About this episode

The episode discusses how Otto Specht School supports PDA children through a non-compliance based educational model.

What does it look like when a school actually meets a PDA child where they are, without behavior charts, compliance goals, or pressure to perform? In this episode I speak with three remarkable people: Melissa Petro, a cultural journalist and mother of an eight-year-old PDA son who fought for years to secure him a free and appropriate education; Chela Crane, Executive Director of Otto Specht School in New York, where Melissa's son Oscar is now thriving; and Suchi Swift, a Waldorf teacher at Otto Specht who works directly with Oscar. Together we cover Oscar's journey from expulsion at preschool and eight months of homeschooling through burnout, to the slow, non-linear process of rebuilding trust and regulation at a school that does not measure success through compliance. We also talk about what public school teachers can take from this model, what one family went through in fighting for private school placement, and what it actually looks like when a PDA child gets back into their thinking brain consistently and begins to lead their own learning. Key Takeaways Expelled at Preschool, Eight Months of Homeschool, and What Burnout Looked Like | 00:03:45 Melissa's son Oscar was expelled…

People in this episode

Host: Casey

Guests: Melissa Petro, Chela Crane, Suchi Swift

Topics covered

• PDA child education
• trust in schooling
• non-compliance based learning
• homeschooling
• behavioral challenges
• private school placement

Keywords

• PDA
• education
• trust
• homeschooling
• behavior charts
• Otto Specht School
• private school
• learning
• child development

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Otto Specht School

Places: New York

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