Episode 30 -- Let's Talk Advocates! A Neurodivergent Parent and Advocate's Perspective
Many of us need an expert in our corner! Join me with Jessica Beaty, a parent and professional advocate! Join us as we talk about how to tell when you need an advocate, what they do, and how to choose one! Shownotes: www.parentfriendlyot.com/podcast FREE Parent IEP Get Started Pack: www.parentfriendlyot.com/pack
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Episode #40: [Parent Spotlight] Emotions and IEP Prep with Victoria Coure
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Beth [00:00:00] Hey, there. Welcome to the podcast today, I’m super excited to share with you, my friend Jessica, who is an advocate and an autistic person herself. And so if you are wondering what an advocate does or if you need one? Stay tuned because we’re going to talk all about it on the podcast today.
Beth (intro) [00:00:21] Hey, there and welcome to that Elevate Your Advocacy podcast. I’m Beth Liesenfeld, an Occupational Therapist who has participated in over 400 IEP and 504 meetings, and I’m on a mission to demystify everything about the IEP process and Parent Friendly OT we are passionate about bringing parents factual information so they can make the best decision for their children in their family. Expect to actionable strategies to build understanding, communication and advocacy skills so you can get the best for your child from your IEP team. We strive to help create the ideal situation for your child, but also keep it real that you have to work with the school system and the school team that you have right now. Find show notes with transcripts of interviews, links to freebie resources and more information about our online course at www.parentfriendlyot.com. Just a reminder that while I occasionally have lawyers on the show, I am not a lawyer myself and I don’t give legal advice on the podcast. Now let’s get into today’s episode.
Beth [00:01:25] Hey everyone, I hope you’re doing well today. I am so thrilled to share with you this conversation that I had with Jessica Beaty, who is an advocate, because not only is she an advocate, she is a parent of children with disabilities. So she’s the parent advocate. She knows how it goes from that end. And she also has a disability herself, and she is definitely found her strengths and found the role that she is passionate about. It’s so amazing you’ll hear it as well. So I’m so excited to share my conversation with her because we’re talking about everything, about advocates, and you will see through our conversation that there’s not a standard certification. There are training courses which she mentions at the end, but there’s really no standardized way of finding an advocate that works for you. So I very much encourage you to talk to several different people in your search unless you know you want to hire Jessica because you know a little bit about her and how she works from this podcast. But definitely find somebody who has the knowledge about the issues that you’re dealing with right now in your IEP and definitely find the person that’s right for you.
Beth [00:02:41] Another note and I’ll reiterate this at the end, I want to be very clear that getting an advocate, even if you get an advocate every single year, I want to be very clear with you that hiring an advocate is not a replacement for educating yourself. Now, if you’re listening to this podcast, then you already know this. You are already educating yourself about IEPs - you got this! You’re investing some time and energy into learning the IEP process so that you can advocate. And I just want to reiterate that you knowing information helps the advocate help you better, right? So the more information you have about IEPs in general, about your vision, about the sections in the IEP and how they’re supposed to flow together, the better that you can help and communicate with that advocate to say, “OK, I know enough about this to have a question about it, or how can I advocate to get this goal in place? Can you help me work through that?” So that you have some working knowledge going into an IEP and that’s just going to help you leverage that advocate for you and your parent role so much more? So I’m so excited to get out of your way and let you listen to Jessica, and we’ll circle back up after the interview. I’m so excited to hear what you guys think about this one. We’ll talk soon.
Beth [00:04:09] Hello, Jessica. Welcome to the podcast.
Jessica Beaty [00:04:13] Hello, thank you for having me here.
Beth [00:04:15] Yes. So today I’m really excited because we’re talking about advocates and before we kind of jump in and get started, I’d love to have you introduce yourself. Tell us about what you do. And we’ll go from there.
Jessica Beaty [00:04:30] Wonderful. My name is Jessica Beaty and I am a mom of two wonderful kids. They are autistic and other neurodiverse diagnoses and they have IEPs. I am also autistic myself with ADHD, and I found out after my kids and after I started advocating. So it’s brought a bigger purpose into what I do now, which is I’m a special education consultant and Master IEP Coach. That’s a long term for basically advocate, and I work mostly with autistic ADHD families on how to navigate the IEP process, how to have conversations with their teams to get action moving forward quicker and ensuring that their children are safe, loved taking care of at school.
Beth [00:05:33] It’s amazing and love how you just flowed right into it, because my next question was, what does an advocate do? So can you take us through the process if somebody contacts you to have you support them? Maybe they have a meeting coming up. When do you start supporting a family? Take us through what the pieces are like, what the process is for you to help in that advocate role?
Jessica Beaty [00:06:05] I usually I have been able to find a lot of people on social media and through friendships and a long list of volunteer activities that I do. So I have had built relationships with a lot of the clients I do have. When I have a new client come in, we always start with a free consultation and I typically keep that to 30 minutes. But knowing how I talk, sometimes it goes over. But I always want to leave the parent understanding me. I want to leave understanding them, and then I always leave them with an action step to move forward. So if they choose that they need more support during the process versus doing it on their own, they have the action steps to see. I’ve had many clients say, great, this is fantastic, I got this. Month later, they come back because nothing’s moving forward and they need a little bit more help. So they’ve already seen that I’m open to having a conversation and usually that leads into an IEP review, where I will go through any and all IEPs is current, past, lifetime, all the way to early intervention, any sort of diagnosis documentation. And I build a story for their child and they get it in this really wonderful package of a report that I build for them. And it’s in the language that is needed to communicate it to the school about their child. And, it’s a long report, but it’s a really amazing resource for parents to have when they go in with their school because they know how to communicate those pieces better, and then they can choose whether they would like to work more one on one, or they want to take the action steps that I have given them because they also get an advocacy letter or we work on their parent input statements, which is a whole other process of it. But it ties into my report.
Jessica Beaty [00:08:23] So I build the big picture and then I deliver a document that they can deliver to add into their students IEP to communicate who their child is, what their child’s needs are and what their learning style is and how they need to be met in those ways. And I love it. And the other side of it is they can always add bundled hours to work one on one. Or I can do IEP meeting prep, which is basically all of those together, but I try to make it as simplified as possible. So you know what you’re getting, you know what the end is. And then you know what the steps are going forward if you need more support?
Beth [00:09:08] I love it. So just a little bit of comparison is the online course that I have is just like, here’s the basic info of like what the process looks like, let’s go through the sections of the IEP so you know how to read a draft IEP or read your IEP that you currently have. And how the system works so you can understand the culture and what you provide is really an in-depth personal look at their own child and kind of helping them sift through that specific paperwork to get a summary document together. Is that correct?
Jessica Beaty [00:09:45] Yes, very much. It’s it’s right in the middle of there where I do educate along the way of the process and explain it. But a big part of my job, and I became more in tune to this piece of it because I learned about. I mean, I’ve always been autistic, ADHD, possibly dyslexia, because my son’s dyslexic, I didn’t know that. So I’ve navigated this whole life not knowing and now I know and I can explain it in a very personal way. So that’s how I can use my uniqueness in a way that can support the child and help the parents communicate, not only in educational speak, but in disability speak and how things are met and how to really deep dive into these things. I’m very analytical, if you can’t tell, I really thrive with finding the message behind the message behind the message, and I find my type of advocacy and my type of work with just me personally, leads me different from others because of that analytical part of my brain. But I’m able to communicate it in a fashion that is easy to understand.
Beth [00:11:15] Yeah, and you talk a lot about your own unique strengths, and every advocate is going to be so different because as we talked about in episode 26 with Julie Carter, the attorney, she kind of mentioned that advocates don’t have a certification. There’s not this broad educational platform or like degree or anything that advocates go through. So you’re able to articulate what the advantages of working with you are. Do you have any recommendations for parents looking for an advocate on what they should look for? Is there different trainings that they can go through, even though it’s not like a an overarching certification?
Jessica Beaty [00:11:59] Yes, it’s a very broad question, of course, because I don’t practice law. I’m not a lawyer, nor do I recommend lawyers in that fashion. But I can tell that I know my boundaries. I don’t go to due process, I don’t do those pieces because those are fine tuned very much for lawyers or those who are more experienced. There are advocates who do that and they’re not lawyers, but they do have some sort of law background, whether it was they serve the lawyer and have experience in that. And so I can’t speak to that part of it. My main focus is parental safeguards, so I stick to the laws that parents should know, and they should be offered without just being handed a piece of paper. Instead of read it later, it should be spelled out at the same time. It shouldn’t be the only focus in the meeting and many times it is.
Jessica Beaty [00:13:14] So when you’re looking for an advocate or an IEP coach, my recommendation is to meet with as many as you need to and see how your communication flows with them. Are they figuring out what your needs are without you having to say too much? Are you comfortable with their approaches? Are they collaborative or are they adversial? And even with lawyers, you have some very collaborative lawyers, so collaboration really move things forward quicker than the other side. But you do need someone who is able to have those tough conversations and you can have those tough conversations without a lawyer too, but not to me, not when you go past due process for me. Even though in due process, parents rights are to go through it by themselves. They don’t have to have that. It’s recommended to have somebody who has knowledge of how to move through the process. And when you’re searching for credentials or any of those pieces, I feel like if your IEP meeting is discussing more law, law, law and you’re finding you’re trying to find more of those pieces, it may be time to be talking to somebody who has experience on that level of it. It can change the relationship the moment you bring in a lawyer or even advocates who you want to be very clear of, where you are in your IEP process and what you’re trying to get out of it and what your child’s in need of. If that makes sense.
Beth [00:15:09] Yeah. So that’s actually a perfect segue way into my next question, which is are their drawbacks to bringing an advocate with you to the meeting?
Jessica Beaty [00:15:23] I don’t think there’s drawbacks, but I do know there’s drawbacks in parent rights. And you look at ideal law, you look at your parental safeguards, you look at all this pieces and the parents have a right to bring somebody with them, whether it’s a friend, a family member, their child, a lawyer - they’re allowed to. So you’re surrounded in this room full of people staring at you and you’re supposed to go by yourself. You don’t have any knowledge. They have all the knowledge. You don’t have anything, so you’re already at a disadvantage. So when you bring this person in, who creates a culture shift in your meetings, to me, that shows it’s a red flag, not on you as a parent. It’s more of a clap for you as a parent. But now it puts you on a better playing field. And that’s when I say finding someone who’s collaborative who can have a great conversation can connect, and somehow you can joke and have fun in it and just figure out best solutions, but also be able to state certain facts and keep everyone on on the same playing field is important. So, yes, there always is, but it depends on your team and you will certainly see kind of the true colors come out when that person comes in with you.
Beth [00:16:58] Yeah, you are taking words out of my mouth, this is awesome. I feel like from the school team’s perspective, a lot of times young case managers will say, “This parent is bringing in an advocate, what do I do?” And I’m like, it’s fine. You’re a very parent centered and very helpful case manager, it’s not going to change anything. But from the school perspective side, I think it does make the team slow down a little bit. And that advocate being there is a little bit more detail oriented and making sure things are going the way that they should. The other advantage that I’ve seen is that advocates like you that are specialized in kind of one area, you have better recommendations for accommodations that can be tried because they feel like teams get stuck in that like, Oh, what can we do to help support them? And you have that specific knowledge, which I think is amazing to look for an advocate that has kind of a specialty like you have the ADHD and autism background and can have that brain to really go through those details and think of outside of the box and what might help. I think that’s really helpful, but it does make the team kind of slow down and definitely pay more attention to what they’re doing. And I think some of the team gets a little bit nervous sometimes. But like you said, having a collaborative person is just so much more helpful than having somebody that comes in, you know, with an agenda and is more pushy. It just doesn’t, like you said, it doesn’t move the needle forward as quick with getting things done and keeping it child centered. It gets it, gets tense, I guess.
Jessica Beaty [00:18:49] Yes, exactly. And what I like to do and why I partner with parents. And that’s my focus, not only because I am a parent, I know what it feels like to not be heard. And I know what it feels like to say things, and say things, even now as an IEP coach with my own teams, we just had a three hour meeting on this. Why are we talking about this again? But it’s about continuing that communication, and my job isn’t a fight with the team. I don’t want to fight with them. My job is to make sure that my client, my parent, my families are being heard and their questions are being answered. And that’s the main focus.Their one of the most important parts of the IEP team that are neglected. Parents are there from birth to death, like, that’s just where you are. So we are the experts in our children. We may not be an expert in how to communicate that educationally, but we shouldn’t have to. We should be able to speak how we need to speak and that should be found. But there’s a roadblock. And so that’s where I come in. I’m sitting on that roadblock being like directing them back and forth to have the communication. So it’s not just making sure my parents are heard, it’s making sure the parent understands what they’re saying. And then if there’s confusion, then we we’re talking it out, and I’m kind of mediating that in a very calm, relaxed way. But I am also not hesitant to speak up and say, you know, this is not working. We need to relook at things. So. I agree with you with the parents stuff, it’s just. There is a need for more support.
Beth [00:20:44] So parents come to you and you get hired by the parents. Can you talk a little bit about how you charge for your services? You mentioned and hour by hour service, but do you also have packages? Can you talk about how you charge for services?
Jessica Beaty [00:21:06] We start with a consultation because I want to make sure that we’re on the same page and how I can meet your needs. But I typically have two packages, so my first is the IEP review and I charge $125 for that and it fits. We have our intake. We have my time to go through all the documents and then you get this really fantastic report all typed up for you. And then we have a follow up conversation to discuss this report and any other questions. And that’s also where I gauge what sort of support they need right now to move forward with this. So either is, is it communicating what their child’s needs are and more of the parents statement, fashion or more of a advocacy letter of we need a reevaluation or those sort of recommendations? And for some parents, I’ll put both, because they’re both needed. So I try to give as much of my time I can to those, so I try to make it simple. So I find all these things together. So it’s not like, Oh, these little pieces and you know what you get during that time. And the IEP review typically takes about two weeks, but I can sometimes get it done sooner based off the amount of paperwork.
[00:22:31] And then the second part I have is more of a IEP meeting prep. So I put all the steps together. So you’re paying this one fee, $299 and you don’t have to worry about me saying, I need we need another hour. So let’s pay $60 per hour and then just keep doing that. I put them into a package based off what I think will get us forward, and that’s as far as we will be. But you get all your document reviews all within that and you get a solid two hours of my time that’s separate. So it’s basically like the IEP review plus two hours. And then attending IEPs is a separate higher charge. But I always include an additional hour that we break up for front and back. I take all the notes, I send all the notes. I do all this stuff. So I do all this extra stuff to help teach parents what they can be doing in order to actively manage their child’s IEP. Because it is a full time job and we need to be more active instead of reactive. And so in the ways I construct things, I try to make it as simple as possible. So it’s like, Oh, I can easily type up notes on Zoom while we’re talking, and that’s what I do. So a lot of it is teaching and coaching them based off what I do for my kids and I’ve been able to move my kids own IEPs from like blah to all of a sudden these amazing things. And then my client says, well, we’ve been able to move forward with this exact process. So it’s the first time I’m actually bringing it in and offloading it to help other parents in the exact process that has been very successful for all my clients. Whether they’re in other states or locally here, it’s just really exciting to see how we can get parents voices heard and I get kind of geeky about it. You probably can see me, I’m like flapping here, but when I can see a parent getting confident and they’re going to their meetings, and they’re speaking up, and I’m barely having to say anything. I’m sitting here typing away, going like rah rah! And then we get the the needle moving towards progress. It just gets me so excited because these parents need the confidence boost. And if I can give them the confidence boost and give them little things they can do. That’s what I do. And I also try to do it in an an affordable way. So we’re not waiting until the very last part where they’re instantly saying, I need a lawyer. There’s so much you can do before you even get to a lawyer. The steps I try to teach to those that I have as clients and those that I share on social media and all that. Just these little tips that have been very successful for many that I have worked with.
Beth [00:25:44] Yes, that’s amazing. I would say you’re really affordable, like really affordable. So what? I don’t think we talked about this in your intro. What state are you based in? And as an advocate, can you cross state lines or do you have to stay in your own state?
Jessica Beaty [00:25:59] I am in Pennsylvania right now. We moved here 18 months ago from Washington State, during the pandemic, we moved sight unseen and had to start over the process and learn really quick. So most of my experience and knowledge is in Pennsylvania and also Washington state. But I have clients in Iowa, I have clients in Texas. I had one in Oregon. I’ve been talking to ones in New York so I can go anywhere. And I do a lot of attendance virtually. And if I am unable to attend virtually based off school, I can call in and be part of it, if that’s not an option then we sit down and we use our IEP prep minutes and we dig into parent coaching and really parent coach, and I think the most important thing to know when parents go in, because it is overwhelming, and you think you have to get it all done right now, you don’t. You focus on your few things if you get one thing going now. Yay. Start moving forward with that and then continue the conversation elsewhere. It’s a fluid document. You can come in and have an IEP meeting any time you can get help any time. It’s stressful and sometimes it’s very helpful to have help. And with us IEP coaches and I’m in the network ambassador, IEP coach. We have a directory full so you can find ones in your state or you can find one that you click with. And that’s the nice thing is when you find someone you click with like, magic happens. So that’s really important.
Beth [00:27:48] I totally agree. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing your expertize. Where can parents find you online?
Jessica Beaty [00:27:57] You can find me on Instagram. That’s where I’m very active. It’s @JessicaBeaty_advocate. That’s where I do a lot of trainings. There’s a lot of freebies on there. I’m about to launch my website, which will be www.JessicaBeaty.com, and there’s going to be some parent resources I’m putting on there and I’m really excited to meet and help other people.
Beth [00:28:28] Fantastic. That’s awesome. And we’ll link both your Instagram and your new website on the show notes to you, which will be available at ParentFriendlyOT.com/Podcast. Thank you so much for coming on. I loved our conversation. Thank you.
Jessica Beaty [00:28:41] You’re so welcome.
Beth [00:28:43] OK, so what do you guys think? Didn’t she bring the value to you guys today? It was so amazing, and I learned so much about advocates because I just I’m on the other side of the table most of the time, but I would absolutely recommend her as an advocate. She’s in her element, and it’s awesome. It’s really awesome. So I wanted to just come on really quick and let you know that I do have a new free parent resource on my website and that is it at www.ParentFriendlyOT.com/PACK and it’s just a really quick introduction to the IEP process to get you started. So if you’re at a place where you’re like, I don’t even know what I don’t know right now, and I just want a couple handouts to get me started really small start with something that you can bite off and chew and implement right away. Go ahead and head to www.ParentFriendlyOT.com/PACK. If you just go to www.ParentFriendlyOT.com, there’s a little pop up that comes up after you’ve been on the site for a couple of seconds. So just entering your email and I’ll send it your way. Thank you so much for listening today. I’m so excited to be back next week and we’re going to have a little chat, just you and me, and then we’ll be back with more guests in the future. Thanks so much for listening, and we’ll talk to you soon.