Formed Families Forward’s Learning Your Way online course access for Winter/Spring 2026 is OPEN.

Learning Your Way‘s online learning courses portal is FREE for parents, caregivers, youth and professionals. Participants enroll and can access course on-demand, learning at their own pace. The courses include key content and activities on a wide variety of topics of relevance to families. Certificates of completion are available too.

Already registered for Learning Your Way? LOG IN HERE .

New to Learning Your Way? Find out more below:

Learning Your Way is Formed Families Forward’s free online learning portal for parents, caregivers, youth and professionals. Participants enroll and can access course on-demand, learning at their own pace. 

As of spring 2026, Learning Your Way includes eight Courses.

Initially offered in 2021, our Special Education 101 course is designed to introduce foster and adoptive parents and kinship caregivers to key phases of the special education cycle. 

• Lesson 1 explains the Referral, Evaluation, and Eligibility process and includes a case study.
• Lesson 2 describes the Individualized Educational Program (IEP) and provides an activity on writing SMART goals.
• Lesson 3  gives guidance on post-secondary transition and life after high school.
• Lesson 4 offers strategies for monitoring instruction and implementation of the IEP, including specific information about high leverage academic practices that may be used by the schools.

Other courses include Constructive Communication and Collaboration:

• Lesson 1 provides an overview of basic communication skills.
• Lesson 2 looks at the process of collaborative problem solving.
• Lesson 3 examines ways to tell your story and elevate the family voice.

Trauma 101:

• Lesson 1 defines trauma and covers basic concepts relating to trauma.
• Lesson 2 describes trauma’s impact on the brain.
• Lesson 3 gives strategies for boosting resiliency in children and youth.

Dispute Resolution:

• Lesson 1 offers an introduction and covers informal processes.
• Lesson 2 covers mediation.
• Lesson 3 addresses written State complaints.
• Lesson 4 reviews due process hearings.

Kinship Care:

• Lesson 1 provides an introduction to families led by kinship caregivers (extended family or close family friends).
• Lesson 2 reviews available supports for kinship families.
• Lesson 3 details educational considerations for kinship families raising children and youth with special needs.

Other Health Impairments:

• Lesson 1 provides an overview of the Other Health Impairment category of child and youth eligibility for special education and related services.
• Lesson 2 examines attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a condition.
• Lesson 3 examines fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and other conditions related to prenatal exposures to alcohol and drugs.
• Lesson 4 focuses on Tourette Syndrome.

Positive Parenting

• Lesson 1 addresses behaviors of children and youth that challenge us at home and in other settings.
• Lesson 2 begins to build a tool box of strategies and resources to understand dysregulation and support greater regulation.
• Lesson 3 builds a toolbox of strategies and resources on routines, transitions, and other challenging situations.

Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP)

• Lesson 1 discusses background information and the legal foundations for FBAs and BIPs.
• Lesson 2 explores what is an FBA, who conducts it, and what are the outcomes.
• Lesson 3 looks at the BIP, the plan that is developed using the information and data collected during the FBA.

Learning Your Way is available in Fall and Spring Sessions. Registration opens 8/1 for Fall session and 2/1 for Spring session. REGISTER HERE for SPRING 2026.

Access to Learning Your Way for Spring 2026 is now available through June 2026.

If you have registered already, LOG IN HERE . 

Download Learning Your Way FLYER HERE.