1. Find Your Passion: Life isn’t a dress rehearsal. If your current job doesn’t bring you joy, it’s time to consider a change. Karen emphasized the importance of pursuing a career that you love.
2. Diverse Backgrounds Welcome: Our trainees come from all walks of life, including investors, nurses, school district employees, stay-at-home moms, and police officers. All you need is a passion for helping others.
3. The Need for Advocates: There is a significant need for special education advocates. In the US alone, there are about 7.5 million children with an Individualized Education Program (IEP), and countless more with a 504 plan.
4. Becoming an Advocate: There’s no specific criteria or certification needed to become an advocate. What you need is a passion for helping others and a willingness to learn.
5. Payment: This is a career where you can charge based on your experience, expertise, and time in the field.
6. Starting Your Advocacy Journey: In this digital age, you can leverage social media platforms to kickstart your advocacy business.
7. Training and Support: Consider joining the Special Education Academy for structured training. We offer 8 hours of training per month, providing templates, documents, articles, and other resources.
8. Intensive Training and Mastermind Sessions: For those who want to dive deeper, we offer two-day intensive training sessions and 10-week mastermind sessions.
9. Serving the Community: The ultimate goal of becoming a special education advocate is to serve the community. The need is endless, and these children need support and services now.
10. Most Frequently Asked Question: The qualifications needed to become a special education advocate are simple: you need a heartbeat. 

Becoming a special education advocate is a rewarding journey. If you have a heartbeat, a love for children, and a desire to make a difference, you’re already on your way to becoming a special education advocate.

Stay tuned for our next webinar for more insights from Karen Mayer Cunningham, the Special Education Boss™, Parental Procedural Safeguards.

The post Missed Our Webinar? Here’s a Recap on Becoming a Special Education Advocate with Karen Mayer Cunningham, Special Education Boss™ appeared first on Special Education Academy™.

Our very own Karen Mayer Cunningham,  advocate, and trainer in Special Education, has been honored with the esteemed CCISD Special Education Star Award. This award, given annually by the Clear Creek Independent School District’s Special Education PTA, recognizes the exceptional efforts of individuals dedicated to improving the lives of students who receive special services.

Karen’s work is nothing short of inspiring. Not only is she a beacon of support for those at the 504/IEP table, but she is also our fearless leader here at Special Education Academy™. This platform offers anyone who wishes to advocate or become a professional advocate the opportunity to learn and grow in a supportive environment.

We’d like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Karen for this well-deserved recognition.

Her dedication to advocating for students who need special services is a true testament to her character and commitment.

Keep shining, Karen!

CLICK HERE FOR THE PRESS RELEASE

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Original news can be found at KRCG13 this post is a repost from the original news story

Karen Mayer Cunningham, Founder and CEO of Special Education Academy and a special education advocate, known on her platforms as the ‘Special Education Boss”, is fed up with states across the country giving dyslexic and other special needs children less than what they deserve.

Her clients are made up of teachers, students, and their families, based on her own story.

“I came into this space because I had a child with a disability, and I just assumed that you send them off to school with their lion king backpack and lunch and that everything would be fantastic,” she said. “I found out immediately that it wasn’t.”

Cunningham travels across the country to get answers from school boards and state officials on what she says have created complications in the lives of special needs children.

“If we valued this population, which is 12.9 percent nationally, then we wouldn’t have young adults and adults that can’t work, that can’t hold a job, that can’t manage their time, that can’t be successful living alone or working,” she said.

According to the Missouri Department of Secondary and Elementary Education (DESE), for a child to qualify for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), they must meet the qualification of being “special education” to keep making progress in school. Cunningham says that based on her clients, these requirements are not being upheld.

“Unfortunately, you go into a school board meeting, which sounds great on social media- nothing happens,” she said. “The school board members don’t speak to you; you have 180 seconds to speak. If you’re not on the agenda, nothing happens.”

The state also says that paraprofessionals, or aids, that assist teachers with special needs students must have at least a high school diploma or equivalent. In many cases that Cunningham has seen, parents mistake them for certified special education teachers, which are not provided to public schools in many districts. The Missouri School Board Association did not comment on these issues.

Cunningham says that through her work and her educational messages on social media, she wants to continue supporting teachers and students in classrooms where they are more than likely not getting the help they need.

“I could care less about the state test and any test. What I care about is that kids win, and we make them feel successful, and we give them tools so that they can be amazing adults,” she said.

To see all that the Special Education Academy offers, click here.

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