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As I look at your site, I see that it is ADHD treatment.

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Well, ADHD students is sort of one population that we work with.

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We really work with all types of students who have special education needs, including ADHD,

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but also learning disabilities like dyslexia, autism, speech and language challenges, executive

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functioning challenges, all types of special education needs. Yes, yes, yes. That is awesome.

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And this will just be very random of me to state, but my daughter works with autism, children with

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autism, and now she is the project manager to build buildings for the children of autism and

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create sensory rooms and all that kind of stuff. So I find it in my heart that that's such a big,

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big thing. And I know that it's like Dr. Phyllis or Oprah should say, but children are the future,

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right? Wherever they are, we need to meet them where they are. And I see that that's something

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that you are focusing on. How long have you been in business? Definitely. It's been about a little

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over 20 years now dating myself, but it's time flies. But yeah, it's been about that long.

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Wow. When you decided to get into this field, tell me about your vision for it.

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Sure. Well, I kind of have an interesting story of how I got into it. I grew up in the field of

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special education. My mother was the founder of a school for students with learning disabilities in

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Florida, which is where I grew up. So I spent so much of my childhood working at my mother's

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school, observing kids, working with kids, but sort of felt like I wanted to carve my own path and

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at the time not follow in my mother's shadow. So I ended up going to Brown University and then I

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actually did two years of finance, which is almost the polar opposite of education. And even though

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it was a great learning experience for me, and I really learned a lot about sort of the business

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side of what I do, I quickly learned that it wasn't my passion. It wasn't my calling. And so on the

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side, when I was still working in finance, I personally started tutoring kids one-on-one who

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had special education needs because I had this whole background of working with kids. And I really

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quickly, pretty quickly saw a vision and saw what a need there was for more and more of these kinds

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of services. I was only one person. I could only see so many kids, but I very slowly and organically

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started to bring on other tutors who specialized in different skill areas, whether it was early

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childhood reading or advanced math or writing, and just organically grew my business into what

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it was today. So I saw the vision from the very beginning, but it's really been such an exciting

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journey to really sort of see that vision through and to watch it continue to evolve.

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Absolutely. Well, that now makes all the sense in the world. It sounds like it's in your DNA.

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I take it in my genes. I tell people that a lot, yes.

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Yes. And then to try financing. It's so funny how we try to go ahead and create our own journey

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when our passion is actually who we are and in us. And now, you found that love and 20 years later,

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you're still doing something so great for everyone, the world in general. What's your why?

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Well, I love how gratifying my career is. I'm able to really touch and change the lives of so many

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kids. And so unlike other fields, which some people may be passionate about, for me, having such a

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real tangible effect on children's lives is really my why. It's why I go to work every day and why I

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have so much passion in what I do. And that makes all the sense in the world. One thing that I love

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about children is they're so honest and so appreciative. And I can only imagine the love

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and the things that they say that keep you going every day. It's like, I didn't even realize that,

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but they're so quick to give us a pat on the back. So I love that. I love that. What are some common

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misconceptions about learning disabilities that you work through to correct when you're coaching

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or you're talking to parents about how this will benefit their children?

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Well, I think one misconception people often have with learning disabilities is that they think an

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individual with a learning disability is not smart or has a low IQ. And it's usually the polar

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opposite. Many of the most intellectually gifted, most brilliant people in the world have dyslexia

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or ADHD or a learning disability. And what's interesting is that some of the greatest leaders

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and visionaries in our world, in our country, have these learning challenges. And getting through

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school is the challenge. But if they can get the right support and the right tools to get through

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school, the possibilities are endless in terms of their career. So I would say that's probably the

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biggest misconception. It's not at all about intellect. It's about needing to be taught in

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a different way that's suitable for them to help them get through school.

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Absolutely. And so when you have a family that's interested in coming and getting involved,

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I know that it's probably something it's like, okay, now I have to help my child be acclimated

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into a different environment. What is that like when they come to you and don't know much about

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it? And then what's the transformation in them as you continue to work with their children and they

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see what their misconception was? Sure. Well, usually that the first call we get is my child

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is struggling. They're difficulty learning how to read. They're having trouble with writing. They

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can't solve math, word problems or whatever it is. And the parent often doesn't really know how to

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help their own child. They don't always work well with their own child. So they're really

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looking for outside support and the outside support can make a world of difference in the

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child's academic success and in their self-confidence. And I love watching parents

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see their own child evolve and go from a struggling child with low self-confidence to

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slowly and over time with this one-on-one support become a much stronger student,

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feel good about their skills. It often helps them with their social lives, with their happiness.

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It really trickles into so many other aspects of their lives in a positive way. So I really

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love watching that transformation. Absolutely. And I'm smiling because I'm like, I can feel it.

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And it's super exciting for me to, number one, be introduced to you and have you on the show because

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so many people that I speak with, their business differs from what you're doing right now. And I

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love the fact that this is something that you've stuck to for 20 years and you still seem as

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passionate about it today as you were when it began. One of the things that we often think about

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is the approach from individualized learning and traditional educational methods. And what

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are the advantages to the individualized learning for the children that you are helping?

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Well, traditional teaching can work for many students, but just doesn't work for every student.

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And especially if the child is neurodiverse, if they have a learning disability or an intentional

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challenge, they really need to be taught in a different way. We pull from about 22 different

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research-based techniques that are individualized to the needs of each student. And when we're able

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to identify a specific method or sometimes a combination of methods that works best for a child,

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it's amazing what a transformation we see. All of a sudden, they start to learn, they absorb

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information, and they can retain it in their long-term memory. So it makes a tremendous

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difference to have that individualized instruction, especially for a child who has a learning or an

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intentional challenge. Yes. How big is your staff? We have about 60 tutors on board, and they each

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specialize in different areas. Nice. Nice. And so once you get that call, do you just bring the

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parent and the children in, and then they go through an assessment? Would you mind walking me

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through that? Sure. So usually when possible, I like to be the one to have that initial call,

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just to learn more about the child, to speak to the parent, to find out what's going on.

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If the child has an IEP, which is an individualized educational plan or an evaluation that's been done,

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it's usually helpful to read that as well. And then from there, we do an initial evaluation

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of our own to really gauge where the student is at from an academic standpoint, so that then when

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we begin the tutoring, we can come up with an individualized learning plan using the right

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method or combination of methods that are most suitable for that child. Okay. That makes a lot

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of sense. You know, so I'm thinking, right? All the stuttering is from my thinking, and I'm a parent

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as well. You know, sometimes they'll send home that letter and they'll say your child is not doing so

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well and, you know, reading. Usually it's, you know, ELAR, you know, reading language, any of that.

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And then it sparks this thought in our mind, like, what are they struggling with? What is,

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what's the challenge, right? Immediately as a parent, we're in the fix-it mode. And so we're

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like, okay, we're going to call someone, we're going to go into it, and we're going to try to

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figure things out and often feel lost in that. Is that some of those, is that like some of the calls

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you get? Absolutely. In fact, that often happens around the time of parent-teacher conferences or

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report cards where the beginning of the school year, the child's just getting settled, and then

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the teacher starts to realize, you know what, something may not be right here, the child's

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really struggling. And absolutely, that's where we can come in and really help the family, help the

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child, learn more about what's going on. Sometimes we even work with the child's teacher and stay in

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touch with them so that we can all work as a team in really making sure we turn that around and we

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help the child's skills start to improve. You took the question out of my head because, you know,

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when I speak and I'm just going to be very transparent when I do speak to my children's

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teacher, I'm like, hey, we're a team. You know, wherever I send her to, I'm going to have to tell

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you about it for this team effort. So I love that you said, you know, we work with the teacher

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sometimes too because, you know, as a parent, we'll send them somewhere and never really have that

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communication, and then they see your child doing better. That's another resource for the school.

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So now my mind is being blown like there's a difference between traditional education and

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individualized because it does give resources for the schools. Are you a resource for the schools

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in New Jersey and New York? Definitely. Many schools will refer us as an option for families

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if the child's having difficulty and they need extra support. And yes, we always find the more

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we can work as a team, the better it is for the child. Definitely. And I believe you might have

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answered this question, but I'm going to ask it anyway, definitely for the audience. But I

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feel like there's so much you've said that does answer it. But what are the greatest joys of what

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you do? Well, there are so many joys in what I do. I love, number one, helping children, watching

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them thrive, watching them grow from struggling to just thriving and everything in between.

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I love that I'm constantly learning myself. I try to stay on top of the latest research.

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I listen to parents and I learn from them. I observe children and I learn from them as well.

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I feel like I'm constantly learning and absorbing information myself. And I love new opportunities

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that continue to come up in what I do. No day is the same. Every day is different. I have different

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conversations with people on a daily basis. And I just love the uniqueness of that and the fact

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that every day of my life is something different and something new that often comes up. Yes, yes.

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With that being said, there's so many people that will be watching this. And in my mind,

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although you're the founder, you're also a leader, right? You're leading, number one, a team of 60

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plus people. You're also leading these children in the right direction and being able to do that

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has, is a lot, is a lot. What is the best leadership experience you've had? And not only

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just being with the children, but as I mentioned, you have 60 plus staff. Yeah. I think the number

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one thing for me is really being a good listener. I'm constantly trying to solve problems every day,

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whether it's a big problem or not so big problem. I'm always having to come up with the best solution

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for whatever the issue is at hand. And so I try to really listen to whoever I'm speaking to,

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understand what the issue is, put myself in that situation, come up with the best solution based on

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the information that I have. And I think that's kind of part of being a leader. You can't get

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overwhelmed by situations that come up or problems that need to be solved, but really look at them as

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a learning opportunity and an opportunity to continue to evolve and become better at what you

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do. That is a big part of it. Yes. So I had this random, another random question. 20 years ago,

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would you have believed you would be here 20 years later? I would say the answer is no. I don't think,

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you know, looking back, I was so young and naive and, you know, didn't really know where my life

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was going to go. I thought I was going to do finance and then I didn't, that wasn't going to

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work out. And so I kind of was just in exploration mode. And when I started working with children,

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like I mentioned, I saw a vision for creating something larger, but I didn't really know how

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to do it at the time. I didn't know what kind of path it would take for me to get to where I am now.

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And so the answer is no, I don't think I would have seen myself where I am now,

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but I am so happy with my journey and where I am now that I couldn't really imagine it happening

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any differently. Yes. And I'm cheesing from ear to ear because, you know, we don't know what our

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journey looks like. And you have, you have reached a place to where you're now able to reflect over

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the past 20 years and say, wow, you know, this is something that I would have never thought would be.

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And I want to tell you how proud of you I am. Thank you so much. That really means a lot.

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You're welcome. I mean, even just reading your website and seeing the passion in you and knowing

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that you have so many others that's working together with you to make this happen, I think

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it's so important. And because you've been in it so long, do you believe that it's becoming more

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of a challenge for parents to lean on an outside source in order to help their children or has it

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become easier? Well, I think that neurodiversity and having a learning disability or ADHD is much

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more accepting than it used to be. I think more parents are open to having their child tested,

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to receiving a diagnosis, to seeking the right support. I think there's less of a stigma than

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there used to be. So in that way, I think it's really a good thing. I mean, Paris Hilton just

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released a whole article on her ADHD and how it's her superpower. So I think the more awareness and

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the more people like that that come out about how the positive aspects of this challenge is, the

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better. So I really think in that sense, parents are more open minded and more open to helping

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their child and less concerned about any stigma that might be surrounding it. And you used a

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great word and that's what it is, is a lot of stigma. I know that even being a parent, I have a

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29 year old and 29 years ago, I didn't think that this was something that would help out. And

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a lot of people did not get their children diagnosed, right? Because they just thought it was

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a learning issue. It's the class, it's the kids, it's the talking, it's this. And so having someone,

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I encourage people, the minute you think that something is different, I won't say the word

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wrong, different about your child and you find struggles, it's okay to reach out to people like

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Dr. Libby. It's okay to ask questions. It's okay to want to get them help. And I'm super excited

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for you. I'm super excited for the next 10 to 20 years that you have. And I'm just going to see

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this big building. You're going to own like this whole building. Do you own a building already?

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I don't own a building, maybe one day. And have you expanded? So are you in different locations?

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How many offices do you have? We have two physical locations. And then,

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really for the past four and a half years now, we have developed an amazing online platform for our

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virtual tutoring. So we have kids not only around the country, but around the world. We have students

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in Asia and Africa, and it's really exciting. And it's allowed us to really reach so many kids who

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need this kind of specialized tutoring, Orton-Gillingham Instructure, but who may not

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have access to it in their local areas. So that's been really exciting. And I hope that continues to

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grow and evolve as well. And absolutely. That really excited me. You see me clap. I was like, yay!

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Was it the pandemic that expanded that, may I ask? Sure. So we did offer virtual tutoring before the

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pandemic, but it definitely took off. As soon as the pandemic started, I had to quickly pivot and

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turn everything virtual and develop new materials that were virtual and really recreate a lot of

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what we didn't have. So while it existed on a smaller scale, it's much greater than it was before

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then. Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm

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looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. This is going

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to get more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. We'll invite people to

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participate in the show. And thank you for giving us your time and attention. Have an excellent

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time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.