As the school year winds down, this is a critical window for families and educators. If there’s anything you’ve been meaning to put in motion before summer, now is the time to act. Planning ahead is essential, and school districts often operate on fixed timelines, leaving limited flexibility for scheduling assessments and services. In today’s episode, we’re diving into the challenges many families face in kindergarten and transitional kindergarten classrooms when it comes to getting students evaluated and connected with the support they need. Tune in as we break it down and share what you should know.

Show Highlights:

• The reality of expectations for TK students measured against kindergarten standards
• Watch out for the “typical peer” trap.
• What we are seeing from schools
• An example to support this question: “Which group of typical peers is my child being compared to?”
• Does the level of support prove that the child needs services?
• Understanding the functional component of education (lining up, transitioning to other classrooms, grasping routines and procedures, etc.)
• The purpose of an IEP is to provide consistent implementation from year to year.
• It’s not appropriate to rely on the “COVID baby” designation to excuse a student’s struggles.
• Early intervention is everything!

Resources:

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show.

Connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns via Facebook, Instagram, X, the IEP Website, or Email.

We are back with the second part of our conversation with Dr. Dennis. Our previous episode covered the escalating attendance crisis and how we can address it with new evaluations and data-collection tools. We are excited to dive deeper into this important subject through Dr. Dennis’ expertise and passion. Join us!

Dr. Dennis Lefevre recently served as the Executive Director of Student Support Services in a small, high-performing school district in southern CA. Before that role, he worked in various capacities in public, non-public, and private school settings with thousands of preschool, elementary, and secondary students. He had a front-row seat to the unfolding attendance crisis and became increasingly frustrated with the lack of ownership among schools, homes, and communities. He is now piloting a new kind of evaluation that is an intensive data collection process designed to lower the threshold enough to get students back on campus. As an educational psychologist in private practice, Dr. Dennis started an agency called Back at School, which offers consultations, advocacy, targeted data collection, interventions, workshops, and more to help the attendance crisis.

Show Highlights:

• A new approach based on revising the BIP (Behavior Intervention Plan): the AIP (Attendance Intervention Plan)
• Creative interventions for attendance challenges
• Differentiating between school refusal and truancy
• School refusal is typically an attempt to escape aversive stimuli, like bullying, tests, social phobias, and separation anxiety.
• Truancy is characterized by defiance, a pursuit of external rewards, and developmentally inappropriate rebellious behavior.
• Educators are trained to treat all students the same, which doesn’t allow for specialized needs.
• Why it’s important to ask, “Is this a performance deficit or a skills deficit?”
• Providing even a small amount of control or choice to the student can be very effective.

Resources:

Connect with Dr. Dennis Lefevre: Website

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show.

Connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns via Facebook, Instagram, X, the IEP Website, or Email.

Whether you’re ready for Spring Break or still have a few weeks until Spring Break, the reality is that there isn’t much of the school year left. There are many assessments and IEP meetings that need to be scheduled now. In today’s episode, we are talking with a wonderful guest, really getting into the trenches of evaluations and the escalating attendance crisis of the last few years. Join us to learn more!

Dr. Dennis Lefevre recently served as the Executive Director of Student Support Services in a small, high-performing school district in southern CA. Prior to that role, he worked in various capacities in public, non-public, and private school settings with thousands of preschool, elementary, and secondary students. He had a front-row seat to the unfolding attendance crisis and became increasingly frustrated by the lack of ownership among school, home, and community. He is now piloting a new kind of evaluation that is an intensive data collection process designed to lower the threshold enough to get students back on campus. As an educational psychologist in private practice, Dr. Dennis started an agency called Back at School, which offers consultations, advocacy, targeted data collection, interventions, workshops, and more to help the attendance crisis.

Show Highlights:

• Understanding the crisis and the disconnect between school districts and parents
• Prioritizing the fidelity of “the data” is not the solution
• Different categories of school team perspectives: those who are competent and conscientious, those who are “just okay,” and those who aren’t competent and are just waiting for summer break
• The benefit of school study team meetings in identifying school refusal/avoidance or simple truancy
• A truism in school attendance: “The longer you’re out, the harder it is to go back.”
• Understanding external and internal behaviors in crafting solutions
• When the IEP program/curriculum is the root cause of attendance issues
• The facts: 19-25% of students remain chronically absent since COVID (Neurodivergent/special needs students are affected about 3x more than their peers.)
• Specifics about the MDAE, Multi-Domain Attendance Evaluation

Resources:

Connect with Dr. Dennis Lefevre: Website

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show.

Connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns via Facebook, Instagram, X, the IEP Website, or Email.

It’s already March, and we are quickly approaching Spring Break season when different school districts have those breaks scattered over the next 4-6 weeks. Seeing a flare-up in behavior problems is not unusual during this time. There are highly severe sensory and emotional dysregulations happening with many students, and our goal should not be punishment. We need to appropriately address these behaviors that might be outside of the student’s control, especially those that are a result of a disability. Join us for today’s discussion about Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBAs) and Behavioral Intervention Plans (BIPs).

Show Highlights:

• The first step in an FBA is to collect data to define and describe the behaviors.
• Sensory overload, avoidance, and seeking attention are common challenges that cause dysregulated behaviors.
• Unmet needs have to be understood and met before behaviors can be regulated; this is where a BIP comes in.
• A BIP can be helpful when “the behavior is affecting a student’s learning or the learning of others.”
• Autistic students may use masking behaviors at school and explode later.
• How FBAs compare to the former Functional Analysis Assessment
• Defining behavior in assessments should follow the ABC format: antecedent, behavior, and consequence.
• We must teach both preventive and reactive coping skills.
• The BIP should be checked and thoroughly evaluated after 30-60 days.
• Amanda’s advice to parents about getting the most out of a BIP
• Vickie’s advice to teachers about implementing a BIP

Resources:

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show.

Connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns: Facebook, Instagram, X, the IEP Website, and Email.

We are entering the crazy season when Spring Breaks will be happening all over the country during March and April. This is a friendly reminder to be proactive in scheduling any meetings, tours, tests, and assessments that you would like to have completed before the end of the school year. The year will be winding down before we know it! We don’t want to see more students fall behind by multiple grade levels simply because assessments haven’t been done in a timely fashion. It’s not just academics that warrant an IEP meeting; social and emotional struggles should be documented and addressed as well. Don’t be afraid to be the “squeaky wheel” when it comes to advocating for your child’s educational services!

Show Highlights:

• When there is a problem, be proactive, not reactive.
• Don’t be afraid to raise the alarm and raise the questions to get support in place for your child.
• Transition IEP meetings should be robust and address ALL the student’s needs.
• Amanda’s tips for IEP meetings for students transitioning to middle or high school
• Specific problems with providing IEP services and accommodations amid the current teacher shortage
• Handling RSP hour shortages and makeup times (Ask for the logs to verify the required hours.)

Resources:

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show.

Be sure to connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns via Facebook, Instagram, X, ​​the IEP Website, and Email.

In our final episode of 2025, we spoke with Dr. Doug Bolton about innovative solutions for students experiencing dysregulation. We received a lot of feedback on that episode and had already planned a follow-up episode about the shift in perspective we are seeing in student behavior. We are thrilled to welcome him back to learn from him about student behavior and regulation. Join us for another conversation with Dr. Bolton!

Dr. Doug Bolton is a clinical psychologist who has always been drawn to working with kids who experience behavioral problems. Knowing that being in schools gives him the best vantage point from which to help kids, Doug became a school psychologist and later a principal at a therapeutic school. He is currently a consultant working with families to help vulnerable kids become more resilient. From his unique perspective and extensive experience, he wrote the book Untethered.

Show Highlights:

• Recognizing rhythms to the school year, especially as a new semester begins
• The correlation between mental health issues and the school year (for students AND teachers)
• Our system is stressing everyone out because of the over-focus on test scores.
• A focus on test scores makes us lose the connective tissue of learning and community.
• Our best learning requires emotional regulation and connection in relationships.
• What we know about deep learning and where it happens
• The value of a teacher who is willing to put ego aside and TRY to implement the IEP accommodations for a student
• Brain breaks are essential for emotional regulation.
• Music, art, recess, and vocational planning are brain breaks that help decrease stress hormones.
• Proactive breaks vs. reactive breaks (Not all breaks are equal!)
• Being curious about misbehavior (“Misbehavior is stress behavior.”)
• Disruptive students are dysregulated students.
• Key takeaways from Dr. Bolton about the power of belonging, connected relationships, and emotional regulation
• Connect with us on social media with your questions for Dr. Bolton for a future episode!

Resources:

Connect with Dr. Doug Bolton: Website and Untethered

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show.

Be sure to connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns via Facebook, Instagram, X, the IEP Website, or Email.

2026 has already had an interesting start, with numerous changes to education, particularly here in California. We urge you to check with your state representatives to see what’s happening in your state amid the chaos and confusion of the current state of US education. Your voice needs to be heard! We want this solo episode to focus on the trends we are seeing right now and how parents can be proactive. One of the biggest problems is the lack of services for the kids who need them most; so many are struggling to learn and function, but they are deemed ineligible for IEPs. Join us to learn more!

Show Highlights:

• Understanding the federal law and its interpretation of IEP eligibility
• Decisions are made in various ways and based on various criteria from state to state
• Accommodations and supports are wonderful, but how would that child do without those in place?
• Being the squeaky wheel has its advantages.
• What the CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) provides
• Digging deeper into social skills and problem-solving skills can help identify special needs.
• Parents can ask for additional assessments and evaluations from their school district.
• Special education analysis needs to be done from a holistic perspective that considers each child as a whole person.

Resources:

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show.

Be sure to connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns: Facebook, Instagram, X, IEP Website, and Email

​​Happy New Year! We can’t believe it’s already 2026. We made it through the holidays, which can be a particularly challenging time for many students. Our last episode of 2025 covered the topics of misbehavior and dysregulation, and we continue in that direction with today’s guest. Join us to learn more!

Dr. Desirie Sykes is a speaker, leader, advocate, author, and CEO. She is the founder of NESS Behavior Consulting and NESS Cares, a nonprofit in New York. NESS Behavior Consulting provides resources for mental health and special education, targeting children with a primary diagnosis of autism. Dr. Sykes collaborates with local school districts in the Long Island, NY, area, providing support and services tailored to meet a student’s IEP. Her passion is to enlighten, uplift, and empower, while changing the narrative around mental health and providing accessible resources to those who need them.

Show Highlights:

• Being sensitive and intuitive when behavior signals a deeper mental health issue
• Bridging the gap between home and school behavior: A look at the big picture
• Parents should speak up in IEP meetings and ask questions confidently.
• Identifying your “starting point” in getting real about behavioral responses
• The challenge: Turning functional behavioral plans into doable bits
• Importance of concrete, objective data about student behavior
• “How does the child feel about their environment?”
• Look at the big picture, not just the IEP meeting.
• Implementation of the needed supports is the key!
• One thing Dr. Sykes wants educators and parents to know
• Services available through NESS Behavior Consulting

Resources:

Connect with Dr. Desirie Sykes

NESS Behavior Consulting

NESS Cares

DesirieSykes.com

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show.

Be sure to connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns: Facebook, Instagram, X, IEP Website, and Email.

This episode will be the final one of 2025, as we take a break from the podcast over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Before we introduce today’s topic and guest, we want to address the “elephant in the room”: the shifts happening in the Department of Education under the Trump administration. Just a heads-up: following us on Instagram is the best way to stay up to date on current happenings in our world. Please keep in touch! Today’s topic is behavior and discipline with our guest, Dr. Doug Bolton. Join us!

Dr. Doug Bolton is a clinical psychologist who has always been drawn to working with kids who experience behavioral problems. Knowing that being in schools gives him the best vantage point from which to help kids, Doug became a school psychologist and later a principal at a therapeutic school. He is currently a consultant working with families to help vulnerable kids become more resilient. From his unique perspective and wide range of experience, he wrote the book Untethered.

Show Highlights:

• When it comes to discipline and punishment with our kids, we are getting it wrong.
• Incentives, motivations, and punishments
• Regulation and dysregulation show up differently for different kids. (“Misbehavior is stress behavior.” –Stuart Shanker)
• Figure out the “why” of the stress—and help them learn to cope.
• How punishments reinforce failure and create shame
• Understanding upstream vs. downstream behaviors
• Our expectations of students under the guise of “academic rigor”
• The results of our insensitivity to kids’ developmental needs
• An issue of development: Kids born in August are 31% more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than kids born in September.
• Steps to create upstream solutions to help kids build resilience when they misbehave:
• Focus on assisting them to get regulated.
• Get curious, and listen to what’s going on with them.
• Get them talking to each other to create a community of belonging.
• The value of taking a classroom to “pause and ponder.”

Resources:

Connect with Dr. Doug Bolton: Website and Untethered

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show.

Be sure to connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns: Facebook, Instagram, X, IEP Website, and Email.

With so many school holidays fast approaching, there are many kids who need interventions right now, and their parents are panicking. Furthermore, the effects of the government shutdown are being felt as Head Start programs are having to close their doors. Families are scrambling, and we are witnessing significant shifts that are having a profound impact on our kids. Today’s guest shares her perspective on anti-DEI sentiment and the current state of our country, affecting both education and the corporate world.

Nadine Jones is a 2003 graduate of Howard Law School, with a background in antitrust and corporate law as a general counsel. In January of 2025, she left that corporate position to work from home as a consultant. As the mother of a special-needs son, she has insight into what parents in the US face today.

Show Highlights:

• Nadine’s perspective on the most immediate risks to legal compliance in the shutting down of DEI programs
• Anti-DEI sentiment, which causes major problems for contractors whose top customer is the federal government
• Diverse workforces and better marketplace competition
• Nadine’s advice for educators who want to do the right thing for their students (in lower and higher education)
• Ethical considerations when funding is not available
• What was so attractive about eliminating DEI?
• Nadine’s thoughts about what’s coming and what our attitudes should be
• The importance of letting the data ground what we do
• DEI work can go on, even when it’s not termed “DEI.”

Resources:

Connect with Nadine Jones

Website and LinkedIn

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show.

Be sure to connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns: Facebook, Instagram, X, IEP Website, and Email.