The Collaborative IEP

As we continue to celebrate our 200th episode, we welcome school-psych-turned-advocate, April Rehrig to the pod this week! April's been on the pod twice before, and you all have loved her. I think that's because she's a) so incredibly knowledgeable and b) really good at explaining hard stuff. Because April's a school psych, she's really good at special education eligibility and reading reports. Th...

Whenever we have a potty training expert come to our local Down syndrome association, spots fill up instantly. That's one of the reasons I was so drawn to Molly Johnson's account on IG years ago. The other reason: She's just amazing! We hosted Molly back in Episode 136 , and her episode was so popular that we invited her back to go Beyond the Basics in potty training! Molly makes things just so si...

It's time to celebrate—200 episodes of Special Education Advocacy with Ashley Barlow! In this special milestone episode, I’m answering YOUR questions! You all made me think, reflect, and grow, and I couldn’t be more grateful. 💙 Thank you to each and every one of you for tuning in, sharing your stories, and being such loyal listeners. It’s been an incredible journey, and I’m so honored to be part...

Nobody has time for complicated, convoluted conversations about behavior supports at schools. When students struggle with behaviors, all members of IEP teams are left feeling frustrated, concerned, and exhausted. IEP teams need no-nonsense, effective, and efficient help supporting their students behaviorally, and the good news is that Dr. Annie McLaughlin is in this world. When I asked Dr. Annie w...

My friend, Heather Avis is a fierce advocate from whom we can all learn something. When she and I planned this episode, we chatted about what happens when families (spoiler alert: like hers) have to make the hard decision to access a more restrictive/less inclusive setting for their children at school. We had so much content planned... but then we hit record and we had an even better discussion ab...

Repeat after me... Time is Money! Most attorneys and advocates charge by the hour, and regardless of their hourly rate, we'd all like more Benjamins in our pockets. If you're seeing an attorney or advocate, you're also likely struggling to get your child the right IEP/504 supports, which is horrendously important. And your kids are so, so deserving. Getting just the right information to your speci...

Did you know that people are more liked if they ask for help? There's tons of research behind that. I think it's normal to dive deep into ourselves - to go down all of the rabbit holes - to stick our heads in the sand - to withdraw- especially when the burden of advocating for our kids with disabilities increases. But the fact remains that we don't have to do it alone... and our outcomes will undo...

Sometimes you just can't even. Am I right?! We've all been there... we know we should be more involved in our children's IEP teams and to collaborate more with them, but gosh, we are just so checked out. It's okay, friends. It happens to the best of us, and it's likely a super normal thing to occur. In today's episode I talk about a lull in my motivation recently, as well as what I did to find ins...

There are two types of kids- those that are excited to go back to school and those that aren't! While I completely believe that we can hold space for allllllll sorts of emotions around school attendance, I also know that society doesn't really make kids that experience school refusal feel "normal." If it did, the #1 question asked of kids in August would be, "Are you feeling kinda blah about going...

The time to start thinking about the Transition to Adulthood is Yesterday. Womp womp! I'm so sorry! In this episode I'll scare the socks off of you... Just kidding! But we'll talk about things to *think* about NOW, no matter you child's age, which will help you prepare them for adulthood. You'll hear a story about my own dinner table that prompted the idea for this episode, too!

In today's episode we talk about six things I think you should have, know, analyze, and ask prior to writing annual IEP goals. The list is short, simple, and definitely not intimidating, but it will undoubtedly make a big difference in your next IEP meeting.

Inclusion is probably the special education topic for which I'm hired as an attorney the most often. It's definitely the topic about which my network calls for help. Several years ago, I started recording myself while talking to advocates and attorneys about inclusion, because as I talked to them I'd sometimes come up with efficient, wise statements that were helpful in advocacy. Eventually I took...

Wouldn't it be amazing if you had someone else to build your IEP Binder? Fill-in-the-blank guides to communicate with your school, the straight and narrow on legal and educational topics, and tutorials on navigating things like inclusion and behavior interventions are coming your way in the ABClub IEP Binder! In today's episode I walk you through some of the resources I have to help you build your...

My Facebook memories have been making me feel guilty as of late. Now that I'm elbow deep in Science of Reading and Orton Gillinghma, I watch some of the things I used to do with Jack and cringe. In today's episode I talk to you a little about our past in reading and then offer the solution of decodable readers. I hope this helps you make your summer work effective and simply better!!! Transcript:...

At this year's COPAA conference I met attorney, Lisa Hernandez, at the coffee bar, and in about 3 sentences, she blew my mind on the topic of employment of people with disabilities. I took her card and invited her on the podcast immediately! If your kid is transition-aged (yes, that's ALL of you in my opinion), you're going to LOVE thinking about employment through this lens. Lisa continued to enl...

Today we wrap up the COPAA series with a really great conversation with David Jefferson, the President of the Board of Directors. David's journey to advocacy from the corporate world is super interesting and relatable, and you'll learn how he built a large advocacy business in a few short years. David's got a heart for advocacy - and the right tools to get results for his clients. If you've ever t...

If you've ever wanted to crawl inside my brain to have a conversation on special education advocacy, law, and practice, here's your chance. Amy Bonn, consulting attorney, with COPAA, speaks. my. language. Amy and I have a hearty conversation about our jobs as special education attorneys, and it's just too good! Sometimes while I record with guests, I write down the time that a particular quote hap...

Today we roll out a new series on the podcast called COPAA Conversations by chatting with Denise Marshall, the CEO of the Council of Parents, Attorneys, and Advocates. COPAA’s mission is to protect and enforce the legal and civil rights of students with disabilities and their families. The organization offers trainings, an amazing conference, public policy work, legal assistance, really effective...

Ever feel like you need to up the ante on your Negotiation but feel stuck in how to do that? How about a tool that psychologists use to help people get to the root of their own struggles? In today's episode we're going to dive a little deeper into a concept I call "Tactical Empathy," and we'll work on validating the emotions of all of the people at the IEP table. For some people this is super intu...

We've all been there. The IEP Meeting is going well. Everyone is smiling, the computer system is working, the child is making progress. Then... (record scratch)... things go sideways. In today's episode I talk about one common IEP Pitfall, and it's so obvious. Fortunately, the solution is also super obvious and easy, so I'll walk you through that, too! This is an easy, quick listen before your ann...

One of my most favorite and successful strategies has very little to do with negotiation strategy. Rather, it is founded in a desire to make meetings as efficient as possible... but it has a huge positive impact. In today's episode I share my tried and true strategy of requesting a draft of an IEP prior to the meeting and then submitting written questions, comments, and ideas back to the school te...

I talk to about one professional a week about an Inclusion case. Attorneys, advocates, outpatient therapists, social workers, pediatricians, and so many other professionals have questions about Inclusion. I'm not only honored that these colleagues call me, but I'm also always excited to geek out about Inclusion and to provide my insight. The only group of folks that I consistently disappoint is th...

I like to say that the "heart and soul" of special education is the specially designed instruction. This is the instruction that is supposed to be uniquely tailored to the child's needs. This should be drastically different from the accommodations and modifications that students on IEPs get in their general education classrooms and other environments at school. When I recently spoke on Specially D...

Oh, the emails I got! I posted about IEEs in my stories a few weeks ago, and I got so many messages from professionals asking about them. I took those questions as a sign that we needed to spend a second more on IEEs here on the pod. So, let's take a step backwards and hammer in on a few basics on Individual Education Evaluations. Fact One: They're free. Fact Two: They're intended to level the pla...

Last week I attended the COPAA Conference, and a session on IEEs, presented by esteemed VA SPED attorney, Melissa Waugh, I had an epiphany about cognitive testing. Many of my clients that have kids with Down syndrome and other intellectual and developmental disabilities shy away from cognitive/ IQ testing. In this episode, we'll ponder (yet another) reason why this may not be a great idea. I promi...