Conference Welcome

Hello and welcome to our 6th Annual Virtual Special Education and Advocacy Conference.

I'm Ashley Barlow.

I'm so happy you are here.

This is going to be a, wonderful two days.

Whether you engage for just one session or you take in everything, we cannot wait to share with you this amazing content that my speakers have put together for you.

So welcome, welcome and thank you for coming.

I want to take some time to share with you how to access all of, the sessions.

but before that, hi, if you haven't ever met me, my name is Ashley Barlow.

I'm a special education attorney in Kentucky.

I work as an advocate in many other states, working one on one with clients.

and I started this business, the collaborative IEP back in 2020 and is a way to make special education advocacy more accessible and more collaborative.

Mainly for parents, but for anybody that sits at the IEP table, we do that in order to inspire and to educate and to make accessible more information.

And the way that we do that is, through our podcast, the Collaborative IEP Podcast through a membership, and through lots and lots of digital downloads, including two courses, one that's kind of the nuts and bolts of special education law and one that helps, to empower advocates to get started in their business journey and their learning journey as special education advocates.

I welcome you to check out everything that we've got on our website, the Collaborative iep, if you are interested in learning more about what we do or working with me or one on one.

So let's talk about the conference.

First of all, I owe so much thanks to my speakers.

This is, quite an endeavor and they have set out to create amazing information that they talk to me a lot about before, they go make their presentations and then they've recorded and then they figured out all the technology to get it to us.

So thank you, thank you speakers.

Your time is so valuable and we're so happy you're here.

Some of the speakers will show up in the chats from time to time during the days that their presentations are live.

that's of course very valuable.

so be sure to engage with them, follow them on social media, send them emails, engage with them.

They are here for you and they are such an incredible resource.

also special thanks to my main, right hand girl, my creative director, Rachel Starr at Co Creator Society.

Rachel is just such a valuable asset to the Collaborative iep and this literally would not exist without her because I don't know how to do any of that stuff.

So thank you, thank You, Rachel, what we've got in store for you is really good stuff.

This year I kind of went back to the basics, to be perfectly honest.

I, for a couple of years we've, we have had a lot of speakers that have platforms online and it is easier to engage with them, to be perfectly honest, because they have the technology and you know, they kind of have like little talks already made up and that sort of thing.

But in light of a, lot of changes in special education that have happened or anticipated or that we worry about, there were some topics that I really wanted to hit.

And so I've gone out to a lot of my friends that don't have online businesses, and said, hey, can you please present on that?

Most notably, you'll see several sessions that have to do with educational policy, and like federal and state advocacy.

I really think that's important right now.

And I heard from you that you wanted it.

So you're getting that.

of course, we are hitting lots on special education practice.

We've got behavior, we've got, potty training, we've got reading, we've got all of those things.

And then the other kind of route that I've heard that you went to go down is more about actual advocacy and negotiation and what do we say in meetings and what if the school says this?

And so I've gotten you a lot of that in this conference as well.

you know, I always say that you need three skills to be an effective advocate.

You need knowledge of the law, you need knowledge of special education practice, and you need the advocacy and negotiation skills to get what you think your child needs.

So I think we're covering those things really well, plus a little.

We also kind of run the gamut this year really beautifully from preschool aged to transition and adult aged.

And I'm really proud of how I've curated the sessions in order to address all of those, age groups.

So let's talk about how you access the conference.

Remember, the conference is entirely free.

So, so what happens is on February 18th we're going to drop several sessions and on February 19th we're going to drop several sessions.

Those are free all day live on those days.

So the 18th sessions are free on the 18th, the 19th sessions are free on the 19th.

And if you miss something or you want to go back to access something and, or you want some bonus content, those things are available with a, one year playback in the all access pass.

So if you enjoy what you've seen and you think, boy, I want more or I want access to it for longer then check out the All Access pass that is there for you.

Of course all of this is available in our Circle app.

and my best kind of pointer for you on the Circle app is to check out the left hand column is it has kind of like the guide and so you can toggle in between the different sessions in that left hand column.

It's pretty self explanatory.

You have any questions, you just message us and we will be happy to walk you through it.

If you love what you see at the conference and you think you want more from us, feel free to check out our membership buying that All Access Pass actually gives you a one month subscription to the membership so you will have an opportunity to check it out if you join the All Access Pass.

the members get so much good content.

I curate speakers that come talk to them at least once a month.

They get at least once a month of all access to me, can ask me anything.

Q and A community time.

They have that entire IEP binder that I've worked so hard to build and lots of other benefits.

So if you are interested in checking out the membership, the All Access Pass gives you a little of a taste of that and then you can make a decision.

I'm so happy you're here.

I cannot wait to engage with you and I hope you love the conference.

Thanks again for joining us.

Educate, advocate, collaborate.