'Work with my heart': Raleigh mom, entrepreneur helps students thrive at school

Families and students navigating learning disabilities and other roadblocks in the classroom can find it difficult to coordinate with schools to get the help they need. That's where Stacey Kohn comes in.

"I navigated these waters many years ago with one of my children," she said. "And I found I was out here reinventing the wheel. I didn't know how to find quality professionals. I didn't know how to communicate with schools."

Kohn spent years in the corporate world as a project manager, where her job was driven by data analysis and communication. She took those business skills and used them to help students and parents like herself.

"I was in a business role where I used many of the same skills," she said. "I used collaboration, I used data-driven decision making. I navigated different processes, you know, all the things that it takes to do this work for families."

In 14 years, Kohn has helped 700 families, most who found Triangle Parent Navigator through word of mouth.

"I thought, I would love to work with my heart and my mind. I kind of put a gentle toe into this work and found that it truly is work that I love to do," Kohn said.

"My success has really come from a collaborative approach with schools," Kohn said. "That is often unique to my work but has proven to be very helpful in building success for a child."

Many families come to Kohn for help navigating their child's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or 504 Plan for students with disabilities. Her clients are often families with kids struggling with learning disabilities, autism, ADHD, anxiety or depression, but it doesn't stop there.

"When I work with families, it isn't just one thing," Kohn said. "It tends to be a number of things, it's lots of different things going on."

Kohn usually starts with a phone call.

"I do a data dump," Kohn said. "Let me learn all there is to learn about your child from the data. Send me evaluations, send me school records, send me your IEP if you have one. Then I spend hours with that information. I love going through it all. I create a summary, and I synthesize all that information."

With the data, Kohn uses information gathered from the parents and professionals working with the child in collaboration with the school to create a plan of action.

Kohn then spends hours with her families, helping parents draft effective emails, make a plan and prioritize their requests.

"I'm not the teacher, I'm not the doctor, I'm not the psychologist," she said. "So they're able to hear things from me because I'm there for nothing else other than to help them and help their child."

There are policies schools have to follow when dealing with IEP and 504 plans, and Kohn can put it all in layman's terms for parents.

"Parents with children with IEPs often aren't educated on how the structure works," Kohn said. "I find that once parents understand more of the structure, once they understand why schools are saying what they're saying or not saying, it starts to make a little more sense."

One of the most important questions Kohn helps parents answer is: What now? Where do we go from here?

"If a parent wants a child-centered approach, I'm probably a good fit for them," Kohn said. "I tend to be very common sense, very practical, very what you see is what you get, but with compassion and empathy."

Kohn will accompany families to meetings with schools and teachers and can recommend professionals or resources to help students.

"What I'm able to do is be a non-emotional voice in the room that is helping the team collaborate effectively and look at all the data," Kohn said. "Everyone's busy, but I just spend hours looking at data and bringing things to the meeting that maybe people hadn't noticed or hadn't had time to look at."

Kohn said she often feels like a translator.

"I'm able to take the heavy lifting for the parents so that the parents can sit back and breathe and interject as parents instead of having to be the navigator, the person who comes up with the ideas. They can just be a parent in the room without feeling like they have to manage everything."

Kohn works with students at every grade level. When students are old enough to want to be a part of the discussions, she can help with that too.

"We need to make sure we're hearing and honoring their voice," she said.

Every student is different, and Kohn said it's important to start with a theoretical blank sheet of paper.

"You need to look at the unique needs of every single child, because what you might do for one child won't work for that other child," she said. "It's really important to honor their uniqueness."

Kohn explained why a communication breakdown is so common in school settings and why parents may need a navigator.

"There's a lot of processing lingo that the school is using," she explained. "The school does it all day. Every day, they're busy. The parents sometimes know some of it but not all of it. They don't always understand, and they're emotional -- because this is their child."

"I really feel like when good communication happens, things can get better," Kohn added. "I'm sometimes just a place for common sense. I'm a sounding board. I'm a knowledgeable resource."

Kohn has found her passion, using her knowledge to help hundreds of families.

"I love walking alongside families and helping them," she said. "And if I do my job right, they learn how to do this work. I hope that I eventually work myself out of a job because I really want to empower families to be their child's best advocate."

Kohn emphasized clear, open communication and confidence can help families navigate what can be an emotional, challenging journey.

"Don't feel bad if you don't know things," Kohn said. "I think parents just need to ask questions. They need to get in those meetings and not be afraid to ask questions and say, I don't understand. Can you explain it to me? I think we get intimidated, because as parents, we're in a room with a number of school staff and we don't want to feel like we don't know what we don't know."

Finally, Kohn said, remember you know what's best for your student. Trust your instincts.

"Find good professionals that can guide you that you trust," she said. "Listen to what people are saying. Listen to what the professionals say and listen to your mama gut. I'm a big believer in mama gut."