The Collaborative IEP

If you’ve ever looked around at your life and thought, “Why does everything feel so hard and why am I handling it better than I expected?” — this conversation is going to feel like a long exhale.

Today, I’m joined by my friend Kara Riska, host of The Special Needs Mom Podcast and a seasoned coach who helps mothers navigate the emotional load of raising children with disabilities. What started as a totally different recording plan (long story) turned into a deeply honest conversation about stress, shifting seasons, burnout, identity, and what it actually looks like to feel grounded when life is objectively… a lot.

In this episode, we walk through:

• The kind of stress that builds slowly — across medical uncertainty, school challenges, family transitions, and the invisible emotional load
• Why you can feel the most overwhelmed and the most grounded at the exact same time
• How chronic stress shows up physically (hello, hot flashes, migraines, fatigue, and adrenal burnout)
• Kara’s perspective on what coping actually looks like when your nervous system is constantly asked to stretch beyond its limits
• The difference between “fixing your life” and changing the way you relate to it
• The role of control — why some of us grip everything tightly, and how loosening that grip changes everything
• The turning point: giving yourself permission to slow down, let go, and build a life that doesn’t run on adrenaline and achievement
• How community, connection, and coaching provide the scaffolding most of us don’t realize we need

This episode is messy, real, heartfelt, and full of those “oh wow… me too” moments that make you feel less alone in motherhood, advocacy, and the unpredictable seasons of life.

If you’re navigating stress you can’t simply “opt out” of — but you want to feel more grounded, more whole, and more like yourself again — this conversation may  be a welcome companion.

Connect With Kara

If you’ve ever sat in an IEP meeting thinking, “How on earth are multilingual families supposed to navigate this?” — this episode is going to feel like a deep breath and a flashlight.

I’m joined by Colleen, a speech-language pathologist turned advocate who spends her days doing two things most people only talk about: supporting bilingual learners in early intervention and showing up at the IEP table alongside families who need a knowledgeable partner in their corner. She’s the real deal — part SLP, part advocate, and fully committed to helping parents participate meaningfully in a process that wasn’t designed with them in mind.

We dig into what actually gets in the way for multilingual families, why translation and interpretation aren’t “nice to have” but legally required, and how school teams can stop relying on Google Translate as a strategy (spoiler: it’s not a strategy).

In this episode, we discuss:

• The rights to translated documents and qualified interpreters — and why timelines are so murky

• How incomplete or software-generated translations derail meaningful participation

• The difference between a true language disorder and a language difference

• Why proper bilingual assessment matters (and what happens when it doesn’t)

• Classroom supports that help multilingual learners and everyone else

• Where families can start when they can’t find a bilingual advocate in their area

If you’ve been feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or unsure how to help families who don’t speak English navigate the IEP process, take a breath — this conversation will leave you informed, encouraged, and better equipped to create a truly accessible path forward for every child.

Where To Find Colleen

If you’ve ever wondered whether your child’s struggles with reading are actually connected to ADHD, learning differences, confidence, or all of the above, this episode is going to feel like a giant exhale.

I’m joined by Megan Penrod, founder of Developing Readers Academy, who brings a fresh, whole-child approach to literacy. Yes, she teaches phonics. Yes, she uses Orton-Gillingham. But she also teaches kids what neurons are, how their brains grow, and why a mistake isn’t a failure — it’s a “pot of gold” that helps build a new pathway. (Honestly? I want someone to talk to me like that.)

Megan and I dig into what actually helps struggling readers make progress, why confidence and self-talk matter just as much as decoding skills, and how parents can feel empowered instead of overwhelmed. Her approach blends evidence-based reading instruction with emotional resilience and brain science — and the results speak for themselves.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why traditional reading interventions sometimes fall flat

• How understanding the brain boosts reading confidence

• The “ADHD Success Triangle” and where reading fits in

• What families really need to know to support struggling learners

• Why mistakes are golden (literally) when it comes to building new neural pathways

If you’ve been feeling stuck, stressed, or unsure about the next right step for your child, take a breath — this episode will leave you feeling grounded, encouraged, and better equipped to move forward with clarity.

Where To Find Megan