Education Consultant
Hi! I'm Katie.
I became an education consultant because I know what it looks like when a child isn't getting what they need, and I know what it takes to change that. I've been on both sides of the IEP table, as a teacher, and now as the person in the room making sure your child is actually seen.
My Story
I've been working in education for over 20 years. My entry into public school special education came through an unexpected door: my school was destaffed, and I was placed in an Enhanced Autism Classroom alongside one of the most skilled teachers I've ever met, a teacher who was also a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. For two years I trained beside her every single day. I fell in love with special education. When it's done right, it truly honors the individual student.
Over the years that followed, I taught students across a wide range of disabilities, from nonverbal students with complex communication needs to students with dyslexia, ADHD, and everything in between. I spent years in Fairfax County Public Schools. I wrote hundreds of IEPs. I got things wrong and learned from them. I trained other teachers. I led programs.
I left the classroom recently. Recently enough that I still know exactly what's happening inside those buildings. And I brought everything I learned there into this work.
How I Work
I'm collaborative by nature. My job is to build bridges where I can, and hold firm where I must. Every step I take is strategic. Every email I draft, every meeting I attend, every question I ask has a purpose.
I feel the urgency of this work deeply. The desire to go in hard, to hold every person in that room accountable, to fight for what's right without apology. That feeling is valid. And there are absolutely times when that's exactly what we do. What I've also learned, across years of sitting at those tables, is that the approach that looks quieter from the outside is often the one that actually moves things forward, faster, with less cost to the family, and without burning the relationships your child depends on every single day at school.
Advocacy doesn't always look the way you expect it to. Sometimes it looks like a carefully worded email. Sometimes it looks like building genuine rapport with a teacher so we can actually work toward something real, rather than perform a meeting and leave with nothing changed. Sometimes it looks like knowing exactly when to push and exactly when to hold. I'm always reading the room, always adjusting, always thinking ahead.
What's always present is the child. Not my ego. Not a power struggle. The child.
What I bring to this work is the full picture. The law and how to use it strategically. The data and how to read it critically. The relationships and how to build them without losing ground. The classroom reality and what's actually possible for a child on any given day. And the child themselves, always at the center of every decision. Knowing which of those needs to lead in any given moment, that's the work. And it's what I show up to do every single time.
My Background
While I no longer teach, I hold a current Virginia teaching license in special education. I have extensive experience with special education law, including IDEA and Virginia state code. I'm trained in and highly versed in the Science of Reading and Structured Word Inquiry. I've analyzed hundreds of educational evaluations and am highly experienced in interpreting assessment data to ensure evaluations are appropriate, comprehensive, and meaningful for a specific child's profile.
My specialty areas are dyslexia, autism, and ADHD. I also have deep experience with twice exceptional learners, students with moderate to severe disabilities, and students who are struggling but don't yet have a diagnosis.