Banner Image ID: Sand dunes in the foreground and a mountain range behind the dunes with blue skies with some clouds above. Text reads Educational Advocacy.
Educational Advocacy
Summer is over. Back to school night came and went. Along with it, went your peaceful sleeps, unworried about the next report about another day at school gone sideways. There was that blissful moment in the middle of summer when the post-school decompressing was done and this school year’s merry-go-round had yet to bring about the all-familiar impending doom.
Parent-teacher conferences are a mixed-bag. Often you hear only the positives. Kiddo is a pleasure to have in class. Sometimes they need reminders to _(fill in the blank: stay on task, turn in their work, respect personal space with friends, etc)_. Other times you know there is something they want/need to say, but it never comes directly out.
Here’s the thing- the school is a system with protocols and rules. Each individual person on staff may love your kid, love your family, and want the absolute best for y’all. AND, there are some things they can’t do. You are left wondering what your learner needs and how to build on what you currently know about navigating the school system, and what you are sensing needs attention.
You know there are support groups and advocacy websites and blog posts and you are overwhelmed with where to start. You also know there is an emotional side to advocating for your learner that shows up both in personal moments and in the interactions with school staff. I am here to bridge the logistical and emotional elements of the support you need in your role as advocate.
Neurodivergent Learners at School
You: A caregiver who is trying to navigate a school system built for neurotypical learners. You've already made some helpful shifts at home, and now you can see how difficult it is for your child to mask all day at school.
The system: Gradually shifting from behavior management to emotional regulation support, simultaneously continuing to use outdated behavior management paradigms disguised as emotional regulation.
Me: 10+ years experience as a child therapist, who came to the realization that my efforts supporting kids in surviving a neurotypical biased world, could be better spent advocating for systematic change, one where the school system/environment equally contributes to meeting the learner’s needs, rather than placing the entire burden of emotional regulation on a student. I’m passionate about supporting caregivers in navigating the process of turning a 504plan/IEP/Learning Support Plan/Accommodations plan (i.e., plan detailing an agreement on what school supports and accommodations will be provided to a learner) from a symbolic piece of paper, into a dynamic document, that is functional, personalized, grows with the learner's needs, and aligns with neurodiversity affirming principles and practices.
Despite efforts by academic institutions to better meet the needs of a variety of learners, most standard accommodations are not effective in isolation. My goal in advocacy is to provide support caregivers and educators in making any accommodations plan come to life. For example, in order to access accommodations, a learner is required to request an accommodation directly from an educator and advocate for themselves on an instance by instance basis, rather than creating a system where the accommodation is consistently provided and only opted out by the learner when not needed. It requires additional mental effort for many neurodivergent learners to access information that is being taught in a manner best suited for neurotypical learners, and then the expectation is that they bear the additional burden of advocating for themselves every time they need support or an accommodation.
Working with Me:
I've spent the majority of my career as a licensed child therapist with at least one foot in educational advocacy. When we know that all behaviors are information, it becomes clear that kids are not choosing their challenging school experiences. Rather, there is an undue burden on kids to enact all of their own supports, self-regulate, self-advocate, and then effectively communicate with us about how they can do things differently next time. We need to make changes in the environment and the outlook educators are viewing a learner through. Approach with curiosity, extend some grace, and then gift them with well laid out plans for how to actually implement accommodations that will effectively meet their needs
During our discovery call and throughout the process, you will have the option to choose between a guided advocacy experience, where in a coaching/consultation format, I provide you the resources, information, and help you build your sense of empowerment to do the advocating yourself. The second option will be a full service concierge style service, where I will directly do the advocacy work, writing request letters on your behalf, collaborating with school staff, advising on evaluations and professionals to utilize. The third option is a hybrid of the two, where we will flow between me being in the role coach/consultant and as needed fulfilling various needs and tasks on a fee for service basis. Regardless of where you are on your journey of navigating the accommodations process, you'll walk away from the discovery call with one (or more) immediate action steps you can take.
What Does Educational Advocacy Look Like:
Educational Advocacy FAQs:
Summer is over. Back to school night came and went. Along with it, went your peaceful sleeps, unworried about the next report about another day at school gone sideways. There was that blissful moment in the middle of summer when the post-school decompressing was done and this school year’s merry-go-round had yet to bring about the all-familiar impending doom.
Parent-teacher conferences are a mixed-bag. Often you hear only the positives. Kiddo is a pleasure to have in class. Sometimes they need reminders to _(fill in the blank: stay on task, turn in their work, respect personal space with friends, etc)_. Other times you know there is something they want/need to say, but it never comes directly out.
Here’s the thing- the school is a system with protocols and rules. Each individual person on staff may love your kid, love your family, and want the absolute best for y’all. AND, there are some things they can’t do. You are left wondering what your learner needs and how to build on what you currently know about navigating the school system, and what you are sensing needs attention.
You know there are support groups and advocacy websites and blog posts and you are overwhelmed with where to start. You also know there is an emotional side to advocating for your learner that shows up both in personal moments and in the interactions with school staff. I am here to bridge the logistical and emotional elements of the support you need in your role as advocate.
Neurodivergent Learners at School
You: A caregiver who is trying to navigate a school system built for neurotypical learners. You've already made some helpful shifts at home, and now you can see how difficult it is for your child to mask all day at school.
The system: Gradually shifting from behavior management to emotional regulation support, simultaneously continuing to use outdated behavior management paradigms disguised as emotional regulation.
Me: 10+ years experience as a child therapist, who came to the realization that my efforts supporting kids in surviving a neurotypical biased world, could be better spent advocating for systematic change, one where the school system/environment equally contributes to meeting the learner’s needs, rather than placing the entire burden of emotional regulation on a student. I’m passionate about supporting caregivers in navigating the process of turning a 504plan/IEP/Learning Support Plan/Accommodations plan (i.e., plan detailing an agreement on what school supports and accommodations will be provided to a learner) from a symbolic piece of paper, into a dynamic document, that is functional, personalized, grows with the learner's needs, and aligns with neurodiversity affirming principles and practices.
Despite efforts by academic institutions to better meet the needs of a variety of learners, most standard accommodations are not effective in isolation. My goal in advocacy is to provide support caregivers and educators in making any accommodations plan come to life. For example, in order to access accommodations, a learner is required to request an accommodation directly from an educator and advocate for themselves on an instance by instance basis, rather than creating a system where the accommodation is consistently provided and only opted out by the learner when not needed. It requires additional mental effort for many neurodivergent learners to access information that is being taught in a manner best suited for neurotypical learners, and then the expectation is that they bear the additional burden of advocating for themselves every time they need support or an accommodation.
Working with Me:
I've spent the majority of my career as a licensed child therapist with at least one foot in educational advocacy. When we know that all behaviors are information, it becomes clear that kids are not choosing their challenging school experiences. Rather, there is an undue burden on kids to enact all of their own supports, self-regulate, self-advocate, and then effectively communicate with us about how they can do things differently next time. We need to make changes in the environment and the outlook educators are viewing a learner through. Approach with curiosity, extend some grace, and then gift them with well laid out plans for how to actually implement accommodations that will effectively meet their needs
During our discovery call and throughout the process, you will have the option to choose between a guided advocacy experience, where in a coaching/consultation format, I provide you the resources, information, and help you build your sense of empowerment to do the advocating yourself. The second option will be a full service concierge style service, where I will directly do the advocacy work, writing request letters on your behalf, collaborating with school staff, advising on evaluations and professionals to utilize. The third option is a hybrid of the two, where we will flow between me being in the role coach/consultant and as needed fulfilling various needs and tasks on a fee for service basis. Regardless of where you are on your journey of navigating the accommodations process, you'll walk away from the discovery call with one (or more) immediate action steps you can take.
What Does Educational Advocacy Look Like:
- Scheduling *virtual* (video or phone) meetings with me at your pace and in relation to your learner's varying advocacy needs
- Choosing between consultant/coach services, concierge/ full-service advocacy, and hybrid approach
- Building on your existing advocacy experiences and defining clear actionable steps you can take in order to support your learner
- Option to delegate direct advocacy and communication to me. I don't mind being the nuisance in the school's eye :)
Educational Advocacy FAQs:
- All services are virtual utilizing google meet for appointments (except for circumstances when Cassidy is off-grid and only has access to cell service) unless you prefer to schedule phone appointments.
- Educational Advocacy participants can be located anywhere! The scheduling platform is supposed to remain in EST (to maintain my timezone sanity). However, I recently discovered that the appointment scheduling calendar sometimes defaults to my current time zone despite all the EST settings. Until the support team provides a solution, please be aware of the calendar time zone when scheduling and convert the time if necessary (click here for a time zone converter). To receive appointment reminders in your time zone, please customize your client portal to reflect whatever time zone you are in (settings -> Information -> Scroll to Contact Information section and click Edit button).
- Sessions health portal emails come from: support@sessionshealth.com
- Appointment reminders are automatically sent from: noreply@sessionshealth.com
- You have the option to add the appointment to your calendar when you receive an appointment reminder. Otherwise, you’ll need to copy and paste the meeting link that comes in your email and/or text reminder into a browser page for session
- To access your client portal, use this link and login: https://cassidydemos.patientsecure.me/
- As a part-time nomad, sometimes I don't have strong enough service for a video call. If that is known to be the case ahead of time, I'll let you know and we’ll establish a plan for me to call you at the time of session.
