IEP Advocacy
with Dr. Annie McLaughlin
Behavior Bites Podcast - Ep67July 16, 2025Have you ever been in a contentious IEP meeting?
Do you support families with their educational advocacy?
During today’s meal— I speak with a behavior analyst, IEP advocate, and mom of 3 about how she got into behavior analysis, the biggest barrier when helping families advocate at IEPs, and her favorite food experience while traveling.
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Amuse-Bouche
How do you work to help BCBAs create a world where they are the ones who are desired to be at the IEP table?
Appetizer
How did you get into Behavior Analysis?
How did you pivot into providing consulting services with families as well as behavior analysts?
What do you find to be the biggest barrier when helping families advocate at IEPs?
Palate Cleanser
Describe one of your favorite food experiences you had while traveling.
Entree
What’s a typical day in your life look like?
Something you wish you could have told yourself when getting started?
Dessert
The best compliment you have ever received?
Excerpts from the Episode
(*Paraphrased highlights)-
Time. Some families and kids take more time to discuss, or to educate the parents, or to get the team to be collaborative. I think the biggest barrier is around people being rushed into an hour meeting— we got to get everything done so districts can be in compliance.
I try to directly address that when we start a meeting, or even before if I know the family likes to ask a lot of questions, or will need thorough answers so that they feel heard, or they talk a lot. Like, can we ask for a 90 minute meeting and get a follow up on the schedule, we can always cancel— so that we're providing support for the families to feel like they're not rushed.
I do find after two hours of an IEP meeting we're all kind of fading in our mental persistence, but there are other parts of the country that do IEP meetings in 30 minutes which to me, I don't feel like we can do all the parts of the IEP, even if we've read it all.
So I think the biggest barrier is usually time, because even if you have things like tough relationships, disagreements, inaccuracies, or any of those things, with enough time we can at least make some positive movement— but if we're running into a 30 minute IEP and everybody's mad at each other, it's really hard to keep the kid at the center of that discussion.
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I should have told myself to find a group of like-minded people earlier. I had a lot of support from colleagues and friends, but they weren't in it and doing it at the same time. I think I would have been like, look harder and talk louder to find whoever's doing similar things— to not feel so alone, or feel imposter syndrome, or feel like, should I, could I? If you surround yourself with people who will ask you the hard and pointed questions, that’s really helpful to keep taking those steps forward.
I also would have told myself to invest in some sort of organizational coach for my business. I had a lot of rigid rules around organization that made no sense to anybody. I really like the idea that being organized is knowing where things are when you need them, not necessarily that they have to look perfect. I tried so many other people's systems that never worked for me, and realized that I spent a lot of time looking for things like reports. I didn't have those systems in place. So being in a like-minded group and finding somebody to help me dive into those systems a little bit sooner so that I didn’t waste so much time.
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We had a really hard meeting at school. I was almost in tears from frustration and teachers were crying. A child had been hurt at school, and so that got really personal really quickly.
The district administrator, who wasn’t very nice in the meeting, on the way out said, "Hold on, I have something to tell you. You argued hard and clearly, but I never felt like you attacked the staff, just guided us through the discussion to make sure the kid got what he needed so this doesn’t happen again."
Another one— very early on, a parent leaned over in a meeting and said, "This is the first time I've felt hope for my kid in a long time." I've always wanted parents to see that others have high expectations and hopes for their children like they do. I think she had years of not being understood and feeling like she was yelling and nobody was listening. To say that she has hope for the first time, I carry that with me whenever we're having our hard meetings as well.
ABOUT Annie
Annie McLaughlin, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA
Dr. Annie McLaughlin is a board certified behavior analyst and IEP advocate who runs a thriving consulting practice supporting families as they navigate the special education process and leads a small but mighty team dedicated to making the IEP process clearer and more collaborative.
Dr. Annie is the creator of Pivot into IEP Advocacy®, a program that helps behavior analysts step confidently into advocacy work, whether as a new path or an addition to their current services.
She’s a mom of three, a former special education teacher, and passionate about helping special education and behavior analysis better each other.
CONNECT with Annie
Instagram: @IEPadvocateAnnie
Websites: iepadvocacytraining.comspecialedguidance.comPlease support our podcast by leaving a rating or review!
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