Determined to Help

Maria Kennedy and Dr. Tatiana Cura

You’ve received the diagnosis that your child is on the spectrum. Maybe it’s autism or maybe ADD and maybe there’s another exceptionality revealed in neurocognitive tests that indicate you have a 2e kid. Congratulations. As we know, 2e people are extra-extraordinary. Maybe you have the resources to send your kid to a private school that has accommodations for your unique learner. Maybe you have experience with Byzantian bureaucracies and, for you, emailing, setting up appointments, rescheduling, gathering paperwork—it’s a piece of cake.

But what if it isn’t a piece of cake? What if you don’t feel comfortable haggling on the phone with officials or their assistants? What if you’re a single parent? What if you have other kids competing for your time? What if you have trouble taking off from work? What if you don’t speak the language that fluently? What if you happen to be part of a community that doesn’t have a particularly identity-forward attitude? What if that diagnosis is the start of a lifelong nightmare?

That’s where Dr. Tatiana Cura comes in. On Wednesday, February 15, Tatiana will sit down with Maria Kennedy on Crucial Conversations about Cognitive Diversity to discuss how she helps families get the programs and services they not only need—but that they are entitled to, as well.

“I provide services for self-determination,” she says during a pre-interview for Wednesday’s webcast. Self-Determination is an official designation that must be approved by the state via regional centers set up in school districts. (In this case, California, but versions of this program exist throughout the country.) It allows the recipient to access services and funding for therapies not neces...