CAPABLE

In this powerful episode, Chanette returns to share her raw and eye-opening experience as a long-term substitute teacher in an Autism-focused classroom within a challenging school district. Thrust into a whirlwind of chaos, she innovated creative solutions to empower her students to thrive—only to face repeated denials from the district, unwilling to fund the essential supports each child desperat...

Today’s guest is Mercedes. She is a mother of two daughters and a husband who have Autism and a sister with a disability. She continues to keep learning in the area of Special Education in helping provide services to our population with the abilities to thrive even with a diagnosis or label. Throughout her years of being in the public education system, Mercedes was well aware of the deficit in hon...

Today’s guest is Taylor. She is a mother of three beautiful children who continues to keep advocating for her son who has severe Autism and nonverbal. She has a great supportive network through family, friends, and other resources provided by Tennessee that keep her family strong through the journey of figuring out how to navigate through this diagnosis. Her story is powerful and very common among...

Today’s guest is Lynn. She has had a variety of experience working with the disability community in the school setting. Her three different stories of working with children with disabilities are all unique in their own way. Her love for helping children and families in the disability community are outstanding! She strives to help each one of her students feel more confident in their own skin regar...

Today’s guest is Chanette. She is a third year Resource/Special Education Teacher that services students with an IEP in South Central LA, who started her journey long ago growing up with her sister who has Cerebral Palsy (CP). She has three years of teaching under her belt and isn’t stopping yet! She has been able to increase grades and confidence levels with her students, and would love to share...

Today’s guest is Lisa Matto. She is a mother of an inspiring woman with Down Syndrome who lives life to the fullest! She believes whole heartily that individuals with disabilities should be included in everything and not told they can’t because of their disability. She wrote her own book describing her experience of raising her daughter and all the joys and hardships that came along.   Book Detail...

Today’s guest is Olivia (Livvy) Tune. Olivia is a mother of a son who is autistic and non-verbal. She tells us her journey of her son’s diagnosis, and an amazing story she has had over the years. She is always striving to help her son succeed in life and advocating how to support individuals with Autism.  In this heartfelt narrative, Livvy delves into the world of autism spectrum disorder, offerin...

Today’s guest is Katie Garrison. Katie is a mother of a beautiful daughter with many unique abilities. Her daughter was diagnosed at 22 months with many diagnosis’s: Soto’s Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, Kidney and Heart problems, Autism, and Apraxia (non-verbal). Soto’s Syndrome is characterized by a distinctive facial appearance, overgrowth in childhood, and d...

Today’s guest is Jamie. She runs the local chapter for Penguin Project.  Penguin Project was established in 2004 it has evolved into a National program, with chapter sites throughout the United States. The program provides a supportive environment for children with disabilities to explore their creative talents.  It has also demonstrated that participation in the performing arts has therapeutic va...

Today’s guest is Christina. She is a mother of three children, a sister, and a wife all with disabilities. Christina is a high functioning Autistic individual thriving each day to advocate for her children. She grew up in the area of the disability world since her brother also has high functioning Autism. Her advocacy shows through her story in the journey she had to go through to get her son diag...

Today’s guest is Melanie. She taught for many years in general education and special education all in a middle school setting. She is amazing for taking on middle schoolers! She is working on getting her PhD in special education research, focusing on reading disabilities and tools to help individuals succeed in reading. Her story with one of her previous students is a typical day working with teen...

Today’s guest is Eva. Her intentions were never to work with individuals with disabilities until she was asked to sub in a classroom with students with disabilities. From there on she has been working in a variety of different settings and ages with individuals with disabilities. Her passion grew bigger as she was inspired by a great leader who she met along the way that worked for STAR, Strategie...

Today’s guest is Adele. Adele has lots of experiences working and living with individuals with disabilities. She has helped provide support in a variety of different settings and her sister who has Rett Syndrome: a rare neurological and developmental disorder. This disorder causes progressive loss of motor skills and language. Adele’s drive to provide better support systems to our disability commu...

I am super excited to bring on another guest, Brandi. She had worked in a variety of different schools and alternative settings with the disability community, leading her to build her own school for students with disabilities. She now runs her own school for students with disabilities called: Red Line Advocacy. Check out her page here to learn more information: http://redlineadvocacy.com/ . Her pa...

Guest today is Jennifer. She is in her 10th year of teaching and teaches in a self contained classroom. Her first year of teaching was high school level at a Board of Developmental Disabilities. Since then she has been teaching combinations of K-5 at a public elementary school. She knew in high school that she had a sort of calling to teach special education. She went to college to teach special e...

Guest today is Melinda. She has been volunteering with the disability community since she was 13 years old, and teaching for 8 years in a variety of different settings. Her story about inclusion is very powerful, and still a debate whether inclusion works for our disability community in a school setting. Inclusion can provide so many opportunities for students in the long run, even when it feels o...

Guest today, Julie. I got the pleasure of working with. We were a great team who got things done while also having fun. She has worked as a Paraprofessional (Teacher Assistant) for 18 years in a variety of different settings and students over the years. She is an amazing advocate for the disability community. If you ever need help, she is someone you can rely on to help you figure out a solution....

Guest today, Jennifer. She has worked as a Special Education Teacher for 15 years and is still going. 13 of those 15 years she worked in a self contained classroom with students with Autism. Listen to her mini stories of working with one of her students with lower functioning Autism. Stay tuned for more stories to come! 

A guest for you today, Sharon. She grew up around the disability community, worked for 13 years as a paraprofessional aka teacher assistant, and got her degree in elementary and special education last year. Currently, she is in her first year of teaching in a center based classroom for middle schoolers. She deals with moderate to severe students with disabilities. Sharon’s story of an interaction...

Another guest for you, Whitney! She is the founder of LEAD Behavior Support in Virginia. Not only that, but she is a Chief Operations Officer for Community Direct Services, a mother of two children, and has a fiancee who strives to help one of her own children with ADHD. Whitney’s passion for the disability community is impeccable. She continues to strive to support the disability community the be...

I have another guest, Jo, who is from the United Kingdom! She has worked with children with Autism and related learning difficulties for over 13 years in the school and home setting. She has done many years working 1:1 (one-to-one) with children as a paraprofessional and at home as their Applied Behavior Analysis therapist. Currently, she is a Behavior Analysis working with a number of different f...

I have another guest, Amanda! She is going on her 8th year in teaching special education. Amanda tells me her reasons for why she teaches special education and an amazing story to listen to! Communication is always a barrier in our society, but in the disability community it is even more of a challenge. Listen to Amanda’s story of how she helped a student be successful communicating to the world! ...

I have another guest, Madeline. She has been teaching, but mostly administration for 11 years. Currently, she works for Twinkl…. ( www.twinkl.com ). Check it out for more information! A great resource to help educate the youth population! Madeline tells me an amazing story she had with one of her students whose name at the time was “Peter Parker” aka Spiderman! Let’s just say “Peter” gave the fron...

t’s back to the good ole days when I was a paraprofessional in a life skills classroom. The ranges of disabilities in that classroom varied from, Down Syndrome, Intellectually disabled, severe behaviors, and more. It was a learning year for me!  I was assigned a 6 foot tall boy who has autism with mild behaviors. He was super funny, observant, and loved to reenact scenes from movies. He was going...

This episode, I interviewed one of my favorite parents that I had the pleasure to meet while taking care of her great daughter in the group home setting. Mrs. Wald is a huge advocate for the disability community and very involved in her daughter's life. Her daughter is intelligent, caring, and could be a comedian as a side job. She has Cry The Cat Syndrome with some characteristics of autism....