Educational Consulting for Children and Teens with Trauma and ACES
Sandi Lerman, MA Ed.
Parent Educator and Transforming Trauma Coach
WingBuilder, LLC
Your child is struggling to get through the school day.
You’re getting negative reports from the school about your child’s behaviors, attention, homework completion, and test scores… perhaps there is talk of having your child repeat a grade.
Your child has trouble making and keeping friends, or there may have even been reports of bullying, fighting, or just negative behaviors with peers. Your child may have been either the victim or the instigator, and you never know exactly what’s going on at lunch or in the hallways. The teachers don’t seem to have a full picture, either.
Some days, your child won’t even get out of bed and refuses to leave the house because “doing school” is just too hard… and there have more and more absences because of school anxiety.
You go to meetings with the teachers and others on the educational team, but nobody seems to know what to do to help your child succeed.
Even worse, the team seems to blame YOU, the parent, for not working harder to get your child to comply with school requirements… somehow you are supposed to get them to follow all the rules, be compliant, and turn homework in on time.
But homework is an absolute nightmare because it takes so long, causing so many meltdowns and destroying your peace at home.
You would love to help your child do better at school, but nothing seems to work.
You’re so desperate that you’re even considering just pulling your child out of school and homeschooling, but you’re afraid that this would just make things worse with your relationship with your child.
Behaviors at home and at school might even feel like night and day.
Either your child is a perfect angel at school, holding all the anxiety in and exploding as soon as they walk in the door to home… or they are doing ok at home, but having frequent behavior issues at school. It seems like your child just has enough energy to “hold it all together” for a short window of time, and then all hell breaks loose.
You keep trying to communicate your child’s needs at meetings, on the phone, and by email, but you just get blank stares, unhelpful suggestions, and very little cooperation from the school team.
The teachers, principal, and others at meetings think that you are just being overprotective, but you know that they have ZERO understanding of trauma and how it impacts your child’s learning.
You give them articles, books, and other materials to read, but nobody ever does… and yet they seem to think they are the “experts” in how to handle your child.
If any of this sounds like YOU, then keep reading….
As a former K-12 classroom teacher for over 20 years, I taught a lot of struggling students.
I know what it takes to reach even the toughest kids – the ones who sat in the back row with “that look” in their eyes. Those tough, “unreachable” kids were some of my very favorite students to teach!
For me, it was so rewarding to see progress from the kids everyone else had already given up on. I knew that these kids were just “diamonds in the rough” – that they had talents and gifts yet to be discovered, and that all it would take was what Josh Shipp calls the power of “one caring adult” to find and nurture those gifts and see my students soar to success!
As an adoptive parent, I have also experienced first-hand the pain that students and their families endure when the school just doesn’t understand or know how to help their child.
I’ve been to the IEP meetings, I’ve had the phone calls, and I have fought with ignorant school administrators with tears in my eyes, trying to get them to listen to me and hear what my child needs.
I am SICK AND TIRED of hearing story after story of other parents like me who struggle to get the school to understand why they can’t just magically “make” their kids do what is expected. They are doing everything in their power to give these kids the best possible chance of success, but their kids are still failing.
And instead of providing help and support, the school system is a big part of the problem.
These parents are fighting hard battles at home to overcome trauma and build a relationship with their children. Then they have to fight even harder to get the services their child needs at school.
It shouldn’t be like this.
Enough is enough!
Our kids deserve more, and I’ve absolutely HAD it with all the excuses from schools who just do not understand what they need to do to provide a trauma-informed environment and learning program for our kids.
As I’ve told the parents in my support communities, I believe that we need a trauma-informed revolution in the way that children and families are treated by service providers in all settings, and that starts at school.
#TraumaInformedRevolution
I’m not willing to “settle” for crumbs any more. My child deserves a quality education, despite his challenges. Yours does, too.
As part of being the change that I wish to see in the world, I’ve created a new offering in my coaching and consulting services for families with kids and teens who have experienced developmental trauma and high ACE’s (adverse childhood experiences).
HEART-STRONG Educational Consulting Package
- Trauma-informed educational advocacy and support for kids who struggle in school.
- Proven solutions and strategies for teachers of kids and teens with trauma.
- Parent support and training for planning a successful IEP meeting or 504 plan.
- Professional consultation, records review, research, and report with recommendations.
- Protection from parent-blaming and shaming by educators who are not trauma-informed.
What are the benefits of Educational Consulting with Sandi?
- Receive proven strategies from an educator with over 20 years of classroom experience and parent education, including working with a variety of special needs students and an expert state-level educational assessment team.
- Present a written document (Student Success Plan) and evidence-based practices the school can use right away.
- Increase your confidence at meetings with the support of a trauma-informed educator, parent, and advocate who is on YOUR side.
- Create better collaboration with the school by providing them information and consultation.
- Stop spinning your wheels and going in circles with professionals who don’t know how to help your child and are relying on old, outdated teaching and discipline systems that just DO NOT WORK for kids with trauma.
- Be part of the trauma-informed revolution and change the system from the ground up!
Who is Sandi Lerman?
I have been working in the field of education for over 25 years, with 20 years as a classroom teacher and the past 5 years in parent education and coaching/consulting.
I am also a Community Educator for Families First, a non-profit organization in Indianapolis, and I teach a master’s level course for educators in Concordia University’s online curriculum and instruction program with an emphasis on trauma and resilience in educational settings.
I have received extensive training in supporting special needs students, have a master’s degree in teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and have served as a Family and Community Education Liaison as a contractor for the Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education/ Indiana State Department of Health.
I co-chaired a diversity and inclusion team for one of the largest school districts in Ohio, and I’ve had training and experience working for and alongside individuals with differences, disabilities, and diagnoses. I’m passionate about serving families and children and have participated in hundreds of IEP meetings over the years, both as a teacher and most recently as a parent.
Most importantly, I am the fierce mother bear of my son, who was adopted at age 10 and who also has significant special needs as a result of his developmental trauma. Because I am passionate about advocating for my son, I have a valuable in-the-trenches perspective and experience to share as I support you in advocating for your child.
How does HEART-STRONG Educational Consulting work?
HEART-STRONG Educational Consulting is a package designed specifically for parents of kids and teens with early childhood trauma and ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences).
The process begins at least 30 days (or more) before an IEP or other school meeting is scheduled.
HEART-STRONG Consulting Steps
Week One:
1. Initial consult: The parent contacts Sandi Lerman for a consultation to see if Educational Consulting will meet their needs.
2. Agreement/Payment: An agreement is made between Sandi and the parent to move forward with Educational Consulting. Sandi will forward the written agreement and records request to the family to be signed and returned with payment.
3. Document Review: The parent will then send educational documents to Sandi for review. This might include any school evaluations, IEP’s, report cards, letters/emails, other documents pertaining to the child’s case.
Week Two:
4. Discovery Consulting Session (up to 90 minutes): Sandi will meet with the parent (or parents) on the phone or Skype to go over the documents, take notes about the child’s history and current struggles, and understand the school situation and concerns.
Week Three:
5. Records review/research: Sandi will then take up to two weeks to review all the documents and will email the parents as needed to gather additional information. The parents may also email Sandi with additional records and information or questions, school concerns.
Week Four:
6. Student Success Plan and Cover Letter: Sandi will create an individualized Student Success Plan (SSP) with trauma-informed recommendations for the classroom, school, and all professionals and services providers working with the student. This will include evidence-based strategies and tools based on current research in best practices with kids who have experienced trauma and ACES.
7. SSP Consulting Session (60 minutes): After sending the Student Success Plan to the parent (s) for review, Sandi will then schedule a second phone or Skype session to go over the recommendations in the plan. The parent will have a chance to ask questions and suggest changes to the plan, according to any identified needs or concerns.
8. Finalized SSP document: Sandi will finalize the document and make any revisions as necessary after the SSP Consulting Session. All of this will take place within one week of the SSP Consulting Session.
Week Five:
9. Follow Up Consultation (30 minutes): On an as-needed basis, an additional 30-minute consultation is available if there were a lot of revisions necessary or additional questions to cover.
After Week Five (Scheduled within 6 months of initial consultation):
10. *OPTIONAL School Consultation: With the parent’s written permission, Sandi will call in by phone for a meeting for up to 90 minutes with a teacher, principal, guidance counselor, or IEP Team to go over the recommendations in the report and answer any questions that they may have.
*Note: Additional fee applies for the school consultation.
How much does it cost?
Steps 1-9 are all included in HEART-STRONG Educational Consulting Package for a one-time prepayment of $997 or two payments of $575 (one payment at Step 2 – before document review; second payment is due at step 7 – before the Student Success Plan is sent).
Emails during the coaching agreement timeframe are unlimited; however, Sandi can only respond to one question per email per day with a 48-hour turnaround time for responses via email.
Step 10, the School Consultation, is available for an additional $250 (flat fee for any meeting up to 90 minutes).
Additional school meetings are $250 per meeting (up to a maximum of 90 minutes).
How do I get started?
Just send an email to Support@WingBuilder.com with the subject line “Educational Consulting” and tell Sandi you would like to set up an initial consultation call. ***Be sure to send your email well in advance so that you can set up the initial consultation at least 30 days before any scheduled IEP or other school meeting!***