In the education world “IEP” stands for Individualized Education Plan. IEP also stands for the Inclusive Education Project. In the latter case, the IEP is a boutique law firm started by two women, Amanda Selogie and Vickie Brett, who decided to devote their lives to helping parents of children with disabilities and the children themselves to get the best possible education. While there are special education teachers and others who help facilitate the education of “children with special needs”, they can’t do it alone. The education system tends not to know much about special education in specific and disabilities in general. In the United States, one of the basic ways “special education” is monitored and controlled is through the initialization of what is called an Individualized Education Plan for each child with a disability. This plan is something that must be agreed upon by representatives of the education system, the parents of children with disabilities and, when possible, the children themselves. The process can often be somewhat acrimonious and daunting especially for the families. Vickie and Amanda work to represent their clients and help get the services and equipment their children require to get a full education. This episode is quite informative especially if you are a parent of a child with a disability. Even if this is not the case, you well may know of someone who can take advantage of what Vickie and Amanda offer. On top of everything else, this is clearly an inspiring episode about two women who are doing very important work. About the Guest: Amanda Selogie received a bachelor’s degree in Child and Adolescent Development, specializing in Education from California State University, Northridge and a Juris Doctorate from Whittier Law School where she served as a Fellow in the prestigious Center for Children's Rights Fellowship Program and served in the school's pro-bono Special Education Legal Clinic. Amanda immersed herself in the world of civil rights and educational advocacy through her work in education, empowerment and advocacy with the Inclusive Education project, supporting inclusion in early education through her appointment to the Orange County Child Care and Development Planning Council and their Inclusion Collaborative Committee, previous work serving as a supervising attorney for UCI Law School’s Education Rights Pro-bono project and coaching of AYSO’s VIP (Very Important Player) program coaching players living with disabilities and creating an inclusive soccer program. Vickie Brett was born and raised in Southern California and through the Inclusive Education Project she focuses on advocating and educating families about their legal rights. Vickie is committed to strengthening her clients who come to her disheartened and beaten down by the current education system. Because Vickie is bilingual, she represents and empowers many monolingual Spanish-speaking families. She is a dedicated pro bono attorney for the Superior Court of Los Angeles’s Juvenile and Dependency 317(e) Panel and in the past was a supervising attorney for the UCI Law School's Special Education Law Project. Ways to connect with Amanda & Vicki: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inclusiveeducationproject/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IEPcalifornia/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inclusive-education-project About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children’s Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association’s 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite ...
