, MDSB teacher Heather Szoke! We sit down with her and talk about the moment she won the award at our Opening Day ceremony, what drives her to be an awesome teacher, and how the IU shaped her future in special education from the very start of her career! Th...

Working in special education, or any education for that matter, is exhausting. It's rewarding work, of course, but some days you leave your classroom feeling like you gave it everything you had. Over time, this can lead to burnout if you don't take care or yourself. On this episode of the Helping Children Learn Podcast, we talk about Caring for Caregivers. We go over wellness, self-care, and overa...

Now that the weather is getting warmer, we are going to start taking our family and our children out more often! But parents of special needs children know it's not always that easy. Children with sensory perception issues can have a difficult time in places most people find routine; grocery stores, birthday parties, etc. In the April episode of the Helping Children Learn Podcast, we sit down with...

When a student starts their K-12 education all the way from the beginning, it's a huge step for that child and their family. For IU21 early intervention students, we give them a helping hand when they leave one of our Early Learning Centers to move on to five days a week at a district's elementary school. In this episode of the Helping Children Learn Podcast, we talk to our Transition to Kindergar...

In this episode of the Helping Children Learn Podcast, we dive into the world of our Transportation Department! We learn that intermediate unit transportation is not as easy as it looks. There's lots of hard work that goes into the pickup and drop-off of our special needs students every single day. So what does that look like? Each bussing route is customized and designed for that specific day, an...

The life of an itinerant teacher is not typical in the world of education. Where most people stay in one classroom or one building, these people travel from school to school to educate children across their region. In this episode of the HCL Podcast, we talk to two itinerant teachers in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program about the challenges, the benefits, and expectations of their position. Thi...

On this episode of CLIU21's Helping Children Learn Podcast, we are talking about a major investment into Early Intervention which is our youngest learners, ages three to five, in special education. CLIU21 and the Whitehall-Coplay School District have worked hard to turn the old Gockley Elementary into what is now called the Whitehall-Coplay Early Learning Center. Bringing together 11 different cla...

In this episode of the Helping Children Learn Podcast, we interview our other Annie Sullivan Award Winner. Olga Stepanova is a behavioral health consultant. She helps students develop skills to behave appropriately in school and home settings while she also works with families. Joined by her colleague Joyce, we talk about Olga winning the employee of the year award, what it takes to do this work,...

Welcome to the third season of the Helping Children Learn Podcast! We start off by introducing you to one of our employees of the year. From the Carbon County Early Learning Center, Margarita Rivera (better known as Margie) pours her heart and soul into her students with true love and patience. We sit down with Margie and another teacher from the Early Learning Center, Jen Prosock, to talk about M...

This is a special episode of the Helping Children Learn Podcast. It's the first time we have students on the show! One of CLIU's center-based programs, Carbon Learning Achievement School (better known as CLAS), is now a No Place For Hate school! This is a program from the Anti-Defamation League which gives tools for student-led discussions about bullying, inclusivity and diversity where they encou...

TEAR DOWN THIS WALL: Sometimes a barrier to a child's ability to learn or communicate can be taken down with just one tool or device that can change their life. In this episode of the Helping Children Learn Podcast, we have a chat with our two consultants from the Assistive Technology Department. We discuss how our students, with all different backgrounds, use all sorts of technology ranging from...

Since the pandemic, student mental health issues have gotten significantly worse. Anxiety, depression and suicide among kids has risen so fast, mental and behavioral health professionals are working tirelessly to work this problem from new angles. On this episode of the HCL Podcast, we speak with the supervisor of CLIU's Behavioral Health program Jason Savenelli as well as outpatient case worker C...

For February’s HCL Podcast, we are highlighting our Deaf and Hard of Hearing program! Our DHH educators are working every day to help their students thrive in the real world. We sit down with two teachers who come from different ends of a child’s journey. Teresa Gladfelter is at Schnecksville Elementary and Christine Bloch is at Parkland High School. We talk about the struggles all DHH children fa...

CLIU21 helps special needs students of all ages, but we try to start our journey with a child when they are 3, 4, or 5 years of age. Our Early Intervention program aims to get a child in the program best suited for their needs with the goal of getting them ready for a traditional classroom. Join us as we speak with Dr. Cathy Nelson (Early Intervention supervisor) and Amber Snyder (Early Interventi...

Aside from service animals helping people with disabilities, dogs are specially trained to work in professional settings. Police K9 units for drug sniffing, bomb detection, search&rescue. We also think of guard dogs and farm animal herding. We can't forget about therapy dogs! Roaming the halls of hospitals and nursing homes to make people feel better. But what if we applied the traits of an em...

Video games have come a long way from the days of the original Atari and Nintendo! Kids today are playing more video games than ever before and that has made esports (competitive video gaming) incredibly popular. We typically think of video games as a distraction from student responsibilities such as studying and homework. But educators are now finding ways to leverage video games in the classroom...

Welcome to the rebranded Helping Children Learn Podcast! We're go excited to start a new show with our new executive director, Dr. Gregory Koons! In this episode, get to know him as he takes on the head job at IU21.

In this episode of Understanding the IU, we discuss how IU21 works along side, yet independently with the Carbon Lehigh Special Needs Childrens Foundation. The foundation sponsors and funds multiple programs a year for special needs students with the help of IU21 employees who volunteer their time. It's a special partnership enriching the lives of special needs families all over our region.

In February's episode of Understanding the IU, we sit down with our Director of Special Programs and Services Dr. Mark Scott. SPS is a massive umbrella covering over 10 dymanic programs ranging from behavioral health and emotional support to early intervention and MDS. This conversation with Dr. Scott is very broad and is really a general overview of our SPS department. We go over which programs a...

We start our Understanding the IU Podcast with our pilot episode that very broadly explains what an intermediate unit is, and what specifically CLIU21 is. Moderated by our media facilitator Dominic Barone, Executive Director Dr. Elaine Eib and Assistant to the Executive Director Kim Talipan talk about a variety of topics based around Pennsylvania's IU structure.