IEP Coaching & Advocacy

11/30/2025

Good morning everyone 😊 I hope you all have a nice relaxing Sunday ❤️

Credit for picture: Finding Joy ❤️

Tigeress ###

11/30/2025

The feeling is unmatched.

11/30/2025

💙read-alouds 💚

11/30/2025

Too many schools are still confusing access with belonging.
IDEA opened the door 50 years ago, yes. . .

but some teams are still standing in the doorway, deciding who gets to be fully included.

And as a parent, you feel it.

You feel it when your child is seen as something to be fixed.

You feel it when staff talk more about deficits than strengths.

You feel it when the IEP meeting becomes a discussion about services instead of a vision for a meaningful life.

Here’s the truth no one in the system likes to say out loud:
The biggest barrier to inclusion isn’t the law.

It’s adult belief.

Belief about who is “ready.”

Belief about who is “capable.”

Belief about whose presence is “too hard.”

The problem is a culture that still expects children with disabilities to earn the right to be seen as full members of their community.

And that’s where advocacy becomes powerful.

Real advocacy starts with one disruptive, game-changing question:

What more is possible for this child?

That question exposes ableism.

It exposes low expectations.

It forces the team to raise their vision instead of lowering your child’s opportunities.

Because IEPs don’t create inclusion.

People do: the teachers, parents, the staff, and the students who share the classroom.

And when teachers shift their beliefs, the whole system shifts with them.

IDEA may have opened the door,
but parents are the ones pushing schools to finally let kids all the way in.

If you’re ready for weekly, grounded, strategic guidance that helps you shake the system, not just survive it, join my email community. (link is in comments)

Alt Text: A graphic with horizontal notebook-style lines and colorful markers lined up vertically along the left edge in brown, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, teal, blue, purple, and black. The text on the page reads: “IDEA opened the door, yes… and it doesn’t guarantee belonging. The law created the framework, but we must create the community.” At the bottom, small text reads “iep.today/Charmaine.”

11/30/2025

Parenting often asks us to read between the lines—inside ourselves as much as inside our children. The more we understand our own patterns and reactions, the more clarity we bring into the hard moments. You deserve support that helps you feel steady, not stretched thin.

Start with a quick emotional insight quiz: bit.ly/Free_Parenting_Quiz

11/28/2025

11/24/2025

Waking up to my inbox email message from a client who expresses her gratitude for my help is motivation enough to keep advocating!

Send a message to learn more

11/23/2025

The Recipe for a Happy Child at Daycare 💛✨

11/23/2025

The holidays are coming and boundaries might feel harder to set, but they're just as important. Here are some scripts you can use.

11/23/2025

This week, I’m teaching my students something that you won’t find in our standards: how to address and send a letter. The way to write one correctly. The way to mail it.

Do we have extra time for this? No.
Is it in the standards? Also no.
Is it real life? Yes.

And that’s exactly why we’re doing it.
Our students are growing up in a world where so much happens through a screen, yet they still need to know how to communicate beyond one. How to write something thoughtfully. How to send something out into the world with care. How to do a small, grown-up task that no app will do for them.
Not every skill we teach shows up on a pacing guide. Not every lesson gets tested. Some things make the cut simply because they matter. And this week, this matters.

Am I a perfect teacher? Never. Do I always get it right? Nope. But I hope that I always prioritize the lessons that matter.

I can remember, with clarity, every teacher that took the time to teach me more than what a standard said. And those standards? Man, they are so important. They really are. But those extra lessons woven in between? That’s the good stuff. That’s where the good humans are made.