Special education workshops for parents aid student success

Throughout the school year, Dallas ISD will be hosting special education workshops to provide families with the resources and support they need.

These sessions give parents a chance to share experiences in person, ask questions, and build lasting support networks with families facing similar journeys. Topics range from at-home strategies for supporting students with autism or ADHD to CPR training and foundational sign language.

Organizers hope parents leave these meetings with a clear answer on how to better support their children.

Mario Carrizales, Special Education Services coordinator, said creating a cadence of consistency for their audience was important when they established the workshops.

“When parents are told their child has a disability, they’re in shock, and there's not a lot they're going to understand in one hour. Our main goal is to give them the knowledge and confidence to support their children at home,” he said.

As a previous educator and administrator, Carrizales is motivated by empowering parents through knowledge and practical, meaningful connections. He also highlights how research consistently shows that early identification and intervention lead to significantly better long-term outcomes for students with special needs.

“Every training session, parents are shy in the beginning, and before we open the presentation, I ask them to take a few minutes to say hello to the people around them, ask what age their children are, and eventually they see how much they have in common,” he said.

Workshops directly address family needs and session topics are selected based on feedback from parent surveys. To ensure every family feels fully included, all workshop content, discussions, and materials are also delivered completely in Spanish.

Rather than routine informational sessions, they are immersive and emotionally resonant experiences that bridge the gap between home and school.

ADHD and autism guidance workshops run every fall and spring, and recent sessions featured an occupational therapist from the non-profit organization, Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. During autism workshops, specialized program leaders give away copies of bilingual strategy books. In October, a partnership with the dyslexia department brings hands-on simulations that place parents in their children's shoes. 

"Towards the end, you see parents talking to parents they didn't know before and they share ideas, strategies, and that's like the essence of parent engagement. When it's time to go, they have a smile on their face,” Carrizales said.