My son has autism (Asperger syndrome), although you'd hardly know it today if you met him!  He is a public speaker and autism advocate. Together we spoke on guest panels for two years at The World Conference on Autism, where I spoke about the importance of IEP prep. I also just spoke there again (solo) in December 2023 in Colorado - see my prior blog post to read about this experience!  Today, my son is a thriving, successful, and kindhearted young man who finished his BS degree in Accounting, graduating Magna Cum Laude last April. He currently works at the University he graduated from in Accounting. He also founded a very successful skincare business, ExpeditionSoaps.com, that he started when he was 15 and just out of the 9th grade. After 7.5 years of ownership, he sold his business to his younger brother.

Back when he was a toddler, he had many functioning & communication challenges that come along with being autistic. When he was three, we enrolled him into a special education inclusive preschool.  To put it short, the IEP meetings were a complete nightmare for us! I was confused, lost, and I was struggling to comprehend it all! I knew there had to be a better way to do IEP meetings, but I had no idea of how to find help.  There wasn't anything detailed teaching parents on the internet, nor did I know how to find local resources, to help parents like me that were struggling with the IEP meetings!

In my research, I realized that there was a huge communication gap between us parents and the school district (It wasn't just me and my experience.  This was happening all across the US.)!  I realized that the school districts have their systems in place for IEP meetings and have for many years, but we parents didn't have anything to help us! My son was very smart and he deserved access to a good education and a positive school experience, like other kids had.  The special education "playing field" aka the IEP meeting, was so unevenly matched between the school district and the parents, and still is today.  I believe the schools use this as leverage, and so... I am determined to change this!  I want parents to be completely prepared for their child's IEP meetings, so that parents are able to be more confident and intentional during the IEP meeting.  This will lead to a positive outcome for their child's IEP, which means your child getting the supports and services they need to access education! 

Back in 2006, when I couldn't find any IEP prep help on the internet or in books, I took on the task to develop a system to prepare for my next IEP meeting, because I really needed the IEP to work FOR my son, so he could have a POSITIVE experience in school. Turns out, the system that I created worked amazingly! This original course that I created with all the steps & secrets to successfully preparing for the IEP meeting was great!

The IEP Team stated many times that I was the most prepared and informed parent that they EVER worked with and that they WISHED more parents would come in PREPARED like I was. And it was in that moment of feeling very confident, successful, and accomplished, that I then realized that this was my calling, that I had to share this course and help other parents that were struggling with their IEPs! So, I mailed out the "IEP Help Disk" (yes, it was a CD... this was a long time ago! lol) to as many parents as I could that were struggling with their IEP like I was. Fast forward to now-a-days, (well, it was 2022), and my youngest kid was graduating and I saw an autistic child, and it made me wonder if he was getting good special education support. So, I went home and googled about the IEP.  And then I looked in Facebook Groups.  And I couldn't believe what I saw!   Parents were still having all the same problems with thier IEPs!  IEPs just shouldn't have to be so hard for parents! We already have enough on our plates!

Today much polished, revamped, & moved onto a modern platform called "the internet or the cloud", I am very proud to bring you, The IEP Advantage course! This comprehensive course guide was made for you, parents! It's the only course you'll ever need to prepare for a very successful IEP meeting. And it's readily available to parents to access from the comfort of their home computer, in privacy, 24/7/365!

I founded The IEP Advantage in 2022 with the sole purpose of guiding & helping parents navigate the IEP process. If we all agree on one thing, it's that we parents need a community and system in place to support us through this difficult legal IEP process. It's hard for me to believe that from 2006, until today, still no course had been created specifically to help parents with their IEP.

This course will help parents of school-aged special needs children understand the entire IEP meeting process, to better understand and have clarity on their child's unique special needs and how these needs can be met in the school setting. This course will also help you become completely prepared and confident for your upcoming IEP meeting, and every meeting thereafter. Doesn't this sound exactly like a system that you need to have, so that preparing for the IEP can be simple and demystified? You don't need to spend HUNDREDS OF HOURS going behind the scenes to learn this all! I already did it for you & bundled it together in a step-by-step course that will have you ready for your next IEP meeting.

So, what can you expect when you get The IEP Advantage course? You'll get access to our complete IEP Advantage Bundle of online modules, making up the course called The IEP Advantage. You can complete this course at your own speed and time frame. This course includes 7 modules, plus eight bonus pages (inside Module 8), that will enhance, round out, and simplify the management and recordkeeping for your special needs child.

If you've ever felt like you needed help understanding the IEP meeting process, but didn't want to have somebody else up in your personal business or pay the high price for an advocate, coach, or special needs attorney the high ticket prices that come with their services, then The IEP Advantage is YOUR PERFECT SOLUTION! The aim of my course is to position you so you become an IEP Parent - an INFORMED | EMPOWERED | & PREPARED Parent, so you can confidently handle your IEP meetings. And, should you still need assistance from an attorney, advocate, or coach, you'll be in much more of a stronger position, that you won't have to spend your time or money trying to get educated by them (besides if you're in a moment of such need, you're going to be completely stressed out and then the information might go in one ear and out the other!). So, Instead, when you have The IEP Advantage, you'll be able to be on par with their discussions and ready to just handle the situation with them. Oh, and you'll have an awesome set of very organized records on your special needs child, and this will be very important for you to have already created. Honestly, our aim of this course is to help you avoid these types of situations, but just in case, you'll be more than ready!

The question is, how would being completely prepared for your next IEP meeting, and every meeting thereafter feel to you? Would it be worth your time to learn? If so, get on over to our sale, where you can get our entire IEP Advantage course, PLUS the 8 free bonuses (these alone are worth $224)! Go to IEPadvantage.com/access right now to learn more & get started!

​And the IEP Advantage community? We're just getting started, but we're creating a bunch of experiences within the community to support parents of school-aged special needs children! So, take a look around our site and see for yourself! If you'd like to be a featured guest on our upcoming podcast series, I look forward to interviewing parents to hear and share their story of their experiences with their IEP meetings.​ We soon will have our store up and running, and we're just starting to create groups for live workshops for parents to do their IEP prep right along with me! We are on TikTok with IEP tips and Facebook with an interactive group for parents! Be sure to stick around, because we've only just begun! I'm glad that you found us!