Dr Gwen Empowered

05/24/2022

What is the difference between an Student Study Team (SST), 504 plan, and Individualized Education Program (IEP)?

These are terms that are used in education, most often in federally funded or public settings.

The SST is a group that is formed between the school and parents of a student when academic, behavioral, or social-emotional progress is in question. Results of this meeting can include developing strategies and organizing resources to use with a student to address these concerns, a referral for a student to receive a special educational evaluation, and/or the formation of a 504 plan.

The 504 plan is a formal plan, or the blueprint for how a disabled student will be supported and how barriers to their learning will be removed. Through this plan, a school may provide changes in a student's learning environment and provide accommodations. It's important to remember that accommodations change how a child recieves education but not what they learn.

An IEP, the most complex and individualized of the supports listed, is a detailed map that identifies the instruction, supports, and services that disabled students require to learn and make progress in school. IEPs are covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and only support students who attend federally funded schools (public). Students who are supported under an IEP are not only eligible for accommodations (how a student recieves education), but also modifications (changing the content or level of curriculum).

Additional services and supports are also available and can include speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, orientation & mobility services, behavior services, visually impaired services, and the provision of a 1:1 aide.

Learn more about the resources that are available on my YouTube channel. Link is in bio.

05/20/2022

Happy Friday!

Check out my YouTube channel where I post weekly videos and hold space for the neurodiverse and disabled community.⁣

In this episode, I interview Portia James, Founder of Behavior Genius.

She helps us understand what social skills groups are and talk about the necessity of creating social spaces where neurodivergent individuals are accepted and comfortable. We also chat about how she’s disrupting the behavior scene with thoughtfulness, creativity, relationship, and by being unconventional.

We end our interview with the need to allow our clients to be who they are and not who they should or could be, that our clients don’t need to be fixed, but seen and heard. If you’re wondering what a social skills group is and what a good one looks like, check out our interview on YouTube. Link below 👇🏼

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2HJBmXKZnU&t=30s

05/17/2022

Today, I invite you to visit my YouTube channel and watch a wonderful interview with Dr. Dana Johnson.
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In this episode, I have an important conversation with Dr. Dana Johnson, Founder of Interplay Therapy Center and Invictus Academy Tampa Bay, a non-profit school dedicated to appropriately educating students with motor challenges.

Dana is trained in childhood and adolescent mental health and is a licensed Occupational Therapist in Florida. She helps us understand what apraxia (also known as dyspraxia) is and how taxing purposeful motor skills are for anyone who has sensory-motor challenges.

Dana strongly encourages us to make a paradigm shift and shares how life-changing presuming competence is for all parties involved.

Watch the full video the link in bio or copy paste the link into your browser.⁣

https://youtu.be/czFxTcrcXb4

05/16/2022

Happy Monday and thank you for following along with my page.

Today I am sharing five Instagram Influencers who keep me curious, humble, and grounded as a neurotypical professional.







Be sure to check out their pages, enjoy their resources and give them a follow!

05/13/2022

In this episode, I welcome back Dana Waters.

Dana has come on the show as a professor and psychologist and today, she’s here to talk about her new book, Bite-Sized Autism. She gives us a behind-the-scenes peek where we learn why she wrote the book and what she hopes for it.

Whether it’s in book form or human form, Dana inevitably brings insight. Whether you are questioning your own autism diagnosis, seeking to understand yourself or someone else better, or just neurocurious, watch the interview to find out if Bite-Sized Autism is for you.

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel to be the first to watch these wonderful interviews!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvLRuc2mhHc

05/13/2022

"Nothing About Us Without Us"

This phrase is used to communicate the idea that no policy should be decided by any representative or group without the meaningful participation of members of the group that are affected by the policy.

While this slogan has typically been applied to policies, I encourage every family, school team, and home-based service team to keep this as a central principle in daily life by practicing the presumption of competence and collaborative problem solving.

If a person is impacted by a decision or a rule, include them. They need a seat at the table. When included, individuals learn how to use their voices, solve their problems, and be agents in their own lives.

05/11/2022

One of the biggest problems I help solve is in creating meaningful, actionable, and practical plans to prepare neurodivergent and disabled adolescents for fulfilled adulthoods.
If the adolescent is in high school and supported in an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), this plan is called an Individualized Transition Plan (ITP).

I have found that doing this with integrity includes amplifying and listening to the teen, deeply understanding who they are (not who we want them to be), identifying the conditions for their thriving, and what barriers exist so that appropriate supports are identified and implemented.
Additionally, it includes raising awareness of the emotional skills of the people in the support system (parents, teachers, professionals) because promoting agency and autonomy is an interactive process that is heavily influenced by the support system's ability to manage their own discomfort and distress, thus not allowing their emotional profile to suppress or squash the development of the adolescent.

As I've gotten more and more requests for help, I've felt the squashing reality that there isn't enough support to meet the need. This really broke my heart. So, I humbly attempted to solve this problem by creating The Bright Life System (BLS), a simple yet comprehensive system that provides a framework and the knowledge, to navigate ITPs with more specificity and thus, effectiveness. In California, many families have used the BLS to help with Person-Centered Planning (P*P) and Individual Program Planning (IPP). The main goal of the BLS is to direct support systems with more intention while keeping it true to what the adolescent or young adult wants, desires, and envisions for their life.

If you need some help with transition planning or shaping up the goals and services in an adult program, check out The Bright Life System to see if it can help.

05/11/2022

Check out my YouTube channel where I post weekly videos and hold space for the neurodiverse and disabled community.

In this episode, I interview Nancy Niebrugge, Executive Director of The Campbell Center in Glendale, CA. Nancy helps us get to know The Campbell Center and how they help disabled adults live, work, and play their way.

Our interview also clarifies the Community Integration and Employment Support services that are funded through the California Regional Center.

In this episode, I interview Nancy Niebrugge, Executive Director of The Campbell Center in Glendale, CA. Nancy helps us get to know The Campbell Center and h...

05/06/2022

This post is overdue but to be honest, I've been a little paralyzed.

The neurodiverse community lost a GOAT (Greatest of All Time) a couple weeks ago. David Sharif, Global Autism Advocate and Motivational Speaker, super fan of Kobe Bryant and The Incredibles, and a voracious traveler, died from an epileptic seizure.

David was passionate about advocacy and dedicated to inspiring and uplifting the neurodiverse community. He was kind, patient, driven, engaged, friendly, and gracious. He was generous with his time and talent, coming onto my podcast four times to share how different therapies helped him, how autistic adults can prepare for and find fulfilling jobs, and how to develop bullying perseverance. He provided a much-needed perspective for me as a neurotypical professional who tries her best to support the neurodiverse community. I will be forever grateful to David.

He has left an indelible mark on my heart and I will miss him. I'm so bummed that our plans to meet in person will not happen. David, I promise to do my best to uplift the neurodiverse community as you've influenced me to do. RIP David.

**In honor of David, please check out The Global Autism Project, an organization that he believed in and cared deeply about.
https://www.globalautismproject.org/

05/04/2022

I've always loved Stevie Wonder for his catchy and uplifting music and after finding this quote, I fell in love with him even more.

There's a huge difference between seeing and vision. Vision is not only the mental or brain processing aspects of sight, but vision carries the actions of thinking about our futures with imagination and wisdom.

So often, my clients are judged to be incompetent because of how they look, but when given respect and when presuming their competence, they are some of the most profound thinkers I've ever met.

I'm humbled by them and am grateful that I get to be a part of their journey.

05/03/2022

In this episode, I welcome back Dr. Laura Flores Shaw, Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University, to clarify what Executive Functioning truly is.

By the end of this interview, my hope is that you have a more complete and wholistic understanding of executive functioning and that this leads to fewer misinterpretations of intentions and more empathy for people’s neurology and lived experiences.

Watch the full video the link in bio or copy paste the link into your browser.⁣
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzs4TLG9QNk&t=77s

05/02/2022

Hi! I'm Dr. Gwen. I am so excited to introduce myself on this platform.

I'm a clinical psychologist, an ally, and supporter of disabled and neurodivergent individuals.

I'm obsessed with collecting, curating, and sharing tools to empower this awesome community.

If you're interested in this as well, you can also find me on YouTube where I regularly post videos and share helpful resources.

I'm so excited to meet you!