The IEP Team Guide: Special Education Advocacy Decoded | Karen Mayer Cunningham

In this episode, Wendy sits down with Karen Mayer Cunningham, special education advocate and author of Epic IEP, a framework that transforms the complicated federal special education law into actionable steps. After years of doing 500 IEP meetings annually, Karen realized her greatest pain in motherhood had become her biggest calling: helping families navigate special education when the system feels impossibly complicated.

They explore:

• What it means to advocate WITH schools, not against them, and why that partnership matters
• Why children with disabilities have capacity, but they need the right intervention and support to reach equity
• The scope of need: why individual advocacy alone isn't enough

Karen's approach is fundamentally collaborative: she works alongside teachers, administrators, and families because she knows they're all navigating a system that's overwhelming for everyone. Her conviction is simple: when we start seeing each other as partners working toward the same goal, that's when children actually get what they need. 

Connect with Karen:

Get her book, The Epic IEP: amazon.com/Epic-IEP-Educators-Advocates-Navigating/dp/1637635125?tag=syty-20

SpecialEducationAcademy.com

Instagram: instagram.com/specialeducationboss

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hi friends, this is Wendy Harrup, and welcome to the Say Yes to Yourself podcast. On the Say Yes to Yourself podcast, you'll hear stories from women just like us who are adding the practice of saying yes in their daily lives in big and small ways, and as a result are experiencing the truth that everybody wins when you say yes to yourself. Saying yes to yourself is a graceful unfolding, an intentional becoming of the very best version of you. It is my hope that in these conversations we are able to find our truth and be inspired and empowered to live our very best lives. I'm so excited to go on this journey with you, and I look forward to finding a bit of our own story in each other's. Today we have Karen Mayer Cunningham. She is a nationally recognized special education advocate, speaker, and mediator with over two decades of experience guiding families, educators, and professionals through the complexities of special education systems. Known as the special education boss, she brings deep expertise in IDEA, Section 504, and disability advocacy with a clear commitment to ensuring equitable access and meaningful outcomes for students with disabilities. She is such a delight, and as fate would have it, she is also a comedian, just like our last guest, Lynn Harris, which is so fun. So I hope you enjoy this light-hearted conversation with Karen Cunningham. Karen, I am gonna tell you your bio tricked me into thinking that you were not gonna be as funny and fun as I've already witnessed you in the last two minutes. Thank you so much for being here and thank you for bringing joy and giddiness to a subject that people probably don't laugh a lot about.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Absolutely. If you don't have any joy, that's just gonna be a long journey.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

For sure. Oh my gosh. Okay, so let's start with how are you saying yes to yourself in this season?

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Well, I I'm saying yes to myself because I want to make sure that this testament that I've written in the Epic IEP lives on long after I'm gone. So it serves people at the highest level. And it makes me feel like the thing that I was put on this earth to do, um, I'm doing it. It's the best thing ever.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Oh, I love that for you. And there is so much joy in following your own yes and have that turn into something that was inside of you, but now other people can hold it in their hands. It's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. It's been a fabulous journey for sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Okay, and I'm gonna make you say the very funny thing that you said about your microphone.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Yeah, my microphone was not working earlier, and I said, you know what, this is just like my first husband. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and it costs me a lot of money.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

It's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Yes, yes, it's funny after, isn't it? It's all right. The funny is not during, it's post.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Exactly. And I think why I found it so funny is that it was so much like my first husband.

unknown 4:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

You don't have to keep the first one. No, it's like you know, when you apply for college, if you don't get in the first one, do another one.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

That's right. Well, um, I um didn't keep number two either, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

You know what? We're not quitters, are we, Wendy?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

No, we're not. My knower is working.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

There you go. For sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Oh my goodness. Okay, so how are you melding being a special education advocate with a multi-decade career in stand-up comedy?

SPEAKER_00 5:19

You know, I um I think the great thing about comedy, um, and you know, you you are an educator, an entertainer, an engager. There's something about comedy that unites all of us, right? And we have to talk about uncomfortable truths in a way that people keep listening. And comedy makes everybody in the room take a breath and it unites us, right? We're more alive by our challenges than our successes, right? And so I am trying to have people, whether it's a school district training, an IEP meeting, um, you know, a federal mediation, I have to have people work with me. And so if they can decompress a little bit and realize that we're all humans, it gives us much better odds at working together.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

For sure. I was a wedding planner for 30 years and I used to bake cookies for the rehearsal. And it's a similar tactic. It helped the boys listen to me. Yeah. Oh, wait, that cookie lady is talking. Where are we supposed to be? And then they would do anything for me the whole rest of the wedding weekend. So I get that. I love how how we get to use all of our gifts in the thing that is lighting us up. It's really beautiful. Yeah, that's so fun. So tell me about the book. What was the catalyst for writing it? And how has this ride been for you?

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Well, you know what they say, buckle up, we're gonna have some turbulence. You know, I've been doing, I just, you know, the gift that's inside of you, Wendy, or this inside of me is not for us, it's for somebody else, right? And um, I wanted to make sure that the thing out of my greatest pain, God birthed my biggest calling. He just did. I was not planning on this, I was planning on being popular, not effective, right? And um, I didn't ask for this, right? Nobody asks for this. But as I walked through it, um, I just I have very high processing speed and I go very fast. And I just assumed that once I said it 8,462 million times, the people would know what I said. And so um, there's nothing more important than leaving your um testament, your love note to people so that they can access those same outcomes. And so write writing an FEC IP gives a family hope. It gives a child a future. And it's, you know, I am not an educator, I'm a college dropout, again, not a quitter. I've dropped out of a lot of colleges. So this is the same seven-part framework that I would use if I was representing my child, if I was represent training in a school district, one of my partner advocates. Um, you know, there's a saying that educators and God bless educators, they take our children all day for some reason and keep them. And uh, but there's a saying that educators can take something simple and make it complicated. And right, so special education was already complicated enough. The federal law is 500 pages long because we eat, you know, eat Cheetos and read that every night, right? And so I took this very complicated, very technical, very legal process and rolled it down into a way that's actionable. Because if you don't have something that that's actionable, you've motivated somebody, you've overwhelmed them. I wanted it to be a resource for anybody that sits at the table. So if you're a a CASA parent, a foster parent, a first-year teacher, a paraprofessional, a principal, an advocate, a parent, you literally can take this book and at the end of every chapter, there's a checklist for parents, a checklist for educators, a checklist for advocates, and you can take a blank piece of paper and write an IEP that changes a child's life.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Wow. It's really beautiful. And I would love for you even just to back up a little bit and for people who aren't aware what is an IEP and why was this important for you?

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Um, so an IEP is an individualized education program. It's just it's a coaching plan for kiddos that need more than the general ed teacher could provide on their own. So both of my boys were athletes and end up being professional athletes, and we always had coaches. It didn't mean, oh, the coaches at school were terrible. It just needed they they needed more training and more specificity. So an IEP, it's not a scarlet letter, you're not in trouble, nobody knows. Everybody's like, it's gonna be on their record. There's no record. I walk around every day. I've never seen anybody's school record just holding it in their hand, right? And so these are kiddos that just needed a different measure of support with specificity. And so how I got my start was um I was um at my salon one day and I had a son, and my first son was born perfect. He had a nine on his ap card. I feel like that's honor roll. Yes, honor roll. And everything was perfect. And as 18-month checkup, we went in, got everything. We came home. He was became very sick and he started rocking and screaming and yelling and putting his head through the sheet rock. So I'm thinking, this is not good, right? But as a first-time mother, I called all my relatives and friends because that's a good idea when you have a challenge with your child, ask somebody else. And um, I remember one of my aunts was like, Your cousin Billy used to do that stuff. One time he jumped off the rope. He's fine now. I was like, Okay. Um, and I don't think that's really what happened. And so this was the 90s, and so we went to a bunch of people and finally had him evaluated. And um, this very unwarm and fuzzy lady um in Austin, she was an occupational therapist and uh she did his evaluation. She goes, Well, we did his evaluation, he has autism, severe autism. He has 15 of the 16 markers, he'll never play with children, probably won't graduate high school, for sure won't have friends. You'll probably have to put him in a home. You want to copy this report? Oh my gosh. I'm like, are you teaching a soft skills class later? I don't so I snatched it out of her hand because that's what people do. And I got in the car that day and we put James in his car seat, and I just had this resolve. And I thought, if if me and Oprah and God can figure this out, that's right, this will not be the call on my child's life. It just will not be. That's not possible. And I didn't know what I was doing, which which is probably most days, but I just did it. And so sorry for the people in the 90s. And um, I just wasn't going to take that as his declaration. And so one of my clients at the salon said that um you could start PPCD when you were um um when you were three years old. So um we started him in school, and um, so my husband calls me, he's been in school for about a month, and he's he said, I'm not kidding. And if you ever call me, you should start that way if you're going to say something really serious. For sure. Um and he said, There is a lady here from Child Protective Services. She's gone to the school. We've been reported for being bad parents. They took all of his clothes off to check in for marks. Is now a good time to talk. And I think you know, moms and dads or anybody listening, that's how life comes, right? It's not scheduled, it's not in the planner, it just is, right? And so I was like, of course now's a good time to talk, right? And she was very aggressive. And um, she's like, Do you think it's normal that he chews his fingers till he bleeds? No. Do you think it's normal that he puts everything in his mouth and eats it? No. Do you think it's normal that he had language and he lost it? No. And she said, Well, that's what your husband said too. Okay. And what are you doing about it? I said, We send him across the street to PCD, preschool programs for children with disabilities, um, to get help. And she goes, Well, that's what your husband said too. I am gonna leave my information and a brochure in case we take him into custody. What? What are we filming? What is going on? And so my life was already chaos and just awful in every possible way. Because my whole life, Wendy, I've been able to either control a situation or write a check. And guess what? Neither one of those were needed or going to work. And so um, I was devastated, I was crushed, and um, so I worked it out with my creator. Um, they all looked at me like I was a lunar ticket to school, but I just let it go. I think I even bought her a Christmas gift. Um January, the phone rings again. And it was the same worker for CPS. We'd already been, you know, we've already been um nothing was found there. And she said, I'm so sorry to bother you. It was um, it was a Sunday because it was um the great Super Bowl. And she said, obviously, somebody somewhere likes to make phone calls and we have to follow up on all of them. And so I went down the next day and don't do any of this. Anyway, listen, don't do what I and I I had cart, and every parent of a child with a disability knows what the cart is. It's a rolling cart with all of your papers because we got papers from the pediatrician, we got papers from the about we got papers on papers on papers on papers. And I um went down to the CPS office and I barged in, like Shirley McLean in terms of endearment, and I said, I want to see my case manager. Okay, you don't have ma'am, ma'am. And he was like, Okay, so he rides up with me in the elevator, we go down the hall, and there's my case manager, and we open the door, and she's not a case manager, and she might be wendy, she might have been 22 years old and one day, right? And I was like, Do you know anything about all it is? And she goes, Um, I think when I was a sophomore, we had a seminar, and I was like, Are you my leader? But it was the best day of my life because she was the first person ever to hand me a resource to help me. And I thought in that moment, how bizarre that we live in America. And the first person to give me a resource was a child protective service investigator. She gave me a card that day for MHMR of Travis County and it's uh health mental health and uh retardation, we don't call it that anymore, but it's it's agency services. And so I did get a case manager who I think also was 23, and I would take her with me to meetings. And if it wasn't going good when you don't, we're gonna we're we're just gonna take a break. And she would look at me and I was like, let's go stand in the hall. And and she'd go out there with me. She goes, What are we doing? I'm like, I have no idea, but I've seen this on TV. I don't know. And then we would go back and go, Well, and then they wouldn't do the right thing. So that's not what I teach. You know, standing in the hall is often helpful. That was my entree into special ed. I wasn't going to do this. I I am not a professional at it. I didn't, I I was their, I'm his mom, right? And then I just became obsessed with these children, obsessed with this amazing federal law, obsessed with educators. And I thought, you know what I'm gonna do, Wendy? I'm just gonna go in there in Ground Rock Um Elementary School and just tell them, hey, you guys, there's this law, you probably didn't know about it, and um, we can help kids with disabilities, and we'll work together, and then we'll all, you know, ride off into the sunset with a basket of puppies. And that is not what happened 30 years ago, and it's not what happens today. And so over the years, I've learned the why it happens, but that's not really important. It's not why, it's what's next. I walk alongside families and school districts and advocates to teach them and serve them what is next so that we can work together as a group to get students what they need so they can be successful adults.

unknown 16:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Oh my gosh, it's big, beautiful work. It's like my hair. It's big and beautiful. Yeah, it is big and beautiful. Your hair is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Yeah, and it's just, you know, there's 8.5 million children as we sit here in the middle of 2026. 8.5 million children in America with an IEP, a special ed program. And what we do during those educational years will set them up for destruction or destiny. And so we have to get it right right now. So you and I, Wendy, if we needed to acquire more information, we could just take another class as adults. That's not always an option for kids with disabilities. They need that intervention now. This is America. We have every ability to do it, and we are going to continue to do it so that the kids win.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Right. Um, I relocated to Massachusetts from California um about 14 years ago, and I'm really um amazed, I guess, for lack of a better word, the the systems that are in place in Massachusetts for special needs children and the education process and the staffing that goes into the elementary school. I mean, I only have um insight into elementary school, but I'm assuming they don't just set everybody up and then let them go at grade eight, but it's just remarkable to me that there can be so much attention and infrastructure in one part of the country and not in other parts of the country. So, what are you finding in your work and how do we fix that?

SPEAKER_00 18:33

So it is, um, I'm gonna fix it. I'm just gonna fix it by Labor Day. It'll be fixed, you guys. Don't worry, I'm on it. I'm on it. So I'll get you a drink. So, first of all, the education system is usually the largest um employer in any state, county, or city. And they have systems set up, right? Um, I went to school a hundred years ago in a covered wagon. And if the school said something, Coach Johnson said something at Jerpin Springs, that was it. Right now, if your priest or your investment person or your realtor said something you didn't agree with, you would go ask somebody else. But if the school said it, it is gospel, right? And that's still true today. People have this very unholy alliance with the school said. I'm allergic to the school said. I'm like, show me, just show me the statute, right? And so it happens as I train that three quarters of people that I train are school-based members. You know why? Because they want the training, it does not exist in public schools. And you know, we have this little wall that's 500 pages long. I would have assumed that every special educator, every educator, um got a copy of the law book, right? Why wouldn't you want your educators to have that 50-year-old law? And I know why, but that's a webinar for another day. So uh teachers are amazing, they love kiddos. But if we don't do what they need based upon amazing evaluations and critical areas of need, we are handicapping them even more with a good heart, but we're making it worse. And so, my heart is to serve the entire team, share the resources that I have. We can get it right for the child. Um, and my mission statement is when we get it right for the child, we get it right for everybody. And when we don't get it right for the child, we don't get it right for anybody. And so um, schools have got to do better. When I say schools, I mean the bean counters, the leaders, the people at the top level are very aware of their obligations, duties, and responsibilities. We need to pay teachers, we need to celebrate teachers, we need to serve them, and we need to staff their rooms. And we can, school districts are not running low on money. We are a little confused about appropriation of funds. And currently, most people in schools, based off what I experience at the top-top level, do not believe that a child with a disability has the same ROI as a child that does not have disabilities. And what I know is that every child is ridiculously amazing. And um, you know, most kids with the in with disabilities will never be a school board meeting photo op. And the things that we celebrate in schools doesn't really matter as an adult. Nobody cares that I was the drum major, but I was Wendy, and I had my uniform in there. I can't get it on, but I could hold it up. These things give time and attention, and they're great, right? Football and you know, sparkly eyeshadow and drill team and the golf team and the debate team. But all of us are supposed to be raising and teaching kiddos to be successful adults, post-secondary, gainful employment, independent living, and further education. And kids with disabilities have capacity, they have capacity, but we have to give them the help that they need to get closer to equity.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

How do you see that playing out just in a you know, completely your wildest dream comes true? How does that play out side by side in school systems?

SPEAKER_00 22:00

systems where kids are integrated into classrooms and because I think that some of the some of the concerns some of the thoughts the ideas that parents in the school in my town have said like well my child is not getting the attention they need because some other kids are requiring more attention and it's just right like and that's and that's accurate right and part of that is you know 10 years ago Wendy I couldn't get a child with a disability included and since the pandemic which has been one of the biggest blessings in my life because um I used to go in person to do IEP meetings and then uh Friday February 13th of March 2020 um our governor came on on the internet and he said that schools were closed I was like great I'm unemployed and about to be homeless right but my boys went to Ace Hardware one day and they got me this thing it's called an Ethernet cord I I thought it was witchcraft but you take the Ether and the net and then they're one a cord and then the next week I'm doing IEP meetings in the Kodiak Islands and Miami Dade County Florida. So it is true what people are saying nobody um nobody's needs um override somebody else's needs adults children disabled children um valedictorian children all children right and so that is the fault of leadership because those amazing teachers have already gone to Mr. Smith or Miss Jones or Mr. Garcia the principals and said this ain't that this is not working and they pat them on the head and go, go Bobcats, you're doing good, right? So they already know and how I know of that is because I teach and train these teachers. And so we have already had in the first half of the year I can't even count how many school districts we've been to we have done professional developments and charter schools and online and in person as we travel the nation and um we're giving them this information in a way that's actionable right the federal law is overwhelming. And you know it's 116 statutes and people have just been so excited. We've been everywhere from New York to San Francisco and in between and all these amazing people and leadership now in schools we we do professional development so that they can teach their evaluators, their diagnosticians, their principals. We've just got to reteach everybody instead of just just Wendy remember your why let's stop saying that what we need to remember is your who and the who is a child that needs you to educate them. They're all general ed students some of them need special ed services and so when we leave a child in a setting that the child is not successful that's our fault. That's not the child's fault. That's not the parent's fault. No child said oh I hope I have a disability no parent prayed and said I hope my kid struggles. Nobody wants that parents of kids with disabilities walk around with so much shame already I hope I'm not upsetting this. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry you know birthday parties and Christmases and bar mitzvahs we're just ruining everybody's experience. And so nobody wants that. And so we've pitted like these disabled children against whatever and I'm here to you know fabuloso all of that and clear that up let's not do that. Let's all step back. These are children and some children need a setting other than general ed we have that it's called a continuum of placements but those continuum placements are more of a financial investment. And I gently help people get there right and so I am never going to waver waffle or water it down. And if people like that if they don't like that fantastic my commitment is not wavering because these children need this special education intervention. I believe that the appropriate special education intervention is as important as a medical intervention. And so if we have a prescription it doesn't say hey Wendy just grab a handful if you're having a rough day we have prescription bottles that have more information than IPs right I get IPs that are 16 pages long I'm like where's the top or the bottom the other day I got one that was a hundred pages long. Ma'am ma'am we're not reading that we're not reading that and so we have trained schools to do software. So fill out the software fill out the software and we forgot about the student. It's not about software it's about the student and so literally after you read this anybody could write an IEP that enables a child to progress appropriate in light of their circumstances. And so um we don't want anybody's need to um override safety or ability or access to education ever.

unknown 26:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Oh my gosh it's so good and I love obviously your commitment to this and the years and blood sweat and tears that you have put into this process because you do communicate it so beautifully and you've created this resource that I'll be sending to the school down the street so happily you know because I think it is I don't know my child does not have a learning disability and but I know what it feels like to feel like you're doing the best you can and have it not feel like it's enough.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Right. Yeah I always say kids came with a manual I left all three of mine at the hospital I probably wouldn't have read it anyway. Right. Who has time to read? Yeah parenting is already learn as you go from your other amazing relatives and special education parents with a child with disability 88% of them get divorced. It just it takes you out right which is the last thing that child needs is more different settings. And so there's so many things that we can do. And as good advocates we are not looking for perfection we're looking for a good solid C a 70. We're looking for progress you know even if I get in a meeting and somebody says oh I didn't do this didn't do this didn't take data I'm like that's fine. So going forward you know when could you know when could the heralds expect this to be implemented with fidelity? And that's it. You know and so some advocates have a bad name I'm sure I don't I'm sure I'm loved from C to shining C. 100% but we are there to represent a family so nobody would go why'd you get a realtor to sell your house why'd you get a wealth advisor to invest money because that's not what you do for a living and there's a saying that surgeons don't operate on their own children right because you're too close. I always say often there's two people that are too close the parent and the school you are just too close right because you're oh we know and so the great thing about an advocate is that we come in we see the whole file we see what's going on sociological we see what's going on medical and we can give language to that meeting that didn't exist before.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

So ideally are you working with families or are you working with a school district or are there opportunities where you're doing both of those things?

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Right. So um up until the book launched um you know it's just living a normal life I doubt that very much. And at that point I did did about 500 IEP meetings a year. And so I train advocates nationally there's so many people that are ready to switch careers and help kids from the outside in and wear jeans on Friday without paying somebody $5. And so I train school districts I train everybody I have a team of full-time advocates now because eight and a half million children we don't have anybody to advocate for them and they don't get tomorrow back. They can't like we'll just wait till that forward truck goes on sale. No, you need help right now. And so I've switched mostly to training and speaking and professional development so that we can train more people on a larger scale but the children need the help now. The teacher needs the training now the paraprofessional needs the training right now and teachers are great they will you give them a plan they'll roll it out but we don't give them a plan we teachers come to school a week early they sign 52000 pieces of paperwork they have to sit in professional developments that may not be enjoyable they got to put their bulletin board up and then we are open Monday let's go kids and so they're busy doing what they went to school to do to be a teacher nobody went to school and studied a 500 page law book about special education law nobody did and so um we need to get the training inside of the school so that the teachers have that information the evaluators that the leads and the parents it's so good. You've figured it all out I have no questions like what do you want people to know what um you know who should they give this book to yeah I mean first of all we should give it to your teachers your teachers work their tails off and this is the only two questions you should ever ask your teacher do you want milk or dark chocolate and all of the questions zip it right teachers are doing their very best they don't work for you they're not your employee let's let's dial that back a little bit right you don't pay their their check let's not do that but when we go back to partnering we can win so it um the law said it's an IEP team right school based members and the parents and so we've got to fix that gap where it doesn't feel like a team always right if I came to your house for Thanksgiving and you said oh you and your husband get a plate and then go sit back in your car sometimes parents feel very unwelcomed and they are just walking through it the best that they know. And we we all do it in meetings we talk in acronyms and IPH and a PCS and a B I P and F I E and a UPS and FedEx and OPI and parents are just sitting there with their eyes blazed over and we're like you got any questions? You got any questions? You got any questions they're like because they don't know what you're talking about. The first thing that we need to start doing as schools is reaching out to the parent ahead of time on the telephone hey Wendy we have Billy's IP meeting coming up March 13th just wanted to check in with you how are things going at home anybody moved and did his brother end up going to college let's just talk to parents let's stop sending little emails do you have anything you want to put in the parent concerns section yeah the parent is the expert federal and state law say the parents are the expert so let's work as a team as equitable equal members so that we can give all of our information so we can make better informed decisions and kids will just flourish yeah yeah and it sounds like you know that all makes beautiful sense and the reason that that's not happening now is what oh there's a million reasons because we didn't teach teachers right and we didn't teach the principals. So last year the Department of Education sent out $900 billion to schools nationally you don't even have to send a post a note back not an emoji we got it we're in Alabama thanks for the dough like there's no checks and balances exactly education is a state right it's not a federal right special education is a civil right so it's a federal right and so we didn't change train teachers they they don't know um how to ride an IEP what's the point of it um and you know I used to think these people in this meeting they know everything and they're plotting against me to not help James exactly we haven't even met each other this is the first time they even sat in the same room together teachers are trying to get to 345 they're just paddling to finish the day right and they're overloaded and we make things more complicated and more complicated and more complicated. And I believe this book is going to for one part make it less complicated and make us feel like our participation in the IEP process is valuable and needed.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Yeah and what I'm gaining also from this conversation and your passion is that although it is directed for an individual educational plan it's it's these principles that in practice will change the way that it's affecting the collective absolutely if we get it right for one child then that's going to change the way that teacher serves the other kiddos right teachers are like where did you get that Karen?

SPEAKER_00 34:44

Where did you get that resource? And I'm always sending it to people in the meeting I want to resource them. Right and I'm sure that if I came to you and said Wendy what you've been doing for the last 25 years is illegal you probably wouldn't go I love her. Right. You would go that's not true right because it would be hard to believe that your coworkers gave you misinformation for the last 20 years. You know why? Because their coworkers gave them misinformation right so it's not malice but we gotta we gotta rebuild this thing right we've got to get down to the studs. We got concrete and rebuild on all the amazing things that we already do and know how to do and there are small pivots we're not asking for a one-on-one we're not asking for him to have yoga for two hours we're not asking for you to just walk around with him in the meadow all day we're asking you to teach him strategies to self-manage his disability and all of us have strategies every day for our day to be successful. So that's what we're doing in special education.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

It's so good. I love it. Thank you. Thank you for your work and for your dedication to this please tell everyone where they can find and follow you how they can get the book who they should call who they should give it to all the things.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

Yeah um so it's hard back in case you know your first husband's there and you need to pop him on the head with it. Just kidding um am I um so it's available I think it's on 130 platforms who knew there were that many platforms to buy a book so go get it um it's amazing inside the front cover are QR codes because we know you kids like a QR code. We have free resources ongoing resources we have a live academy that I teach every Monday night with hundreds of people educators all over the nation superintendents um parents and it's such an amazing community we never were a community before because parents can't go to things at night they're at home and the community resources each other um the first month is free come join us for free we have hundreds of hours of trainings archived stay as long as you want it's a paid monthly membership um but everything that we have is at specialeducationacademy.com we're on all the platforms we have over a million followers and average about nine million impressions a month um we put out 52 pieces of content every day and hope to increase that because the need's endless the need is endless and um it's not just in the United States special ed doesn't know borders and so we want you to have the information so that you however you sit at the table can be more effective serving kids.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

Gosh you're phenomenal thank you so so much I love this conversation and I feel empowered and informed and I'm eager to share it with my friends that are educators and anyone else that comes to mind. Thank you for having such a beautiful resource that is so well done and you do such a beautiful job communicating it that it makes me feel like me handing it to someone is going to be helpful.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

Yeah and it's um you have Oxa Kleenex um because there's tears because these are stories of kids that I've served for decades. But listen if me, if I can do this, I I promise you anybody can do this. There's no requirements there's no certification um to be an advocate to listen I'm I'm telling you if you are not thrilled at your job and you've walked through an experience of a disabled child, I promise you we can train you to be a full-time special education advocate and serve families at the highest level. It is the most needed vocation and parents are so relieved when somebody walks alongside of them and there's not a better honor that we get than to walk alongside a child's educational healing.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Oh that's so beautiful we will link everything down in the show notes so people can connect with you and see how they can put on their superhero cape and join this cause with you. This is beautiful thank you so much Karen. Thank you Wendy I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. As always any links or notes mentioned can be found at PhineasRighthouse.com in the podcast section of our site or in the show notes below. And if you haven't connected with me personally, come find me on Instagram at PhineasRighthouse and let me know you listened to this episode. I'd love to get to know you. Thank you for sharing this time with me. I know your days are full and I'm really grateful that you chose to spend some of your precious time right here. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any of these delightful conversations. I'll see you next week I've got to