CAPABLE

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 best she can. Her story with one of her past clients was impactful! Listen to her story about building independence for her client and family. Keep a lookout for more stories to come!

Check out Whitney's website, she does amazing work!

www.learnwithleaf.com

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 families, teams, and continuing to work with a few children 1:1. Working 1:1 is by far her favorite part of the job! Jo is very passionate about her job, and loves to celebrate students' accomplishments and differences. Listen to her story about working as a Behavior Analysis with a student with Autism. 

Keep a lookout for more stories to come! 

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! 

Keep a lookout for more stories to come!

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 front office secretaries a run for their money. 

If you email Madeline at [email protected], you can get a free 6 months for free. Yes, FREE! Keep a lookout for more stories! 

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 through a growth spurt, and was needing some new clothes. His mom decided to get him some “big boy pants.” She called them the “big boy pants” because he was a big boy, who loved to eat all her food. She was supportive, caring, and always knew how to make me laugh. 

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. Cry The Cat Syndrome is a chromosomal condition that results in a missing piece of the chromosome 5. Some characteristics are a distinctive cry, small size head, and some show signs of intellectual disability, speech delays, and behavioral issues. 

Mrs. Wald’s story of one of her interactions with her daughter is heart-warming. Her daughter has never had a sibling, so why not have a dog instead. Her daughter always has a list of names, and is always wanting to learn new names, but the story behind the names she chose for her dog siblings is outstanding. This story put a smile on my face! 

It's parents like Mrs. Wald who help me be a better educator to our disability community, and be more present in my own life. 

Keep a lookout for more stories to come!

Working during summer school was a learning experience for me. I got to meet and teach some amazing students from the ranges of life skills to the resource room (two to three years below grade level)  setting. This story is about one of my students who is learning three different languages, along with him being severely autistic with very low communication skills. He is always learning how to communicate with words, and during our time together, he was able to pronounce and sign four words out of the list of twenty words we practiced in four weeks. Huge success!! He was ecstatic to be understood. 

Keep a lookout for more stories to come!

This is a must listen to!! I am unbelievable blessed to have listened to Mrs. Hook's  adventures when finding out her daughter had Autism. It's relatable to some, and learning for others. 

This episode, I interviewed one of my favorite paraprofessionals, Mrs. Hook, I had worked with her in my teaching career. She is a rockstar! We were a great team. We always advocated for students and kept things fun. Mrs. Hook has three children, one with high functioning Autism, and worked as a paraprofessional, who now is a substitute teacher for her daughters’ school. She is a phenomenal human being!

Mrs. Hook’s story of when she found out her daughter had Autism is outstanding. She took on a big obstacle head on. Also ,her version of how her daughter felt when she knew she had Autism is impeccable. Her daughter is bright, smart, and a go-getter. She won’t let anything get in her way, not even a label. 

After all those long days, Mrs. Hook is so blessed to continue to keep learning from her daughter.

Side note: Apraxia is a neurological disorder that can be characterized by the inability to perform learned movements on command. 

Keep a lookout for more stories to come!  

This episode,I interviewed a family friend, Catherine. She worked for Mental Health as a Developmental Disability (DD) case manager for 15 years. Catherine is retired, but had some outstanding stories to tell about working with adults with disabilities. 

 In this story, she will tell you a story about a client who drank too much antimonium syrup, and thought he needed to go to the hospital. Catherine handled the situation with good intentions, or as she put it, you get smarter over the years.

After 15 years she is so grateful to have worked with adults with disabilities.

Keep a lookout for more stories to come!

This little story is about the joys of being involved with Special Olympics swimming. I had an amazing opportunity to help participate in swimming and track for the Special Olympics since a few of my ladies I had in a group home were athletes. The joy you get to witness is outstanding. Brainstorming creative team names is one way to get your athletes ready for a race!  

If you haven’t gone to a Special Olympics event, I would recommend you do. It’s a great experience! 

Keep a lookout for more episodes to come!