282. From Nonverbal to Magna Cum Laude: One Woman's Incredible Academic Journey with Becca Engle

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This is happiness solved with America's happiness coach, Sandee Sgarlata.

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Hello and thank you for joining us today. I'm so happy you're here. Happiness solved is the place where we explore everything you need to become the best possible version of you. This is Sandee Sgarlata, and today I've got some exciting news for our dedicated listeners. We've just launched our exclusive members only portal.

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This is your ticket to a world of additional content designed to deepen your understanding and engagement with the happiness solved mission. To learn more about all of the exciting benefits, stay tuned until the end of the episode where I will explain in greater detail. For those interested now, head over to happinesssolved supercast.com. Today is another amazing conversation, so let's get started.

00:01:10
Becca Engle, I'm so thrilled to be seeing you again. We met in San Antonio, Texas. We both spoke at a charity event for breast cancer. And when I heard your story, I was like, I need to share your story with my audience. How are you today?

00:01:24
I'm great. How are you? Oh, couldn't be better. Couldn't be better. This is one of my favorite things to do is to talk with people because I'm so curious.

00:01:33
So before we dive into all the amazing things that you are doing right now, and you just graduated from college too, right? Yes, last weekend. Congratulations. I remember seeing that on Facebook. Huge accomplishment.

00:01:47
Nothing to be taken lightly. I actually finished my bachelor's degree 35 years after graduating from high school. So it's never too late, but much easier when you do it when you're young, that's for sure. So before we dive into this, talk about your story and some of the challenges that you have had to face in the short time that you've been on this planet, because you are still very young and just share with the audience your story and why it was so important for me to have you on today. Yeah.

00:02:16
So just to start, when I was a little girl, I had developmental delays and those pushed me back. And so my parents had to really navigate around that. But there was multiple diagnosis in between all of this time. It went from grandma epilepsy to the most minor things to back to the most extreme things. And that navigated between newborn to the age of four.

00:02:55
The diagnosis kept changing and nobody could settle on anything. My parents couldn't settle. The doctors couldn't settle. The therapists couldn't settle. And so eventually it ended up being developmental delays with different forms of apraxia and processing disorders.

00:03:19
And so obviously, when I was three years old, I was completely nonverbal and then as I aged, I started speaking. My mom was a big help in all that. She literally wrote down every movement and everything I did with my body over a span of a winter break because the doctors told my mom that I would never be able to be independent. And so the teachers that I had in the early intervention program back in Florida told my mom that I was too difficult. They couldn't handle me.

00:04:01
And rightfully so. I mean, I was a difficult child, and so they did it in a respectful way. It wasn't meant to deteriorate my character. I was just hard to work with and hard to manage. So when all of this was going on, my mom said, give me two weeks and I'll figure it out.

00:04:23
So over that span of winter break, going on to five years old, my mom started working with me and figuring things out. So over just this winter break, I went from no words to 22 words. Now, what was she doing? Sorry to interrupt you, but what specifically was she doing for anybody out there who may be struggling with some of the whole things? Because in today's world, you really do have to be an advocate for your own health.

00:04:51
So what was it specifically that she was doing that gave you such quick progress. Just to begin, I guess, first of all, that two weeks was spent literally. She would follow me and journal every move that I made with my body, everything I ate, everything I did, every time I moved a toe, every time I moved my nose, every time I moved a finger. Literally, when I say everything, I mean everything.

00:05:26
Oh, you breathe. Okay. I'm talking. Every little thing I did, every time I ate a meal, she would switch it up and try to take different foods out. So she did gluten, she did sugar, she did everything you can think of.

00:05:41
And then she did food coloring at one point because she read blogs online and just studied and researched while following me around like this woman. And this was back in 2004, so obviously we had lack of technology. Not 2004. About 2006. Yeah.

00:06:00
You're about my son's age. What year were you born? Two. My son was born in 2000. So you're right around the same age.

00:06:08
Yeah. So there wasn't a lot of access to things. We did have the Internet, but it wasn't like it is today. Yeah, we didn't have our smartphones to follow, so my mom was literally researching and digging through Facebook groups and trying to find things, and she looked into food diet, and it was kind of silly. Whatever.

00:06:28
She looked into different things and it was kind of like, ha, not really conspiracy theory. That conspiracy theory this, conspiracy theory that. But she was like, why not try it? What's going to hurt, right? That's what she did with everything.

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And so she's reading to me, she's journaling. Everything I do, I'm mimicking things. She's writing that down. And then by the time she got to food coloring, she realized that after I had food coloring, my mouth would gargle at the sides, and so I would gargle from the sides, and it would drain, and then I would go back and fight for more, and I'd really want this. But it was specifically with petroleum based dyes, which are not found in other countries, as many of you know.

00:07:17
So real quick, what types of foods contain that? Just so that the audience is brought up to speed, because a lot of people don't read labels. So what types of foods have that petroleum red dye kind of thing? So you'd be shocked. It's literally like almost every form of chip that's colored.

00:07:33
You can even have vanilla cupcakes with it. Chocolate cupcakes can have it. You can even find it like an icing. Obviously, we know the stuff that's red has red dye. Unless it says all natural or artificial.

00:07:48
If it says artificial flavors, assume it has red dye, and you'll see that most on boxes. But even you'd be absolutely blown away, because we found it in red apples in the grocery store. Just like a bag of apples. You can find it in that. They use it to darken the color, find it in grape things.

00:08:09
The red and the yellow dyes would actually end up in vanilla cupcakes. Sometimes the yellow dye. So even, like vanilla cupcakes, we had to read the ingredients. Sometimes chocolate would have red dye in it. Anything red velvet based, of course.

00:08:28
Literally. I mean, it's shocking what they put coloring in like that. You would have no idea who would think that an apple would have yellow dye or red dye. But apples, bananas, they use it to darken it. So it's more appealing because what do you want?

00:08:47
Do you want a brown apple, or do you want a dark, bright red apple? And also sometimes beef they put coloring in to make it look more fresh. Yes, that too. And it's funny, because even to this day, beef doesn't cause me to do that, but it causes my stomach to ache. And while cake and stuff does not, I have a really bad reaction to beef and red meats, but it's a different reaction.

00:09:19
Wow. Okay, so you were saying that your mom figured out that the red dye was causing you problems and then she removed it. And then what started to happen? Well, I started speaking. I started behaving better because these would cause behavioral reactions.

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So a lot of the time I would fight and kick and scream, and my mom would tell me, stop. And I would literally respond, I can't. But the thing is, before I was speaking, I couldn't respond. I can't. So there was no understanding of why I was having these reactions.

00:09:59
And of course I wasn't understanding, and if they didn't understand it, so every time I was good and not having those behavioral issues, my mom would hand me a pack of gummy bears. But of course, what do gummy bears have? And so we hadn't made this connection, but then we started realizing this connection throughout this process. But I think the most insane part of this was that something so little, just removing that, I slowly started words. I slowly started communicating these things.

00:10:36
And my mom likes to say, I never shut up after that. I was going to say, you probably didn't because your brain was still recognizing and learning. Right? You were still learning. You just weren't able to verbalize it.

00:10:50
Yes. Wow.

00:10:56
So what happened next? How did the schools respond? Were you able to get caught? I mean, obviously you've already graduated from college and you're 20 years old, right? Just turned 21.

00:11:06
21, yeah. And you've already graduated college. So obviously it didn't really slow you down too much. Yeah.

00:11:15
So obviously they were like, whoa, what happened? Right, because I came back and I was a completely different child because I wasn't having the severity of issues. Of course, if you threw me in a lab room due to that sensory issue, I did respond in a negative way, but I wasn't just screaming to scream.

00:11:39
There was a reason for the behavior, right? A known reason. It was either sensory or auditory. When I was responding to things, everyone was shocked. Every teacher I had was shocked.

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And obviously I got to stay within that program.

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And so this was the early intervention program in, you know, being a military family, we moved all the time. Okay. So I moved to Oklahoma for real pre k. And when I was there, they had no clue really about it. They just knew my IEP and my 504.

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And so I started on that program, and I kind of went and do that. And I was still in speech therapy trying to develop certain skills due to the speechpraxia and the impediments and the processing disorders. But all the way up until the start of kindergarten, I was completely special ed, segregated, never gen ed. And then in kindergarten, mom and dad fought for me to be in a gen ed room with assistance. So for going on to kindergarten, I had assistance, but I was in the gen ed room.

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And then I kept an IEP until the fifth grade with assistance. But by the third grade, I really only left for testing and speech.

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And we continued reading at home. We continued working on things. I was very academically dedicated. And so going into the end of fifth grade, I applied to speak at my fifth grade graduation. And this was, like, my first speaking engagement.

00:13:39
And it was super funny because it kind of threw everyone off. Everybody was like, whoa. And the speeches were anonymous, so we didn't tell people Becca's speech. Okay. So when they read the speech out loud and they were like, whose speech was this?

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And I said, me. The whole room was thrown off because for the most part, everyone knew me as a BC student just because I was behind. And occasionally, randomly, I get an a. But it took effort. And my fourth grade english teacher or fourth grade teacher that specialized in English because that's the year of the testing in Texas, because by third grade, I had moved here.

00:14:26
And so she was kind of like, whoa, wait, hold on. Confused by it, too. And she actually used to put my papers up in front of the class, and everyone would belittle me and actually judge my writing because she would go through every paper in the class, and she'd go, okay, let's grade this. And everyone else would get, like, a four, which is the best score, or a three. And then she would go, okay, Becca's gets a zero.

00:14:53
And it was just something I got used to. Oh, but that's so demoralizing. Oh, yes. It's awful. That's awful.

00:15:01
That's awful. I'm so sorry that you had a teacher that did that, because I have my own story about a teacher from fifth grade, and it's a terrible thing, but go on. Yeah. So going into fifth grade, finishing that fifth grade year, when I spoke at the graduation, it was really empowering because I knew that history. And this is really when I found out that I was different, because I knew I was in speech, but I just kind of.

00:15:29
Whatever. Speech, whatever. And I was too young to fully remember the history of the twos and the threes and the fours. So this is when I started realizing that I wasn't like everyone else, but I was right. So I had to come to conclusion with that, and my mom started teaching me about what autism is and what apraxia is and what all these things are, and this is who I am, but it's not who you are, it.

00:15:59
Doesn'T need to define you or limit you in any way. Yes, I kind of grasped that and started realizing that. So in my speech, I talked about moving around as a military kid and the best experiences and things like that. But I graduated fifth grade, and at the end of the speech, they were like, we're going to take Becca off her IEP. She doesn't need it anymore.

00:16:24
She doesn't need speech therapy. She doesn't need any of it. So took me off the paperwork, figured it out, and then they were like, okay, but do we need a 504 for her just because of those delays? And so my mom was like, no, probably not. We kept off all the paperwork.

00:16:44
And of course, I could always go back to it if necessary. Right? And that was very communicated to me at that time. My family, my teachers were like, hey, if you do get that concern again, feel free to go back to it. But by 6th grade, I went into all honors courses.

00:17:03
I was literally like, gen ed. I went from completely segregated special ed to gen ed with assistance to honors. There was never an in between. Wow. I want to just stop for a second and make sure that you recognize how amazing to.

00:17:23
I'm gonna cry. Oh, my God. It's because I'm a mama bear. But, Becca, do you understand how amazing that is? Do you get that or has it not sunk in yet?

00:17:34
Because you are kind of young, but I don't know if you really get how incredible that is. And we're going to come back to that, but keep going because I want to come back to that, but go ahead, keep going. Yeah, and give me a minute to compose myself.

00:17:54
Throughout this process, I stayed in honors classes 6th through eigth grade, and then I dropped things, changed things was being bullied, whatever. I remained my honors courses, but I definitely had to kind of figure out a well balanced between what I really loved and what I enjoyed to do, which I found a passion in volunteer work and service. At this point in my life, I wanted to help other people, not necessarily with anything related to my struggles as a kid, just in general, I wanted to help people. So I was the student council president, I was the NJHS treasurer, and I still talked to all of them, like the teachers that knew me back then. And my 6th grade english teacher, I still talked to her, too, and she was the first one to see me write fully off an IEP.

00:18:48
So that was a big transition for me. And she was probably the most understanding teacher I had at that point in terms of needing assistance, even though her class was an honors course, but I tried to do band. Didn't really like that, whatever. I tried art, didn't really like that, and kind of experimented with myself. And then I went into high school and I went back to band.

00:19:14
My brothers were in it, so I felt the demand to follow my brothers. Didn't work out. Well, that's okay. Hey, you tried it. Yeah, exactly.

00:19:26
So I stayed volunteering, I stayed in band. I stayed in all honors courses through the 9th grade. And then there are some courses, including college level courses in the 9th grade. And I decided that I probably couldn't balance all of that. I took some honor stuff off my plate, balanced it out a little bit more with the mix of regulars and pre aps and aps.

00:19:49
And that's what I did until the day I graduated. But at the 10th grade, realizing after all I had went through because I was being bullied in the band program, and there's just a lot going on and it was overstimulating for my sensory needs. Because of the sensory issues, I couldn't march. But I was also being bullied on top of that. So I was scared to try to march both things.

00:20:16
So during the summers when we didn't have practice, I was out there from nine to nine. On the weekends, 09:00 a.m. To 09:00 p.m. With just a jug of water by myself, trying to learn these things. And then I finally said health first.

00:20:31
But I battle with all these issues and the sensory stuff, and I think that's probably the thing that gets me most day. At the end of my sophomore year, I kind of had this realization in bed one night after some really dark nights, just mentally, that I needed to follow me and I needed to follow my heart, and who cares what other people say or think of it? And I don't care if this doesn't get me into college, whatever. Who cares? Because then it's a problem I can figure out later on.

00:21:10
So the end of my sophomore year, I talked to my school counselor. I dropped band, and I said, I need to do everything I want to do. Here's my classes. Here's what I'm going to do. It was a bunch of teaching classes that everyone in my life was like, well, those should just be after school clubs.

00:21:28
Those shouldn't be. Why would those be electives? My family was like, what? Those aren't clubs. Those aren't going to get you into college.

00:21:36
Those are regular courses. You can't do that. But I knew teaching and education was where I needed to go. Yeah. And so I literally dropped everything.

00:21:48
And when we looked at my schedule, because of the honors courses and the double credits from band and everything, my school counselor looked at me and said, you only need eleven classes at the end of my sophomore year, 10th grade, there's two years of high school left for you. You need 16 classes to fit in two years, but you only have eleven that you actually required to take to graduate with honors and distinguished. Wow. So I was like, okay, well, 8910 eleven. And I kind of thought about this for a bit, and I was like, okay, so what if I do three classes over the summer and then I take another eight in the next year?

00:22:34
And my high school counselor was like, yeah, sure, why not? So I dropped $300 from my job at wendy's, which was making the cut at the time. I know. And so I dropped my $300, which was my monthly paycheck at that point. And I paid off my summer school.

00:22:58
I did two semesters summer school and an online class through Texas Tech, k through twelve. Navigated it well, figured it out. And then I started the next year as a senior in high school. So sophomore to senior, graduated high school early, distinguished graduate school lad during COVID which made it even better with a teaching internship under my belt because the class that I dropped was an internship course or dropped band for was an internship course. So I graduated with a teaching internship under my belt and distinguished honors.

00:23:43
And everyone was like, whoa. And then funny story connected to that that I'll get into a bit when I finish my college story. I went into college and I went to Texas State my first year. And everything was kind of good, but I was facing some political battles because I ended up getting involved in policy and interned for a congressman at 17 during COVID So I got in some political battles and decided that it would be best to go another route and went to UIW. And of course, I didn't have the best experience in terms of college in general.

00:24:33
I faced some battles. One of the things that I faced when I applied to teach at my university, to quote unquote, was I lacked the communication and social skills. And everybody was kind of like, what? You talk a lot? Like, what do they mean?

00:24:51
And I constantly asked for examples from people who had degrees in education. And I was constantly trying to improve myself. And there were some professors who were like, you have improved a lot and we're proud of you. And I was like, wow, thanks. And then there was a few of a bunch that were like, yeah, no.

00:25:15
And then when I asked for examples. They were like, well, we don't really have any. But I remember, do you feel like it was just discrimination because of you're on the spectrum? Yeah. Okay.

00:25:26
And so, yes, partially I do. And the only time I really spoke out about the fact that I was about my past in general was when I needed to, when the topic came up in class, like, if we were learning about autism or special needs, sensory delays or whatever, I'd be like, oh, my gosh, we do. And it's funny enough because I had a professor who I had a better ish relationship with, and it came to a policy like a bill that was written for dyslexic and special ed students. And she actually had me update the slides and do all of the slideshow for this item because she knew that I knew more on it than her. Exactly.

00:26:19
So I had those moments where I did share that need, but I'm also just a very loud individual. If I know a lot about a topic, I'll nerd out on it. And that goes for everything, not just education topics. That goes for politics. That goes for history.

00:26:35
That goes for anything related to development, really. Anything that I have a love for, I won't shut up about because, as you know, the autism experience is having special interest. And that's awesome. I see it as a gift. Anyway, so I applied again.

00:26:58
They told me that I would because they told me no. The first time I applied again, they told me that I would be better on a professional development plan. I asked for said plan, and it never followed through. A year after they created this plan, they sat me down and said, sorry, we don't think there's a chance. We can try, but we don't think there's a chance.

00:27:18
They were like, so you're going to find out in December. Everyone else is finding out in November, by the way, just for background. And I was like, okay. So I went home that night and I was talking to my loved ones and I said, yeah, I'm going to graduate in December because I don't want to wait when I can be in the classroom earlier.

00:27:40
This was my 7th semester of college. So I looked at myself literally mid October, right before the women's conference, and I said, literally, like ten days before. I was like, I'm going to graduate in December. And I contacted the office and I said, I'm graduating in December. Here you go.

00:28:03
Here's everything. Here's the fees. Here's the cap and gown. Here's everything. And it was literally the day before the deadline.

00:28:12
And they were like, okay, you probably won't be on the pamphlet. You probably won't be on anything. You can walk the stage, though. So I was like, okay, well, whatever, cool.

00:28:23
And so I ended up being on all of that, thankfully. But with all of that, I told everyone, like, literally the day before graduation that I was graduating in December, everyone in my classes, and they were like, what you're not doing? And I was like, no. So quietly left, did my part and graduated college in three and a half years rather than the four. And the program that I was in was supposed to be a five to six year program.

00:28:56
So I did most of that program. I would have done it in four years, but I cut out the program and did three and a half. Right. So I am now only 21. I turned 21 in September and I am a college graduate.

00:29:17
Absolutely incredible. My master's, I was going to say. Is that next because you want to be a teacher? So really, the master's degree is very important for your teaching career. Yeah.

00:29:28
So I had, funny enough, posted a picture of myself, my captain count, and I announced where I was going to college for my masters and everything. This girl I went to high school with contacts me, and she is TTU 25, also in her bio because we were both going to the same school. But the thing is, she's finishing her bachelor's because most of my class is graduating with their bachelor's. Most of the people my age are graduating with their bachelor's in 2025. Had I stayed in my grade level, that's what I would have done.

00:30:03
Right, because I skipped a year and a half of school. So the weird part, though, is because my master's program is a two year program. I'm also graduating in 2025. I'll just be graduating with my master's, not my bachelor. Awesome.

00:30:22
I'll be newly 23 at that point. And I could actually speed it up if I wanted to be full time and do it in a year and a half. We'll see if I get there. But right now we're taking it slow. I'm only 21.

00:30:35
That's right. There's plenty of time to be an adult and have a job and work full time and all that stuff. Yeah. So I got this text and she goes, whoa, you're already on your master's. What?

00:30:48
I was like, yeah, because she thought it was a community college graduation. I was like, no, because we hadn't followed each other. And I was like, no, I'm graduating with my bachelor's and I'm in this now and she goes, you weren't smart enough to do that. How'd you do that? You were the dumb kid.

00:31:07
And I did fail a lot of high school classes, so I kind of laughed because she's not really wrong. The way she worded it could have definitely been better, but I was kind of like, to be fair, I had, like, c's and b's, so I wasn't intelligent enough to be in the honor society or anything. I just skipped a bunch of grades because I felt like it, because I just crammed things together. And I didn't perform those classes the best, but I got them done and I passed, so that was the difference. But it kind of threw everyone off because they were like, whoa, you had c's?

00:31:43
How did you get here? Yeah, and I graduated college magna cum laude. So it kind of threw everyone under the. And I was the only one in the education department to do that, so everyone was kind of like, oh, wait, hold on. Yeah.

00:32:02
Well, you know what? I love that you proved everybody wrong, but what I want to ask you and what I want to talk about and why I was getting so choked up before, because I'm a mama bear, you're the same age as my son, and I just love seeing people overcome their challenges. So I want to ask you, what was the driving force? Was it something that you. Was it, like, I'm going to prove everybody wrong, or was.

00:32:30
I know, what was it that you pulled from in order to be able to have the success in academia that you've had?

00:32:42
I think really, honestly, I think there is a prove wrong factor to it, and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that because I walked the stage with nine cords last weekend, nine of the cords around my neck, and I literally told, like, three people in my family. I was like, I'm literally doing this just to say, ha ha, screw you. I don't care about these chords for any other reason. And no one directly.

00:33:13
I didn't mean it towards anyone directly. Just like life, you know what I mean? It was just a moment, and I know that those things are going to be on my resume regardless, but it was fun with that all. I think it was really just a prove wrong factor because I always had someone that doubted me consistently, whether it was a doctor, whether it was a teacher, whether it was a friend, whether it was, well, not really a friend, a friend, a peer, classmate, or multiple people. I mean, I had bullies throughout all of this, know whether it was.

00:33:54
You sound like you're from Australia or. You do not sound like you are from Australia. Let's just make that clear. I don't think so either. But this was also.

00:34:06
And my speech impediment was drastically know, or your nose was too big was. It was silly stuff, like, looking back, I laugh, you know what I mean? But at that time, it was traumatizing. Of course it was. Bullies are, and you do understand that bullies are.

00:34:30
They just feel really bad about themselves, so they make fun of another person so that they, in a weird, warp, twisted way, they feel a little bit better about themselves. And that's why people talk about other people, because they don't feel good about themselves. And so they start talking about another person, putting other people down, because in a weird, twisted, warp sense of way, it makes them feel better about themselves. So if you're one of those people that do it, don't do it. All you're doing is just showing how messed up you are.

00:34:57
I mean, really sorry, but it's true. It's true. If you're one of those people that's constantly putting other people down, if you're pointing the finger at somebody else, there's three fingers pointing right back at you. So if you're putting somebody else down, take a look in the mirror and take a look at yourself before you judge another person. That's what I have to say about that.

00:35:17
I agree. Yeah. But all this was super entertaining, and it constantly pushed me a little bit more to do a little bit more. And I wouldn't say that I've always had success in academia. Part of it was too, I didn't want to lose my cell phone.

00:35:42
Hey, whatever works. Hey, I wanted to keep my cell phone. I needed to be a cool kid on Instagram. You know what I mean? Absolutely.

00:35:53
There's those moments, too. There's those days that that was the sole purpose of trying to perform well academically. And then there was other days and other weeks where it was really just to prove people wrong, or it was just to do good for myself, and. Yeah, that sums that up. Yeah.

00:36:12
Well, what you did and what you've accomplished is no small feat. And I know so many people will stand right behind me and just congratulate you and just be like, it's absolutely amazing. All right, so I want to ask you, and before we started to record, we were talking about the struggles that you overcame, and I want to just point this out to everybody that even though technically, and I'm using air quotes here, you have been diagnosed from the doctors that you're on the spectrum the autism spectrum is what they now call it, correct? Is that correct? They just call it the spectrum.

00:36:54
Everybody's. And I just want you to know, because we talked about this very briefly before I hit record, we all have something wrong. It just comes in like every single human on the planet is not unscathed. We all have something that we're dealing with, and I understand why they have to make that diagnosis. Right, because you do need special care when you're young and all of that.

00:37:24
I just hope that you recognize as a woman and as a very successful young woman that it doesn't need to identify you and anybody else out there that's listening. You just have to know that we are all messed up. We all have something. And the challenges that I struggle with on a daily basis are very different than what you struggle with. But we're all struggling with something, and I just wanted to make sure that everybody understands that and is aware of that.

00:37:51
My desire to have you on is because there's so many parents out there and individuals, and I just love to share that perspective, that no matter what you've gone through, you can still reach that level of success that you have accomplished in such a short time. So I just want to really acknowledge you for that. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome.

00:38:13
So talk about what you're doing now. You're going to get your master's degree, but you also have other goals in life. What are some of those?

00:38:24
I guess the simplest way to put it would be I'm definitely getting my master's degree. I start grad school January 10. I'm finishing my alternative certification to teach special education. But after all of that, after a few years in the classroom and after getting my degree in ed policy, which is my master's, I do eventually want to go into the policy and law side of education, whether that's just as an advocate in teaching or a bigger role, anything advocating at any time, I can get a voice for special ed populations or educate or kids in the school system who need an extra hand. I want to do that.

00:39:13
Any form of advocacy for education. So I'm definitely finishing the masters and then going that route. I don't know how long I'll be in the classroom. It all kind of just depends. So when you talk about getting into advocacy and policy, are you referring to working with the school boards to institute new programs or present new programs to the school systems to help?

00:39:39
Or is it at a higher level with the state government or federal government? So the master's that I'm getting specifically puts you in ready and preparedness to be with government and nonprofits for educational policy. So that's hopefully the plan. I would love to be at a state level. If I have to start with the school board level, that works too.

00:40:09
You have to start somewhere, but growing in that field would be my goal long term. That's awesome. So what advice can you give any of the parents out there that may have a child that has special needs? Any advice that you can give them now that you are on the other side of it? You're now a young woman, young adult.

00:40:36
An adult. You're not really a young adult. You actually are officially an adult now, right at 21. So what advice can you give having been through all that, for parents that are dealing with some struggles with their children that may have special needs.

00:40:54
I guess the simplest way to put it is don't be scared to reach out for help. I'm always open to my dms being blown up, especially if it's to give you guiding advice. And I am lucky in that I was eventually able to talk and I was eventually able to do certain things. And there are some kids on the spectrum that may never have a voice. And the truth is, no matter where your kid is on the spectrum, in any part of the spectrum, whether that's communication or sensory or anything, because I don't believe that there's a high and a low as much as I believe that there's a high and a low for different areas.

00:41:40
And to give a specification really would be if for high functioning, I'm high functioning and speaking, I could talk to you all day, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, low functioning. If you throw me in the middle of a concert, I'm having a panic attack. I'm low functioning, you know what I mean? So I like to specify that. And so for those people that have kids that are low on the spectrum all the way around, or low in the spectrum in most areas, or vice versa, believe in your kids ability regardless, and give them the guidance and support that they need to get where they are and doubt other people's negativity.

00:42:30
And you're the parent, you know your kid best. And I mean, that's my personal belief, right? A teacher, a doctor, a professional can tell you anything, but at the end of the day, you spend the most time with your child. The doctor only knows what you tell them. The doctor only knows what they see.

00:42:49
For that 12 minutes, 25, 30 minutes appointment, the teacher only knows what they see for 8 hours a day. And even during an eight hour school day. How much time is the teacher spending on just your child? Probably not all 8 hours. I'd be a little concerned if it was all 8 hours just because there's other kids in that room.

00:43:12
Guide your child. Believe in your child. Allow that child to blossom through you. And I'm not a mom yet, so I can't speak to parenting, but I can say that as an educator, I always believe that the parent knows their child best. So make sure that the people in your avenue feel the same way and the people that are helping guide your child feel that way so your child can be successful under your help and under your guidance.

00:43:55
I love it. That's so awesome. Is there anything else that you'd like to share with the audience before we finish this up? I like to end every podcast I'm on, every speech I'm on, everything that I do. I like to say, imagine yourself as a Rubik's cube and don't let people peel your stickers off, because once your stickers are peeled, you'll never be the same.

00:44:20
And that's it for me. Oh, I love it. Becca, thank you so much. We're going to stay in touch, as I know we will. We are going to stay in touch.

00:44:29
We follow each other on social media and I want to have you back on. Maybe after you finish your master's, you know, maybe you'll just be somebody that I'll follow your journey while I have this podcast and just keep checking in with you because you are such a gift to this world and I'm just so proud of you. Thank you. And thank you of course. And thank you everyone for listening today.

00:45:05
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