Our HOPES for Special Ed Improvement
When I discovered Kady Huston’s Substack, I knew we just had to meet.
We are both determined to improve the effectiveness and joy in special education systems. So we decided we’d compare notes by asking each other:
What’s YOUR hope for students, for teachers, for families?
It was clear we both have high hopes, and we think alike, but it was fun to see the differences in how we described those hopes.
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Today, I have a guest on my podcast, and we're going to be talking about hope. But let me introduce my guest.
This is Kady Huston. Kady, tell people a little bit about you and your background.
Oh, my goodness. So I was a special education teacher for 18 years. I worked primarily with transition age students in high school, and that was my specialty - although I taught the gamut.
Sat in countless IEP meetings, and I really noticed like there's a gap between families and schools and it was this mentality of us versus them. And I thought this is, this needs to be fixed.
So now, when I left the classroom last May, I knew I was supposed to continue to be a teacher just in a different capacity. So now I'm an IEP coach and I'm trying to start this, this movement called the Collaborative Education Project. And it's just getting everyone to work together for the sake of the kiddo.
I want parents and teachers to feel like they're working together and that they're not working against each other. You know, we may be sitting across the table from each other, but we're not enemies. We're teammates.
Maybe it should be a round table and not different sides of the table.
100%, yes.
Yeah.
Well, you're singing my song. This has been a passion of mine, too. So there's something else we can talk about one day.
Yes.
Today we're going to be talking about what is our big dream.
So if we have a dream of what schools could be, what special ed could be, what partnerships with families could be, we have to be able to see that dream. We have to be able to describe it and talk about it.
And so we're going to be having a little conversation. We can't go too deep because this is just a short podcast, but let's start with the students.
What is our hope for both students with disabilities and students who are their typical peers?
If there is such a thing as a typical peer.
Right.
What would it look like in schools if they had… if we could wave our magic wand, what would we wish for?
So what's your hope, Kady?
You know, for my students with disabilities, I want them to be seen as a person. I don't want them to be seen as their label or their deficits or what they can't do.
While those are important because those are the skills we need to build, they're people first. And they have really good assets and qualities and strengths that we can build upon to build those skills that they are lacking. So I really want them to be seen as a whole person, not their label, not their deficits.
For all students, speak up, find your voice - especially for my IEP kiddos. As you near transition, which is that, in the state of Nebraska, where I am, it starts at the age of 14 in IEPs, but generally it's 16 across the board. But that's such an important part of time because you're trying to figure out your life path.
And is that going to change? Oh, 100%. I'm 45 and I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up, you know? But it's just to get the wheels thinking about what they want to do. And they have a voice. It should be what they want to do, not what others want them to do.
And I want schools to feel like a place where they belong, all students. I want them to feel safe. I want them to know that there's people there who care about them, who want to see them do well, and that this is a place where they can discover who they are and they can be 100% them.
There's no judgment. We all find our skills and our best assets and we build upon that. The school is where you're supposed to be doing all of that. And so it's important that they feel like they belong.
And then, you know, I had a student, he's in the Navy now, but he texts me and he - we stay in touch - but he is like, I would not be where I am if it wasn't for you. And it's all because I just took a few extra minutes to get down to his level and I met him where he was and we just, we clicked. And it's so funny, he has me saved in his phone as “school mom”.
And, you know, those are like the little moments that make it all worth it. And so don't, you know, don't ever give up on kids.
I love that so much. And I love… I didn't realize somehow I didn't quite register that you were a secondary. So you do transition in special ed. I was a transition coordinator.
That's right.
So, yay. We keep finding things that we have in common.
We do. I think it's a sign from the universe.
There you go. Yeah.
So what's my hope for students?
Yeah.
Having just come back from the HOPE Conference, I want to see every kid have a personal dream for their future that is ambitious and reinforced by the people in their life who believe in them.
So that story that you just told. But the research shows that kids with disabilities are not asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Nope.
Everybody else, they ask kids, but at the Kids at Hope conference, I discovered that it goes beyond asking for your job title.
They talk about, What life do you want? What's your dream for…? What will your home and family life be? What will it, what will it, um, Yes, what career will you have, but why that career?
Because what kind of impact do you want to have in your community? And how else will you serve your community? And where else will you belong outside your home and your work?
Right.
What will you do for hobbies and recreation? Like they ask four different definitions of your future. First graders talking about their dream for their future. That wasn't just a job title.
Yeah. Yeah.
So I want to see kids, including kids with disability labels, being asked that and having people who believe they can get there.
Yeah.
Because those expectations make a difference.
No. And it is so important beyond the job title. Like you said, it's like, what do you want your life to look like?
Yes.
How do you want to feel when you're in this part of your life?
And so… There's so many parts of that that are included in transition. And I really liked that, that you said, what do you want it to look like?
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, question two. What do we hope for teachers? What will the schools of the future, especially for teachers, because we have a lot of teachers burning out, which I really think is loss of agency, loss of feeling like my work matters.
Yeah.
Why am I doing this? Why am I going through this day after day? It's like, this isn't what I thought it was going to be.
What's your hope for teachers, Kady?
Oh, this is a big one. That they get the time, the support, and the room to do the work that they went in to do. Giving them their autonomy back.
I mean, so many of them are just handed curriculums and you have to teach it this way and you have to teach it by this period or in this time period and it's like, wait a second, you know, our teachers are the experts on the classroom and their classroom dynamics and their kids.
Like, let them have that and give them some autonomy back and let them think outside the box. Like, it's going to be okay.
And then I want teachers to take care of themselves. And I know everyone preaches about teachers taking care of themselves and they do PD days on that. But really give, like, as a teacher, it's so important.
Give yourself permission to set boundaries without guilt and then also give yourself grace. Know that like 3:45, my contract time is up. I'm going to go out the door. Like there's nothing on my desk or in my email that cannot wait until tomorrow morning. We are, it is not life and death.
Like that parent, that admin email, whatever is sitting there, that can wait until tomorrow morning. Go home, be with your families. I speak from experience because I did not set boundaries and, um, I missed out on a lot with my family.
So give yourself grace because know that, yeah, there's gonna be some days that you're there till four o'clock just because you have some things to finish up and it's not gonna be perfect every day. But yeah, give yourself permission to set work aside, be with your family, but also give yourself grace.
And then see families as partners, not as opponents. And I don't think teachers do this intentionally. I think we are so, it's so ingrained in us as like a, “We have to defend our jobs and everything we do”.
And so we've got one more set of things coming at us and the parents are, you know, it feels like they're breathing down our necks and it's not, they're not opponents, they're partners and they want what's best for their kiddo. You want what's best for their kiddo and you just have to find that common ground.
Um, so, and I kind of wrote about it on my Substack in a, in a note to dear teachers. So, um, yeah. So if you get bored, you can go check that one out.
That's a good, that's a good one. We're going to link to your Substack account.
Yeah. Yeah. What do you hope for teachers?
Well, you know, I talk about the dream of your life for kids and I think it's the same thing for teachers.
I interviewed every teacher candidate that came into my special graduate program when I was at a university: “Why do you want to be a teacher?”
And they all had a dream. “I'm going to be the teacher who ______”
Yeah.
And they all talked about that.
Then when I would see them later in their classroom, when they were doing an internship or if they graduated and I was out consulting in their school, they were like, they weren't living that dream.
They weren't. And so, maybe all those things that you mentioned, maybe we can change schools and give them the time and the space and give them the freedom from the scripted curriculum and these protocols and all that, but we can't wait for that.
No.
Teachers need - I would love to see that happen, but today or tomorrow, teachers can look for, “Where do I have agency?”
Yes.
“Where can I take a moment to have one conversation with one kid that makes a difference in that kid's life so that I'm getting the reward that brought me into this profession?”
“Where can I take - do one little tweak, one little change so that… and stop to celebrate?”
Yes.
So often these great things happen. We get a little note. We get a text from a former student.
We get a - We go, “Oh, that's nice.” What's the next problem?
No, pause and take it in because that's what nourishes our teacher heart.
100%. That reminds me of when I was teaching at a high school, I had a group of students. Every morning they came in and I think I wrote about this in my last post, but every morning they came in and had breakfast.
And at first I was like, “Oh, I just want my quiet morning so I can get ready for the day.”
But I was like, no. This is really cool. These are my breakfast club kids. And every morning they came in and we just talked life.
We just talked what they did the night before, how work was, what was going on with their siblings or their families.
And those are the moments that you're like, oh, this is why I do this.
Yeah, it's special. So yes, pause, take a moment, enjoy those little small wins and yeah.
So just to follow up on that, Kids at Hope says the kids who change the trajectory of their life, they're living in poverty, they're involved with juvenile justice, they have all of these at-risk factors. The ones that change and become successful and live a hopeful life have at least one adult in their life.
And it's good, and they call them your ACES.
You should have an Ace of Hearts at home who takes care of your well-being, food, clothing, shelter, and all that. And if you don't have one at home, who is taking care of your physical well-being? That's the Ace of Hearts.
Ace of Clubs is somebody, another adult who sees you and helps, knows you beyond your physical presence in the classroom. So what you're talking about, those connections,
And then the Ace of Diamonds is somebody who gives kids an opportunity to do something that they've not, like, you know, “You're really good at this, you should do this.” And you introduce them or you give them some opportunity and then you celebrate with them.
And then the Ace of - what's left? - Spades is somebody who sets high expectations because the spade has that little point at the top. So it's the person who says, “I see more in you than you see in you. You should continue this. You are really good at this. Have you ever considered that?”
Yes.
So if you have four ACEs in your life, it will totally change your trajectory, but you only need one to send it in a different direction.
When I was at that Kids at Hope school, the kids on display had their ACEs a little like art thing that they had done.
Who is my Ace of Hearts? Who is my Ace of Diamonds?
Teachers could look and see kids they taught before are calling them their Ace of...
It was like, oh my gosh, it's part of their culture there.
And that's exactly what it is. It's a culture. That is so cool. Oh my gosh. I love that.
Yeah, I'm changed because of having been there.
Okay, let's get to the last one. What do we hope for families?
Now, I think we're talking about the families of kids with disabilities,
Yes,
Although what we say goes for all families -
Yes.
But what is it we're hoping, because we know, I mean, I've sat at the parent's side of the table, and it's not a comfortable place. It's a… It feels like all the fingers are pointing at you and you are the reason your child had that problem.
Right. And it's, yes, it's very intimidating, it's very intimidating to walk into these IEP meetings and all of a sudden, you know, especially in high school, you have five or six teachers staring straight at you and, you know, it's like, oh my gosh.
But, you know, I really want families and parents and guardians, I want you to walk in and I want you to feel prepared. And I want you to feel confident because my whole philosophy is parents are truly the experts in their child.
And teachers are the expert in their curriculum and their classroom dynamics and in their field of expertise. But if you really want to get to the heart of a kiddo, like you have to understand what's deep down below the surface. I mean, there's things going on at home and in and in their life that we don't know about, we just get the surface.
And so really work with the families and make the - you know, I want families, I just, I want you to be prepared. And I want you to walk in knowing that we're all on the same page and we all want what's best for your kiddo.
And I know that their defenses are up because they've walked into meetings before and It's been attack, attack, attack. And I always try to run my meetings, you know - I sit next to the parents. I don't sit across from the parents.
And I really try to make it as much as a conversation as I can while covering all the legal stuff that makes it sound like it's a business transaction.
And then, like I said, their knowledge of their child is truly invaluable. So, parents, like, give us the good, the bad, the ugly. Give us the really ugly. Like, we want it all. And if that means that you have to break down and cry and you show your emotions and you lay it all out there on the table, that's okay.
Like, speaking from my standpoint, when parents were like that, it broke my heart. And sometimes I'd cry right along with them because I'm so empathetic. But, like, that's the stuff that we can work with and we can help and we can start to fill in those gaps.
Yeah.
Don't feel alone in the process. Bring somebody with you. Bring a spouse. Bring a friend. Bring a coach. Bring somebody you can trust because having another ear there that's neutral is so helpful because there's a lot of information coming at you. And it's very overwhelming when you're already on defense and your emotions are running high.So bring someone with you that can take notes and listen and be another neutral ear.
It's something I always found helpful. If my parents brought a one-page snapshot of their child to the IEP meeting and handed copies to people, that was always something that I found helpful.
Now, sometimes IEP meetings in different districts are run very differently, but in a lot of my practices, that's what I was like, hey, bring me a snapshot of your child and If you needed a template, like I had a template for them, but that is really helpful for the school team.
So yeah, just give us all of it. Don't hold anything back.
Yeah, and we're not here to fix your kid. We don't want to fix your kid. They're not broken. Nothing's wrong with them.
We want to help them. We want to help them find their confidence, their voice. And in order to do that, we need it all from you.
I love what you're saying. It's really about a team and each person on the team has something valuable to contribute.
And the parents are the only ones that have that whole history of what's worked, what's not worked. Let's not go down that route again because we found out that didn't work. And here's what we've tried. And yeah, so if you're feeling defensive as a parent, then it's easy to go on the attack.
Oh, 100%.
And then it's still oppositional. I mean, I can remember teachers who called me about my son and said, you know, “Yes, he's on the autism spectrum, but he's not getting along with the other kids. Will you talk to him tonight?”
Like, what did they think I was going to do tonight? Oh, yes, I'll talk to him. And by tomorrow, he will get along with all the - like, seriously?
Oh, that's not how that works.
Like, there's not one phone call. I had many phone calls, like teachers, “I'll reach out to this parent.” Well, that's not reaching out to the parent. That's not it.
No.
So what's my dream?
Yes. What is your dream?
My dream is that parents are not coming into this alone, that they have somebody walking beside them, kind of like their ACE.Yep. Yep.
A person walking with them. It could be somebody in this school who they can talk to. It probably was you for many parents, Kady.
I tried. I tried to be that person.
Somebody who will celebrate and build their child's strengths. We're not just talking about the deficits here. Look at all the strengths your child has to offer.
So they are the primary ACE in their child's life. They need to thrive. They need to be reinforced. They need to see how valuable their role is. They're not the person that we point at and say, “It's all your fault.”
Right.
Like this, who knows whose fault it is?
It's not about fault. It's about here's what we have now. Where are we going in the future?
Like dissecting the past, we could spend hours dissecting them, figuring out, you know, I have parents go, you know, “What do you think caused this? Is it something I did during pregnancy?”
Oh, let's not waste our time going there because we want to look at the possibilities for the future.
The past is the past. Like you can't, it's done, it's over with, let it go. Like focus on the here and now.
I always say like our family motto is be where your feet are. Like, okay, so we're here now. Let's problem solve. Let's, you know, get a solution. Let's start working towards the future.
The past is done. Like you can't do anything about it.
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
And actually, there's not a lot you can do in this moment because it's the next moment.
It is.
So it's let's let's plan the future. Let's go back to that: What's the dream we’re building together?
And, you know, the the IEP meetings where the students were taking the lead as they are getting into their transition years and they start - They bring their own snapshot of “here's how I am” and they have a little slideshow.
I love that stuff.
Here's my dream. This is what I want. This is the big goal I want to work on for the next year.
Yup.
That changes the whole climate of the IEP meeting when that happens. So there's some really good materials out there. Just Google “Student-led IEPs”, but I do stuff I'm sure you do too.
Yeah. Yeah, I always had my students lead at the high school age, lead their own IEP meetings.
And we even sat down and wrote the IEP together because I always told them, this is your plan. This isn't my plan. This isn't your gen ed teacher's plan. This isn't your parents' plan.
This is your plan.
This is what works for you. And they want to hear from you. They don't want to hear from me.
So we literally would sit down and write the IEP together and they'd talk to them.
Who is the I in the IEP?
Exactly. Exactly. Yes. I love that. I'm going to steal that one. That's great.
I think I stole it from somebody else. So go ahead.
So Kady, what are you most excited about in your work right now? And how can people get in touch with you?Okay, so I'm really excited about this collaborative education project that I'm trying to get up and going and moving it from beyond IEPs to just general education more broadly.
And then I'm almost done. I've got some toolkits and everything ready to go that I am going to post on my website, which is katiehouston.com. So look for those in the coming week or two.
And I'm also at Substack at Kady Huston and Instagram is IEP Coach Kady Huston.
And we'll put all those in the...
And, you know, I just, I'm trying to develop tools that both sides can use so everyone works together for the sake of the kiddo.
Oh, that's so important.
What about you? What are you most excited about?
Well… Now that I'm back from the Kids at Hope Masters Conference, I am taking my Joyful Inclusion Hope Framework and expanding it to include how to build the whole ACEs concept into the work and the four destinations of your future and how to increase teacher agency and teacher satisfaction.
So my first mini-course is now live that people can subscribe to that or download it.
The second one is really going to be good. It's on collaborative collective efficacy, and that will be out by the end of the year. And then in the spring, I'm going to be finishing the one on how to build student agency.
And I'm like, I'm having so much fun with all of this stuff.
So. So I'll put some links into the show notes for all of that, too.
Yay. Thank you.
Katie, this is just the first of many. I can see that we're going to have to have several more conversations because...
I'm down. Let's do it.
Okay. Thank you for coming on today.
Thank you. And have a great rest of your week.
Oh, I will.
All right. Awesome. Thanks, Amy.
Bye.
How hopeful are YOU? Do you still think your teaching makes a difference?
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You can find Kady at www.kadyhuston.com
Substack: Kady Huston
Instagram: @iepcoachkadyhuston, kadyhuston.com
