Meet The Owner
Hello! My name is Michelle Velazquez. I am a Master IEP Coach®, Special Education Advocate, and Consultant.
I bring five years of direct special education advocacy experience, grounded in real classrooms, real IEPs, and real students. My work is supported by advanced leadership and Collaborative Special Education Leadership training through the Master IEP Coach® network, where I have been recognized as an Idea Bringer, Solution Finder, and Team Builder within the IEP process.
I specialize in supporting students with Autism, ADHD, sensory processing needs, behavior challenges, and executive functioning needs, with a focus on helping teams understand how these areas impact learning, regulation, and day-to-day school performance.
My work is grounded in a neuroscience-informed, brain-based understanding of cognitive functioning—recognizing that attention, regulation, processing, and behavior are all connected. What may present as inattention, refusal, or lack of motivation is often a reflection of how the brain is processing information, managing demands, and responding to the environment in real time.
Through ongoing professional development and behavior intervention training rooted in a brain-based lens, I support teams in connecting cognitive load, sensory input, emotional regulation, and executive functioning to what is being observed in the classroom. This allows us to move beyond surface-level descriptions of behavior and toward a clearer understanding of why a student is struggling, so supports can be aligned with how the student’s brain is actually functioning.
I am a Certified Facilitator of the Master IEP Coach® IEP Development Wheel™, guiding teams through structured, student-centered conversations that align present levels, goals, services, and implementation.
I am also the author and founder of the Stimulation Profile System—a classroom-tested framework designed to help school teams understand behavior, regulation, and executive functioning before challenges escalate into crisis.
In addition to my advocacy and consulting work, I serve as a Parent District Representative on the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) within Iosco County, Michigan, where I support collaboration between families, districts, and the broader special education community.
Advocacy in Action: How I Work as an Advocate & Master IEP Coach®
Today, I use my lived experience as a professional and a Parent of two children on the Autism Spectrum and one with a mild Cognitive Impairment, along with my training and professional expertise, to serve as a bridge instead of a wedge.
I help families translate what they see at home into language that school teams can understand and act on. I help schools interpret behavior as a signal rather than a character flaw, while still honoring accountability and student expectations.
I am very clear about one core truth:
Behavior is not the crisis—it is the signal.
Sometimes that signal is disability-related, sometimes it is genetic, sometimes it is environmental, and sometimes we genuinely do not know yet. But regardless of the cause, it deserves to be understood before it is judged.
What sets my work apart is how I apply this understanding in real situations. I do not approach IEPs as a checklist or a legal script. I approach them as working systems—where communication, data, and team dynamics directly impact outcomes for the student.
I ask the questions others avoid—while keeping the conversation productive.
I translate parent concerns into clear, documented educational needs.
I connect behavior, data, and educational impact so teams can see the full picture.
With parents, my work is about turning overwhelm into clarity and emotion into a plan. We look at evaluations, diagnoses, behavior logs, and progress reports together. I help you understand what is medical-based, what is educational-based, and where those lines overlap in the real world.
When behavior, anxiety, sensory overload, and “we are not sure what else to try” start to drive the school day, I am the person people call when they want clarity, not chaos. Parents come to me when their gut is saying something is still off, even though the progress report says “making adequate progress.” That feeling is usually there for a reason—and I help you figure out exactly what is being missed and how to address it in a way the school team can respond to.
My work shows up in the room when parents bring me into the process—usually at the point where behavior plans are not matching what is actually happening in the classroom, when records use words like “refusal” or “non-participation,” and it is clear that something important is missing from the full picture.
With school districts, my work is about refinement and fidelity. I help teams reframe “defiance” and “refusal” as signals that something is not working, without erasing expectations or the student code of conduct. I support leadership and staff in understanding how regulation and executive functioning show up through behavior, attendance, work completion, shutdowns, and engagement. Through the Stimulation Profile System and targeted coaching, I help districts make their documentation more accurate, their plans more responsive, and their IEP conversations more aligned and productive.
I believe students should not have to mask, white-knuckle, or collapse their way through the school day because adults did not have the language or framework to support them differently. I also believe staff should not be left to guess their way through complex behavior without clear systems, consistent tools, and realistic expectations. My work exists in that middle ground. I am here to make sure accountability, support, and understanding can coexist.
If you are a parent, you do not have to choose between staying silent and going to war with the school. If you are a school or district leader, you do not have to choose between protecting your staff and acknowledging that something in the system needs to shift. There is another way forward, and it starts with conversations rooted in facts, framed with care, and delivered with calm authority.
This is what I bring to the table. This is what I do every day.
I help turn insight into action and behavior into a story the whole team can finally understand—so the student at the center of all of this can actually get what they need.
—Michelle Velazquez
My role is to help you feel clear, supported, and confident in the decisions you are making for your child.
If things feel scattered, overwhelming, or not adding up, this is where we slow it down and start making sense of what is actually happening—so you can move forward with direction, not guesswork.
You do not need perfect words. You do not need to have everything figured out.
You just need a starting point.
This is a real conversation focused on your child, your concerns, and what comes next.
You can contact me directly, and I will respond within 2 business days:
Please email me: mvelazquez@michellesspedadvocacy.org
Phone: (314) 445-9639
All calls are confidential. Your information remains private.