consulting & collaborations

As a 25-year educator and parent of a child with a very rare health condition, my work with educators brings together my experience as an instructional leader, learning designer, SEL consultant, parent, storyteller, and technology leader. Grounded in the belief that our heart is a resource, I collaborate with educators, districts, county offices, nonprofits, and organizations to strengthen advocacy, access, dignity, and belonging through language, technology, and learning design.

The goal of this work is to help people make sense of complex student experiences and translate care into clearer language, stronger questions, and more responsive supports.

Language matters in IEPs, MTSS conversations, family communication, documentation, and student support planning.

I help families and educators examine whether language is accurate, strengths-based, grounded in observation, supportive of trust, and useful for action.

This may include IEP conversations, student support meetings, school communication, documentation review, and strengths-based language. I draw on the California Standards for the Teaching Profession and other professional guidance to help clarify concerns, notice patterns, ask stronger questions, and keep the focus on the student’s story, strengths, needs, and dignity.

AI-supported analysis can help review language, identify patterns, organize documentation, clarify concerns, and align communication with professional standards and strengths-based practice.

Grounded in SEL, PBIS, UDL, MTSS, and strengths-based practice, this work helps move conversations beyond isolated behavior or compliance and toward the conditions that support learning: belonging, identity, communication, access, relationships, and student voice.

I use AI and educational technology as reflective and organizational tools to support advocacy, not replace human judgment.

This work is grounded in years of field-facing presentations on special education, family collaboration, language, SEL, UDL, MTSS, and student voice, including:

• Your Story and Your Curiosity: Prioritizing Among Noise
  Launch Institute: Leap, Lead, Learn — Carmel Valley, CA, 2025 
• Leveraging Family Experiences and the California Standards for the Teaching Profession to Build Empathy and Equitable Collaboration Within MTSS
  CA MTSS Professional Learning Institute — Anaheim, CA, 2025 
• Transforming Mindsets About Accessing Learning
  SEL & Wellness Summit — Sacramento, CA, 2025 
• Choose Your Words Carefully, Thoughtfully, Purposefully, Intentionally
  Inclusion Collaborative State Conference — Santa Clara, 2022
• Choose Your Words Thoughtfully
  Inclusion Collaborative State Conference — Online, 2021
• Addressing Inequities in Engagement Through Listening to the “Pulse” of Students
  CAST Universal Design for Learning Symposium — Online, 2020 
• Choose Your Words Carefully: Language Can Alter the Special Education Experience and Provide Social-Emotional Support to Families
  CASEL Social and Emotional Learning Exchange — Chicago, IL, 2019 
• Choose Your Words Carefully: The Power of Positive Language on IEP Collaboration
  California Council for Exceptional Children — Bay Area, CA, 2018

Together, these sessions reflect my ongoing commitment to helping educators choose language carefully, listen more deeply to student and family experience, and design learning conditions where students are more fully seen, supported, and able to access learning.