Laura I'm here if you want to pick my brain. I started my business back in 2017. In addition to my Roadmaps, I offer consulting to families and professionals around the country. My focus is helping them understand how all the services work together and what they may be eligible for, at a 30k foot level. It sounds like I'll be able to send people your way. Please let me know when you're up and running. I don't have your email, or I would've sent this more privately. Here's a link to my website if you want to get a better feel for what I'm doing. My email is eric@specialneedsnavigator.us
Yay! Eric, thank you so much. Will definitely touch base after I get up and running. LMcKenna11@gmail.com
I think I'm best at connecting people -- parents with experts of various kinds. That's my long term plan. I'm starting off with a small niche -- parents in NJ with local autism colleges. But I would love to expand to Zoom seminars about other topics. Maybe you could do a one hour general thing to parents (wealthy area) as a promotion for your private business. Shrug. Not sure. Let's see how my small plan works first.
Your business sounds fantastic! I experienced similar things with my kids - both autistic and now in their 20s. My ex-husband is now figuring out how to do a special needs trust. The paperwork and learning never end! I also advise parents on a casual basis. I was a public school teacher before I had kids, so when they were teens, I started my own tutoring business. I work with K-8 homeschooled students and specialize in clients with learning challenges.
Every word of this resonated with me. Dealing with Social Security and MediCal was so complicated. My ex and I are both college-educated, and it took years to get the correct benefits in place. People who were supposed to be helping us gave us the wrong information.
The schools putting kids in a generic “special ed” class is a big problem. I wrote an article on Medium about a girl I tutored who was 15 and had just left that system. Her skills were very low, and her mother assumed it was her. Her highest hopes for her daughter were to complete a high school certificate and get a minimum-wage job. The girl was barely reading at a 5th-grade level and had great difficulty comprising answers to questions. We worked together for only one hour a week over Zoom. The homeschooling program she was in also offered online classes for special ed students. She ended up graduating with honors and continuing on to community college. She needed many accommodations for communication, but once we figured that out, she was able to succeed. It’s sad that kids like her are experiencing glorified babysitting at school!
I agree that we must find ways to work with what we have. I'm not a big charter school fan in general, but we have a homeschool charter here that offers much-needed family support along with special needs services. While we wait for the public schools to improve, we can provide services to help people.
Laura I'm here if you want to pick my brain. I started my business back in 2017. In addition to my Roadmaps, I offer consulting to families and professionals around the country. My focus is helping them understand how all the services work together and what they may be eligible for, at a 30k foot level. It sounds like I'll be able to send people your way. Please let me know when you're up and running. I don't have your email, or I would've sent this more privately. Here's a link to my website if you want to get a better feel for what I'm doing. My email is eric@specialneedsnavigator.us
https://truenorthdisabilityplanning.com/
Yay! Eric, thank you so much. Will definitely touch base after I get up and running. LMcKenna11@gmail.com
I think I'm best at connecting people -- parents with experts of various kinds. That's my long term plan. I'm starting off with a small niche -- parents in NJ with local autism colleges. But I would love to expand to Zoom seminars about other topics. Maybe you could do a one hour general thing to parents (wealthy area) as a promotion for your private business. Shrug. Not sure. Let's see how my small plan works first.
Your business sounds fantastic! I experienced similar things with my kids - both autistic and now in their 20s. My ex-husband is now figuring out how to do a special needs trust. The paperwork and learning never end! I also advise parents on a casual basis. I was a public school teacher before I had kids, so when they were teens, I started my own tutoring business. I work with K-8 homeschooled students and specialize in clients with learning challenges.
Every word of this resonated with me. Dealing with Social Security and MediCal was so complicated. My ex and I are both college-educated, and it took years to get the correct benefits in place. People who were supposed to be helping us gave us the wrong information.
The schools putting kids in a generic “special ed” class is a big problem. I wrote an article on Medium about a girl I tutored who was 15 and had just left that system. Her skills were very low, and her mother assumed it was her. Her highest hopes for her daughter were to complete a high school certificate and get a minimum-wage job. The girl was barely reading at a 5th-grade level and had great difficulty comprising answers to questions. We worked together for only one hour a week over Zoom. The homeschooling program she was in also offered online classes for special ed students. She ended up graduating with honors and continuing on to community college. She needed many accommodations for communication, but once we figured that out, she was able to succeed. It’s sad that kids like her are experiencing glorified babysitting at school!
I agree that we must find ways to work with what we have. I'm not a big charter school fan in general, but we have a homeschool charter here that offers much-needed family support along with special needs services. While we wait for the public schools to improve, we can provide services to help people.
Thanks, Beth, for your note and for helping kids/parents.