Navigating Special Education with Dr. Kristin Meyer: Empowering Parents and Teachers

Welcome to the women and wealth podcast

brought to you by Regina McCann hes a

certified financial planner with over

two decades of experience. This show is

for professional women who want guidance

in working towards their retirement

vision in learning, building, planning,

striving for your dreams, and putting

the work in now so that you can pursue

your financial independence. Hello, I’m

Regina McCannhouse, president of Forge

Wealth Management, and welcome to our

women women and wealth series. Uh today

I have a friend with me and uh her name

is Dr. Kristen Meyer. And Dr. Kristen,

can you tell us who you are, what you

do, and what you love about what you do?

Yes. Hi, Regina. So happy to be here.

Uh, I am Dr. Kristen Meyer. I am the

co-founder of the REACH Group,

educational consultants and advocates.

We help families navigate the

intricacies of special education. So

whether it’s from early evaluations

through adulthood diagnosis, we’re able

to help families navigate the special

education process in public schools and

private schools. And I’m a big Philly

fan. So if you bleed green, I should be

on your special ed team is my motto,

especially since we went to the uh Super

Bowl this year. So we love helping

families. Yes, we help families from

Exactly. kindergarten all the way

through. And if you again, Birds fan, we

should be with you. So that’s and I um

got into it because I’ve been in special

education my whole career. I taught high

school emotional support in Habford

School District, Delaware County, and

then I was a principal for a school for

children with autism and emotional

disturbance in Chester County. um so

passionate about this un underserved

uh population and actually it’s a very

large population of kiddos. So, one in

five children has a special education

disability. And that is Yeah. Right.

Nobody thinks about that. One in five.

You could think right now and probably

name a cousin, niece, nephew or somebody

who might be struggling. Um, but it’s

one in five kiddos. So, it’s a huge part

of our

population. And I’ve been very

passionate about it since I’ve been

teaching. I just believe that this is a

group that deserves everything just like

every other child deserves everything

and that a disability should not impact

their access to education. And I saw as

a teacher and even more when I was a

principal that parents don’t know what

they don’t know. And when you have a

child with a disability, you go through

a mourning process because you have your

pregnancy, you imagine their life, you

imagine everything, and then they get

this diagnosis and it’s overwhelming.

And so we take that fear and normalize

it and make your new normal and help you

navigate a world that isn’t designed for

our our special kiddos. So, uh, I’m just

passionate about it. I love it. I love

empowering parents. Um, I really loved

when I was a principal kind of getting

in trouble for calling parents because I

would call them on the back end and say,

“Hey, you’re not talking to me right

now, but tomorrow you need to say this.”

Uh, and that really kind of pushed me

into my advocacy and then my

dissertation is about educating and

empowering parents about special ed. Oh

my goodness, how refreshing. This is

amazing. So, I want to make sure I

understand this correctly because I I

think I get what you’re doing, but I

want to confirm. So, because I have

friends, I have very dear friends who

have special needs kids. Um, so when you

say you’re working with them, you’re

trying to make sure they get the

additional what do you call benefits or

whatever they’re called. You help them

get those additional tools or resources

that they’re entitled to but may not

know to ask for. Exactly. Exactly. So,

when a child has a disability, they

typically have an individual education

plan that we call an IEP.

And a child could have services from

occupational therapy to speech, uh,

physical therapy. They may have reading

interventions, math interventions, and

depending on their level of need, the

district will make their

offerings. It’s like going to a buffet.

You get to see everything, but you’re

not going to get everything. Well,

consider an IEP kind of that. You’re

going to see your options, but the

district doesn’t have to give you

everything if they don’t

feel the child needs it. So for example,

today I had a meeting where a child

needs a math goal, but the district

doesn’t feel they have to offer it and

it is an interpretation of law is what

it boils down to. The law states bare

minimum, but a district policy, which I

love to tear apart. It’s like really

good reading. Um I geek out over it.

Their district policy says something

else. So, we like to help parents

understand what the policies, the laws,

and everything works to get the

services. So, we’re just a little extra

friend at the table. I love it. Very

knowledgeable friend at the table. No.

And and knowledge is power. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Um my my dear friend and and

her son is um you know, an adult now,

but still special needs. I just remember

the stories and you know what she didn’t

know to ask for and how much how much

help he did need. Uh and and and for her

she also was a teacher so she knew some

of it but she had to learn more of it

along the way. Um and always had to

fight always had to fight to get the the

necessary tools and resources that he

was entitled to because he needed them.

Right. And and that’s that speaks so

much. She was a teacher and I have a lot

of teachers that refer us because I love

teachers. I am I’m a teacher at heart.

That’s my that’s my passion. I will

never say a teacher is not doing the

best because the the data is in the

documents. So I can say where they’re

doing okay, but for the most part I love

a teacher. I’m never going to take one

out to say you’re not doing things with

fidelity. It comes down to policy,

politics, and pricing. That bottom line,

that budget and my special ed kiddos and

special ed teachers and special ed

programs don’t have the funding. Yeah.

And unfortunately, what’s happening in

the

government, you know, it’ll be

interesting to see how it plays out at

this micro level for me. Um, because I

am a female entrepreneur. I am running a

business in a very uncertain time where

it’s a volatile

emotional person and I am they are

entrusting me with their biggest

investment of their child to get the

best and so it is

emotionally a a d it’s an emotionally

driven process for many parents. So, we

really make sure to honor them, meet

them where they are, and be empathetic,

but also keep the focus of here’s where

we need to go, here’s our end result,

and we’ll get you there.

Now, for a family, a parent, you know,

or the kid, what are the first steps in

that process? Is it a diagnosis at the

doctor level, you know, the medical

doctor level? Is it a diagnosis like

they they didn’t test a certain way

within the school that starts that

process? Tell me a little bit more about

that. It’s actually all of the above. So

for our younger kiddos, our our

preeies, they’ll already be in the

system because our pediatricians are

very responsive, give the great next

steps, and like we know um our

girlfriend, and

I’m totally I’m blanking on her name,

but our girlfriend who does the NICU,

today’s a great day. Today is a great

day. So those families are NICU

families. They’re getting the

information right out the gate. However,

for my clients, my partner handles early

intervention elementary. I’m a middle

school, high school expert. So for my

families coming to me, parents are

seeing changes in their student

typically. So what that might mean is,

you know, decline in grades. So now is

there an emotional component happening?

Are they withdrawing from peers? Are we

seeing a more social emotional

component? And we are seeing that

postcoid and a lot of my families are

reaching out about that especially in

our female populations. Um but teachers

so changes in grades teachers reaching

out more for negative not the positive

and just changes at home. So from a

parent perspective if any of that’s

happening then you reach out to school

to the school counselor and you say I’m

seeing all of this. let’s have a meeting

and from there we might say let’s have

an evaluation

for a student whose grades are

consistently always a struggle they

should be identified by teachers for

testing and it really cut falls to the

school however the schools are very busy

the schools are under staffed so I have

a a dear friend of mine her son is

struggling in math and reading and this

has ongoing for three years in a

underfunded public school district and

he was identified for a speech

impairment. However, all of the numbers

in the data show that he has a math

deficit and a reading deficit. But my

girlfriend’s not me in the special edge

geek world. She just said, “Hey, what’s

happening with speech?” And I said, “No,

what’s happening with math and reading?

Let’s talk about that.” So, let’s talk

about that and this. And so I came with

them and I said, “Here’s everything else

we need to do along the way.” And she

was like, I just thought it was one

thing, but her trigger, and a lot of

parents don’t know this, is behavior. So

for our young boys, third graders,

fourth grade, fifth grade boys, when you

start seeing an uptick in behavior or

school avoidance behavior around math or

reading, but never really both, one or

the other, that’s their avoidance class.

That’s when you as a parent can also be

saying, “Hey, we need some help. What’s

happening?” But be a squeaky wheel. So

many parents worry about not speaking up

or they don’t want to be that parent.

Totally be the parent. Just do it

nicely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because you

can deliver the same message long way.

Yeah. You can deliver the same message

five different ways and they can be

received five different ways. And and it

never hurts to be kind. Never. Start out

kill them with kindness. Sometimes it

takes a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pull pull

the grumpy person when you absolutely

have to, but try not to.

I was telling a dad today in a meeting.

We’re all virtual still for some of

these. And his facial expressions were

priceless. And I literally am texting

him like, “Stop with your face. Like

just it’s not sending the right message.

Like turn the video off.” And he was

like, “I know. I’m trying.”

I would have a hard time too because I

had I’m Irish, right? Well, yeah. I’m

not telling you anything you don’t know.

But like my friends told me, don’t like

Yeah. Like you can never pretend that

you like somebody and and be around them

because your face tells it all when

they’re really getting on your nerves.

There is no poker face with us.

Not

really. Oh, so funny. So funny. Well,

um, so if people want to learn more

about you and what you’re doing and and

and your business and your practice, how

how where do they go? How do they find

more about you? Sure. So, you can find

us at the

reachgroup.net and we support everyone

virtually or in the state of

Pennsylvania, South Jersey, Delaware, we

can come to you. Um, which is really

great. But we we we’re supporting

clients all over the state of

Pennsylvania in and in this whole area

now. Um so it’s the reachgroup.net and

you can find us on Facebook at the

reachgroup and you can find me Dr.

Kristen Meyer on Facebook as well and

I’m happy to help. We offer free

45minute consultations. We can give you

a lot of advice in that time and we’re

very bad at sales because we’ll tell you

if you need us or not. We are not

putting money in our pocket. Sometimes

I’m like, “Oh, you just need to send an

email. Don’t worry about it.” Um, which

I’m working on for my financial

management strategies, but we offer free

consultations. And we do have a

foundation, which we’re very proud of,

the Reach Foundation, and that offers

scholarships to families that qualify

for discounted services because

everybody deserves expert advice. Oh,

that’s so sweet. I didn’t know you had

that. That’s awesome. That’s very

awesome. That’s our That’s our big our

We’re really proud of that. We have a

lot of scholarship families and that’s

really what we’re trying to focus on uh

are more at risk families. Yeah. Yeah.

And then and it comes back to you right

when you do the right thing like you

were saying you know I I tell people

just send an email that comes back to

you in different ways. So keep doing it.

It’s you know you’re doing what’s in

your heart and it shows. It’s my why. It

really is. It makes Yeah. Every day.

Absolutely. Um so what uh tell me a

little bit about a challenge that you

have faced as a professional woman.

You know it’s interesting before we when

we were talking earlier you know I did

share the the one thing about mental

health um but that being it’s a very big

topic but it was in in my world in

education like in finance it’s very

male-dominated in leadership. Okay. And

so a lot of there’s not as many female

principles and administrators as you

would one would think. And I actually

I’m shocked at that because teaching is

a very female dominated industry. It

shocks me that leadership is very

male-dominated. Where are they getting

them? Because we are the moms. Yeah. And

so my biggest challenge uh I when I left

teaching I went I became an

administrator. I became an administrator

at the first school I ever taught at it.

I love the mission, the value,

everything. The Vanguard School is a

beautiful school for our kiddos and it I

loved it. So to go back as an

administrator was such an honor and a

blessing. Uh, but I had a two-year-old

and having a two-year-old, I went from a

classroom teacher to a building

principal. So, there was no like, hey,

here’s an assistant mentorship

situation. It’s like fish to frying pan.

That was fall of 2019. Uh, so I have a

young baby at home. I’m I’m an

administrator for the first time and

there is just not enough grace or time

in a day for a female to have that

amount

of everything and then you get to go

home and still be a mom and hopefully

not be exhausted. And I think for me um

I’m a very

competitive person and I didn’t realize

that I am a perfectionist to a fault and

that was my biggest challenge. I could

not find a balance and I sacrificed so

much and I gained so much weight from

the stress and then COVID happened. Um,

so the biggest challenge for me is

having a leadership role as a female and

raised children and I have seen that

with other administrators in my field. I

I became an administrator as a colleague

of mine became an administrator in

another building and she had two young

boys at home and you make a lot a lot of

sacrifices that men don’t and that’s why

you will see more men as principles as

vice principles. Not because women can’t

don’t or won’t. It’s teachers have a a a

more balanced life as a mom and as a a

as a teacher but as an administrator.

That was my biggest. It was really

having to make a challenging sacrifice.

And you know, last night my girlfriend

who is an executive at Firestone text me

at 8:00 to say, “Hey, I just got home.”

And she has two little ones. So, I think

um being a mom is something you really

have to choose. And I was a older mom. I

was so career focused. And I think we

teach that to our girls right now. Be

career-minded. And then you kind of lose

who you are following a career. But

that’s who you are. But then when you

become a mom trying to who are who are

you really then? You know, I think that

that’s been my biggest challenge. My

biggest challenge. Yeah. Well, I mean

it’s it’s real. It is real. And and we

can take that and drop into that into

many many industries. And it’s the

challenges that that women uh

professional women face. I I yeah, I

didn’t think of that. There’s just not

even enough like credit. You know,

everybody says we should thank women,

but like you should. We’re here.

Everybody else is here because of us. We

get to cook you and produce you. You

know, give us a little bit of a break

here. I love it. Oh my gosh, that’s so

funny. Oh my gosh. Well, you’re doing

great work. I mean obviously it is an

area that is very much needed but we

need more advocates for these kiddos and

and guide guidance for the parents going

through it. Um you know cuz they’re

struggling and they’re they’re uh

suffering too like you mentioned they

have to mourn what they thought this

child was going to be. And then not only

that, now they’re thrust into this new

lifestyle of having to, you know, think

differently about everything for that

particular child. Exactly. Exactly. And

then you learn a whole new job. Yeah.

You know, I I’ve my career is to know

this. I love knowing this the law, the

science behind it all, but it is a

full-time job. And

when you get the opportunity to sit down

and look through it all, it becomes so

overwhelming that it a lot of times it’s

easier to just say, “I’ll wait. I’ll put

it off. I I’ll read it another day. I’ll

I’ll figure it out.” But that’s the

document that drives our kids success.

All right. All right. Cool. Yeah. No,

absolutely. Absolutely. Um well, what

about what’s your vision of retirement?

I know it’s like in this, you know, in

the time machine way ahead, but let’s

think about it. I don’t really ever

envision retiring. Uh I I love what I do

so much. And because we have the

foundation, my big goal is to get our

the reach group to a point where we have

a team of advocates, a team of service

providers. Um and that means like

occupational therapists and and uh

speech and language pathologists on our

team. Uh so I really want to grow out

that part of our business so that way

when I retire I am only focusing on

fundraising for our foundation and

helping those families at risk. I

appreciate

um what we do and I know we all have to

make money. I unfortunately have a

serviced driven heart, not a money

driven one. So I I I just want to get

our foundation and just be in a place

where

I’m helping as many at risk families and

and just doing that till the you know

until I can no longer do it because it’s

given this opportunity of being a

business owner and doing what I love has

allowed me to create my schedule. Um, so

now I am available for my family first

and foremost as I’d always wanted to be

when I was growing up a mom. Um, so now

here I am. I can balance it. So I don’t

ever think I’m fully going to retire. I

would like to have a shore house, maybe

do some more world traveling, make sure

my daughter can go to school without

stress. Um, I really have a fulfilled

life right now. So, if I could just keep

on keeping on, I think that’s what all I

will ever need in my life because God’s

truly blessed me. So, I’m okay. So, this

is fine. I love your passion. Your

passion is like almost catchy. Um, and I

love the fact that you are so engaged in

what you do. I I think that’s our that

maybe that’s our action item for for all

of us to kind of like delve inside

ourselves and take some time for some

self-care and think about where where

are we passionate that where do we have

your kind of passion for what we do in

our lives and you know is it our career

is it is it like some volunteer work

that we do and I think if we can all

find that passion in our lives it makes

it it it makes it a a lot better, you

know, for the rainy days that we have.

Having that passion for something that

we love to do and and doing it, whether

or not it’s full-time, part-time, or

just on the side, I think that that can

get us through some tough times.

Absolutely. I’m blessed that I can do it

full-time. I truly am. But I did it

part-time as a teacher here and there,

so I was able to foster that. And I

think hitting on what you said, you

know, really finding something that just

gives you a happy moment is just all you

need. One little happy moment a day and

to know that you have that passion and

you get to touch on it here and there,

whether it be knitting or reading a book

that fulfills you and puts you in flow.

I think that’s what’s so important that

we have for women at least 15 minutes of

flow, a quiet moment. So, um, I geek out

on research. That’s my flow, too. So,

you know, I don’t want anybody else to

feel like they have to nerd out to be

happy. But, no, no, we all have things

like I get it because I nerd out on my

on my financial stuff and, you know, I’m

not nerding out on what you’re you’re

doing. And your stuff gives me such a I

keep I pick up your book and I’m like, I

could do this,

Regina. And then I put it back down. It

is so scary for me. It is so

unbelievably overwhelming. I get it. I

get very slowly. That’s how I feel about

decorating. Like I can’t I just can’t.

Somebody needs please come and do it for

me because I just can’t do it.

But we all have our strengths and that’s

why that’s why we are like a community.

And you know I know I see you out at a

lot of community events and we’ve known

each other for a while now. So, I’m

thrilled that we finally got together

for this. So, I am so grateful that you

were able to join me today and I look

forward to watching you blossom and grow

more and and build your foundation so

you can do more and more. Thank you so

much and thank you for your time. I

appreciate you inviting me on. Oh,

anytime. Anytime. And I want to thank

everyone else for listening today.

Again, I’m Regina McCann Hes, president

of Forge Wealth Management. My website

is forgewealth.com and you can follow me

on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram at

forgewealth and LinkedIn it’s regina

mccanhas. You’ll make it a great day.

Thank you for joining me for this

episode of the women and wealth podcast.

You can watch the founders video I

created for you to learn more about me

and how I can guide you towards your

financial independence at

www.forgewealth.com.

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