On this episode, Tara and Sheena talk with Dr. Ilana Nankin about her incredible work with Breathe For Change and her own inspirational educational and well-being journey. Dr. Ilana Nankin, Founder and Co-CEO of Breathe for Change, a transformative higher education institution. Ilana is an award-winning educator and entrepreneur whose classroom experience revealed a powerful truth: when teachers thrive, students succeed. That realization led her to earn her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, where her research on educator well-being became the foundation for Breathe for Change. Through evidence-based Master's, teacher training, and certification programs, Breathe for Change has empowered more than 20,000 educators across thousands of schools and districts nationwide to enhance their own well-being, improve educational outcomes, and unlock their full human potential.

In this episode, we talk with Ilana about the importance of educators taking time to check-in with themselves and attune to their own well-being. Ilana shares some words of wisdom for educators while getting vulnerable about how challenging working in the field of education can be. She also shares about how she recently overcame adversity to continue to strengthen her purpose and passion for supporting educators.

Listeners can find more information about Ilana and her movement at breatheforchange.com as well as follow Ilana on Instagram and follow Breathe For Change's Instagram account. You can also check out Breathe For Change's new podcast called A Work Of Heart on Apple Podcasts and additional Podcast platforms.

On this episode, Kristie and Sheena talk with Kim Brown about her expansive work with the Verbal Behavior Milestones and Placement Program (VB-MAPP). Kim Brown has been working in the field of special education for the past 23 years in a variety of roles including a teaching assistant, special education teacher, instructional and behavioral coach, principal/Program Director, Coordinator for Autism Programming and Director of Professional Learning from Early Childhood to High School. Her work centers around special education programming and best practices in assessment, curriculum development and instruction. In addition she works with educational leaders to develop an infrastructure to maintain systems of support around professional learning goals and implementation to provide continuous short term and long term growth for educational teams.

In the episode, we talk with Kim on the student benefits of utilizing the data from the VB-MAPP assessment to learn more about your students, how this data can be intertwined with how to deliver instruction and curriculum to students across all areas, the importance of understanding verbal behavior for all educators, and overall some helpful tips and suggestions for teams when it comes to getting started on the assessment and teaching to use the results.

Listeners can find more information on Verbal Behavior Milestones and Placement Program on Mark L. Sundberg's website, The Pattan Website- which includes a lot of video explanations, and utilizing NSSEO's coaches/consultants especially when it comes to getting started.

For over 40 years, Don Johnston, founder and CEO of Building Wings, has helped students and teachers build literacy skills through specially-designed curriculum and assistive technology. His technologies, implementation, and personal connections have made the impossible possible in over 32,000 schools across America. At the heart of Don's endeavors is inspiration gained during his personal journey as a reader who struggled in school. In eighth grade, a teacher recognized his potential and helped him think and learn in non-traditional ways. This is the philosophy behind all of Don's product development and company endeavors. Through Don's leadership and long-standing partnerships with interdisciplinary experts, Building Wings is creating special education resources to help many more students reach new heights in their literacy development.

On this episode, Danielle and Sheena talk with Dr. Robert Pennington about his expansive work with individuals with complex learning needs and how to program for students using high leverage practices. Rob is a former special educator, well accomplished professor, BCBA, and leader in educational research. His current research focuses around high leverage practices as well as innovative educational methodologies of using technology and robots within the classroom. In the episode, we talk with Rob about the importance of showing teachers how to use High Leverage Practices in order to make data-based decisions for their students, as well as help teachers feel empowered over their instruction and programming for students with more intense and severe needs. Listeners can find more information about Rob's work around HLPs on the University of Kentucky's website as well as purchase his book, Applied Behavior Analysis for Everyone: Principles and Practices Explained by Applied Researches Who Use Them, on Amazon.