"Too Much," "Too Distracted," "Too Sensitive": What Happens When School Isn't Built for Your Kid

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (00:07)
Without the couch, I'm Laurie Groh, owner of Shoreside Therapies. Today we're talking about something really close to my heart. and that's what happens to kids when they don't fit the mold school was built for. The ones called too much or too distracted, too sensitive, and what changes when a school is designed to believe in them instead. My guest is Jori Broidy.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (00:31)
of Open Wings Learning Community, a school built around neurodiversity. We also have Stacey with us from Shoreside Therapies. She works with children. she's gonna be a great resource today to also talk and ask questions for Jori. if you're parenting a kid who's struggling in a system that wasn't made for them, stay with us. All right. So your tagline.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (00:57)
Jori, is what if your child went to school that believed in them? So I just want to start there. I mean, incredible statement.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (01:05)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (01:06)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (01:07)
Incredible. so what does that look like? day one versus maybe like six months out, a year in. Tell me a little bit about what you notice.

Jori Broidy (01:17)
Yeah, I mean open wings really looks at kids in a different way. And we look at kids for who they are. And it's not to say that other schools don't, but we are able to see kids through a new lens. And we believe in them. It's exactly what we say. We are able to take kids and see them for the whole child. So we are not just focusing on test scores and academic performance.

Jori Broidy (01:43)
but really through a social emotional lens and being able to see that whole child. So when they walk in the door, they are in a small group setting from day one. Our class ratio, six kids to two teachers in every room. and they're really put together with a learning partner. So another c kid in their class, at least one other kid who is at their same social emotional level as well as their same academic level. So that doesn't necessarily mean that they're the same age. They might be

Jori Broidy (02:10)
a K one class or a one two class, but they're with someone that they can learn with. and they might come in timid that first day, but I will tell you, this past year and which was our first year in our Milwaukee campus, our kids came running in on day one. They were excited

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (02:24)
My gosh.

Jori Broidy (02:25)
and it didn't end. So six months in, so that was what, December, January,

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (02:28)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (02:29)
same thing. And on the last day it ended in in sadness. They didn't want the school year to end. They asked when when can we come back?

Jori Broidy (02:36)
They're excited every

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (02:36)
amazing.

Jori Broidy (02:37)
day to be at school because they feel safe. kids are not

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (02:39)
I got yeah, I yeah.

Jori Broidy (02:43)
on the outside, they're on the inside. They are part of a group every single day.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (02:48)
Yeah. And that just stands out to me as number one because just knowing like how my kids are with school, right? Like they're all different. Some have different degrees of what like, I love it, or I only go off so I can hang out with my friends. Or, you know, that there's all different types of opinions, but one thing that does seem like for a lot of kids is that they enter school with excitement.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (03:13)
And then as they move through it, it starts to be like, I don't want to go, or I just get yelled at, or you know, that there's there are certain things for sure that starts to happen in that school system. And you pointed out one of the things I've always wondered, which is why do they have kids at this is your age, and so you stay with these people forever

Jori Broidy (03:37)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (03:38)
and ever, just because they're the same age, even though

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (03:42)
even with my twins, they're s they're like so different in different areas that I would imagine across the board that there'd be so many differences in learning styles and where

Jori Broidy (03:53)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (03:54)
someone's at.

Jori Broidy (03:55)
Well, think about it as adults. When you make a new friend as an adult, the first thing you don't say to them is, you never go up to an adult and say, wait, how old are you before you become friends? So

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (04:04)
Thank

Jori Broidy (04:05)
why do we need to do that as kids? So we try to I mean we're we're obviously aware of how old a child is and we're cautious of where we put them, but they don't need to be the exact same age to be in the same class. They need to be able to learn together and to grow together. That's what's most important.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (04:24)
Right. Right. Yes, that piece of it. So that they that they aren't feeling lost. You know, that's the other thing. so I'm curious too on you've had 19 years of being in the educational system. And I'm just curious of what made you say, I want to do something different. I want to yeah, to to partner up with

Jori Broidy (04:44)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (04:44)
with this program.

Jori Broidy (04:46)
Yeah, so yeah, I've worked in a variety of different schools and different types of learning environments. Open Wings has a school in Kenosha that's been around for fourteen years. And I had an opportunity about a year and a half, two years ago to go visit their Kenosha school. And at this point they didn't have a school in Milwaukee. And I've always had this affinity towards working with kids that learn differently.

Jori Broidy (05:07)
And whether it was their learning style or their behavior, and I will tell you it's mostly the behavior, I just always loved working with kids who struggled with behavior. because really behavior is communication. They're trying to tell us something, and they typically can't for whatever reason. and so I when I went to open wings in Kenosha, I got I saw it and I was like, God, this is so neat. You know, these kids are able to say what they need to say in a different way. And when I

Jori Broidy (05:33)
A year ago, when I knew that I was leaving, or year and a half at this point, when I was leaving my current job, which I loved so much, but I was ready to try something new. There was an opportunity for a new school in Milwaukee, which I've always wanted to be a part of a new school. And they said we're looking for a director. And I just said, you know, I here's my chance. Here's my opportunity to work with the kids that I've always wanted to work with, also to be in a new school. Why not? Why I love a risk, I love trying something new.

Jori Broidy (06:02)
Why wouldn't I do it? So I jumped on the opportunity.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (06:07)
Right, right. so with your with the Milwaukee location, can you share a little bit about ages, right? 'cause Kenosha

Jori Broidy (06:15)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (06:16)
is that is elementary to seventeen, is that?

Jori Broidy (06:20)
yeah, we are kindergarten through twelfth grade in Kenosha.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (06:23)
Okay. Yeah.

Jori Broidy (06:24)
in Milwaukee. So we started this past September in September 2025. We started with five kids. they were kindergarten through first grade. we ended the year with seven kids, and we ended with a second grader as well. We will start in September right now. We have fifteen kids enrolled. So we tripled our enrolment already

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (06:43)
My gosh.

Jori Broidy (06:45)
for the new year, which is really exciting.

Jori Broidy (06:47)
And we will be serving kids this year in kindergarten through third grade as of right now for the 26-27th school year. Our goal is someday to be just like Kenosha. We would love

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (06:59)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (06:59)
to have a kindergarten garden all the way through high school. There is a need for it in Milwaukee. There's a that's

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (07:04)
Thank you.

Jori Broidy (07:04)
our plan. likely we will get there sooner

Jori Broidy (07:08)
this year we're looking at probably stopping at around third grade.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (07:11)
right now is there still just to check in, is there still openings for this year?

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (07:16)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (07:17)
There are openings.

Jori Broidy (07:18)
we are we are slowly getting closer to capacity, but there are still openings for this year. we encourage parents to come check us out to call. we can get people the information. but definitely there are still openings. and we tell parents like a lot of times what we hear from parents is, but I want to wait and see what happens. That's a big thing people say is but I want to wait. And then what happens is they call us and they say, Well, I I started my school, whether it's private school or public school.

Jori Broidy (07:45)
and they get into the year and you know, the year starts out like most school years, it's sunshine and rainbows. and then then we get the call that says, My kids getting yelled at all the time or I'm getting calls to pick up my child, which is a lot of times I get that. I'm getting calls to pick up my child and now they want to come. And I what I'm encouraging parents to do is to say, Why wait?

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (08:04)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (08:04)
Why wait for that call? Come to us now.

Jori Broidy (08:07)
I had a I love to share the story if I can real quick. I had a mom, she came the the a child came to us just this past spring. And on the I don't know, maybe it was the child's second day of school, the mom said, Well, you you didn't call me during the day. And I said, Well, why why

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (08:18)
you

Jori Broidy (08:19)
would I? And she said, Well, my old school called all the time. And I said, Yeah, we don't do that. Like we're not calling you to pick up at everything. You know, at open wings, it it's okay. Kids are going to have meltdowns, kids are gonna struggle.

Jori Broidy (08:33)
But the difference here is kids will struggle and then they'll move on and they'll just jump back into their daily routine. And it's all part of the growing and the learning process. And I think it just flipped not only the child's way of looking at school, but the parents' way, because now they can look at school differently, and school becomes not a thing where the parent has to sit by the phone and wait for the phone call, but school becomes just a normal part of their day.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (09:02)
Yeah. And a couple of things with what you're saying, with is really that resiliency, it sounds like is just being built within the system, right? And being able to move through something quickly, right? And and just some of my experience, and I'd love to hear about Stacey's experience with working with kids that might have some behavioral issues at school.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (09:23)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (09:24)
it's like w sometimes one thing and then the whole day's shot.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (09:29)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (09:29)
you

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (09:29)
know, for that kid. It's like, okay, there's a meltdown or something and then they get maybe it's go out to the hall or go into, you know, the counseling area and then then it's like, okay, then we'll we'll get a call or like a pickup or something like that. but yeah, I'd love to hear Stacey's

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (09:49)
Yeah, I love

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (09:51)
listening to Jorie talk about this because I feel like just even knowing about her school has opened up lot of conversations for me just in my own therapy practice with parents of kids that are struggling. And, you know, thinking about all the kids that I've worked with over the last 20 years that, you know, I've helped them try to get an IEP in their school that works for them, the best that that school can provide, right? Yet still.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (10:17)
So many of those parents are coming in so stressed out, like the teacher's calling me constantly, like you were saying, or the IEP is just not working, we have to revisit it, or just whatever's not working for that kid, because just the regular school environment just doesn't work for every kid. And so ever since, you in the last year or so, since I've known about her school, I have brought it up in several conversations of saying, you know,

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (10:44)
Maybe this would be a good fit for you. I don't know, but maybe have a conversation with Jori. See if your kid could thrive in this setting that's more designed for them. And that's okay. It's okay that kids have different needs and everybody wants to set them up for success. And so I

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (11:04)
Right.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (11:05)
think it's just such a cool, it's just such a cool place that

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (11:10)
definitely I agree was lacking in our area and so I'm excited to see it thrive more.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (11:16)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And

Jori Broidy (11:18)
I think

Jori Broidy (11:18)
we forget

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (11:18)
I'm yeah.

Jori Broidy (11:19)
though also that Mo and I think this is what what a lot of times what parents are nervous about is we this area is known for having great schools and we do. There are fabulous schools around here. And so this

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (11:28)
Yes. Bless.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (11:29)
Mm.

Jori Broidy (11:32)
is not a knock on the schools. Schools are great,

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (11:34)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (11:35)
but we have to look where our kids are and what our children need. And sometimes

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (11:38)
Mm-hmm.

Jori Broidy (11:39)
our kids need something different, and that's okay. And so it doesn't mean that our schools, you know

Jori Broidy (11:46)
are bad. It just means our kids need something else.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (11:49)
Mm-hmm. Right.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (11:49)
Yeah, and

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (11:50)
I think even like for me from the parent perspective, going through having a child that had some special needs and needing to get an IEP that would work for her in her school was a struggle. It was a big conversation. It was a lot of back and forth. And, you know, when I was going through this, obviously this wasn't an available option for us. But now, you know, she has the services she needs. She's thriving, luckily, but that doesn't always

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (12:16)
work out that way, right?

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (12:17)
Mm.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (12:18)
And I also was fortunate to have a lot of background in doing these things and knowing what to ask for, which a lot of parents don't. And so then they get so overwhelmed. And so it's just so, it's such a scary process because you're trying to trust people with your kid who also already has extra needs for most of their day. And so even to hear Jori just say the word, like these kids feel safe, that's...

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (12:42)
Yeah.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (12:43)
I mean, how can you learn if you don't feel safe, right? That's just,

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (12:46)
a hundred percent.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (12:47)
it just doesn't work. And so I think having the opportunity to even potentially go to your school is awesome.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (12:55)
Yeah, I think you said it brilliantly when you said like how can somebody learn when they don't feel safe and we forget about that and

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (13:03)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (13:04)
we forget too like what that experience is really like

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (13:08)
some of those behaviors really are because they're lost, you know, like getting up and getting getting water or going to the bathroom, like as many, you know, things like that. And and it is because they're already lost and like embarrassed and not gonna ask questions. And so I think just even having some more conversations about what what do your kids actually need in that school environment.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (13:33)
How do they signal that they don't know what's going on? Most kids are not gonna raise their hand and say, I'm lost.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (13:40)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (13:41)
I don't know what's going on. Can we back this up? They're gonna stay silent.

Jori Broidy (13:46)
think

Jori Broidy (13:47)
also it's class size that does that too. Like when you're in

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (13:50)
Yes.

Jori Broidy (13:50)
a class of 15 kids or 20 kids or what we're seeing a lot now is 25 to 30 kids, you're not gonna s raise your hand in front of all your friends and say that. No, you're you're gonna shy away or you're gonna act out or you know, and so when we can give somebody a room of six or seven kids or five kids, it it's a little easier to to say what you need.

Jori Broidy (14:14)
Or we have the ability to give them different strategies that you can't give when there's so many kids in the room.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (14:20)
Yeah. And I was lucky growing up where I had a very small class size. We had like eleven in our in our class. And I would say that my comfort level was pretty extreme. Like I felt really comfortable, like they were family, you know.

Jori Broidy (14:37)
Great.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (14:38)
not all like best friends, right? besides David, shout out to David. but like

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (14:42)
you

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (14:45)
but that

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (14:46)
that feeling of like when you work with a a a great group, you might not always be hanging out with everybody, but you enjoy and feel safe and comfortable in that environment. You can ask questions, you can challenge, you can say what you think. And I would just imagine that that's all a part of it. And what an important part of learning to be able to take information in and then play with it and then use it, right? Versus like,

Jori Broidy (15:14)
Absolutely.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (15:16)
I

Jori Broidy (15:16)
you're

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (15:16)
would venture to guess that like

Jori Broidy (15:16)
but you're a hundred percent right.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (15:18)
in the classroom at your school, that it's much easier to recognize if there's problems or struggles between kids, between peers, and that you can address those more quickly, probably, I'm thinking, than like

Jori Broidy (15:31)
Absolutely.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (15:32)
a class of 30 where the teacher might not even notice, so-and-so is picking on so-and-so and the kids don't know how to handle it.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (15:40)
Mm.

Jori Broidy (15:40)
Yeah,

Jori Broidy (15:40)
I mean we definitely can pick on you know pick up on things pretty quickly. We also utilize zones of regulation and we talk a lot about what zone are you in and if you're you know you're not in the green zone, that's okay. You're not feeling good right now. How do we help you? You know,

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (15:57)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (15:57)
you're you're feeling sad, you're in the blue zone. All right, how do we help you with that? We want you to feel good. We know that people aren't happy all the time. We know that you're sad.

Jori Broidy (16:08)
Okay, how do we help you to get back to that point where you do feel good again? What do you need? We talk a lot about what do you need right now?

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (16:15)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (16:15)
and it's easy to pick that up when there's, you know, two teachers in the room i and they

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (16:20)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (16:20)
can see that.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (16:22)
Yeah, I love that.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (16:22)
Yeah. Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (16:24)
So I'm curious too on like what that typical day looks like for a student.

Jori Broidy (16:30)
Yeah, great question. So our day starts with physical movement right away when they get in. we use the Spark program. They are we start with some exercises before they even enter into like their classroom. So we're starting with physical exercises, crossing the midline, getting their brains and their bodies going right off the bat. then we do some playtime.

Jori Broidy (16:54)
you know, giving giving them a little bit of a chance to just get acclimated into their day. And you know, sometimes kids have, as you will know, a hard transition from the morning or they're tired or, you know, just a little bit of independent playtime, or sometimes they'll play with each other. then into a morning meeting every day where we are talking about, you know, your typical morning meeting things like calendar, weather, things like that. We always go through our schedule. everything we do includes both

Jori Broidy (17:22)
Auditory as well as visual cues. So lots of visual schedules. And our morning meeting is both the calendar and weather, as well as that's when we start the discussion of the zones of regulation. So the kids lead the morning meeting. Obviously, at the beginning of the year, the teachers have to help. By the end of the

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (17:41)
Like

Jori Broidy (17:42)
year, you talk about like what a six months of the year and the end of the year look like. Sometimes I say by the end of the year.

Jori Broidy (17:47)
I I swear we could leave and the kids would run the whole day. Like they just know the routine. Our day

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (17:49)
you

Jori Broidy (17:52)
is so s routine because that's what kids need. They need that

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (17:55)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (17:56)
structure. so they do a whole thing where they go around and they ask each other what zone they're in and how they're feeling that day.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (18:02)
my gosh.

Jori Broidy (18:03)
Right off the bat. our morning is literacy and math. so we start with reading, go right from reading right into math. In between read, I'm sorry, in between reading and math is recess. we go outside twice a day.

Jori Broidy (18:15)
all year. We live in Wisconsin. Kids need play outside, whether it's s sunny or snowy, and it could be both in any given day, as you know. We eat

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (18:22)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (18:23)
lunch as a school community. So one of the things I do as a school director is I eat lunch with the kids every single day. We use that time as a social time as well. We talk about our day. We talk about what we're having for lunch. We use that as a time to work on manners. Kids with diverse learning needs, particularly kids with neurodiversity

Jori Broidy (18:42)
it is hard to get them to sit at a table sometimes. They have specific food food preferences, they struggle with eating with others, but we use that as a time where we work on sitting at the table. Can be challenging, but everybody works on it. And our afternoon is writing and social studies and science. We have sensory time. and we go outside again in the afternoon. So all of that packed into our day from 8:30 to 3.

Jori Broidy (19:07)
And our day, our school year I should say, also includes field trips. We are in field trips all throughout the year. We went on probably seven or eight this year. and

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (19:17)
Gosh.

Jori Broidy (19:18)
we will that and that's probably a low number.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (19:19)
Wow.

Jori Broidy (19:20)
I think our Kenosha campus probably went on ten or eleven or twelve. I mean, they really knock out a lot of field trips.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (19:26)
Wow,

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (19:26)
Great.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (19:26)
that is that is awesome too. I know it just my daughter talks about wishing that there was more more field trips, you know,

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (19:34)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (19:35)
just being able to like go and do things and and learn in a a totally different way and s and be standing a lot of times on field trips, right? You're standing, walking around and it's

Jori Broidy (19:46)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (19:46)
a lot, I think, too, to just kind of sit in that, you know, I'm not saying that it's across the board, but to be sitting for a certain amount of time.

Jori Broidy (19:55)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (19:56)
and from what I'm told, seats aren't that comfortable. That's what my daughter says. Like yeah.

Jori Broidy (20:02)
Lot of seating options at our school, a lot of different

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (20:02)
That's so funny.

Jori Broidy (20:05)
options and places to sit because you know, kids are not meant to sit in desks all day. So

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (20:10)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (20:10)
communal tables, but like we have wobble chairs and we have kick bands and you know, you might find a kid sitting on the floor. I don't care if you sit upside down if that's the best way you do your work. Great, you know.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (20:19)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (20:22)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (20:23)
you know, it's interesting, we talk about field experiences and that's what we call our field trips. I am learning that children with

Jori Broidy (20:31)
neurodiversity our children a lot of their parents get nervous to take them on field trips and

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (20:38)
Mm.

Jori Broidy (20:39)
and take them out into the world not even field trips when they're with parents but you know take them places because they're scared they've not done this before or they've they don't know what their kids gonna do or what happens if they have a meltdown and so they haven't been a lot of places some of our kids and so one of the things that we do is we say let us let us do this with you.

Jori Broidy (20:58)
Come with us, join us on the field trip. and so they're not as nervous if they come with us, or they'll say, no, no, no, you do the first one, and then we'll join you on another one. That's fine too. And we're okay

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (21:08)
you

Jori Broidy (21:09)
with that too, but we've I mean we've gone to the museum and the zoo and the fire station, and we went out to a camp this year. all kids deserve to see the world. And

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (21:19)
Mm. Yeah.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (21:20)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (21:21)
one of our

Jori Broidy (21:22)
this is what actually drew me to the school is when I first came to see it, the Kenosha campus, our all the high school kids were telling me about how they took a trip downtown Chicago, they all took the train down there, and they went to go draw the the Chicago architecture. So here's all our kids on Michigan Avenue drawing the Chicago skyline. I mean, can you think of a better field experience for our students?

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (21:47)
No, for me, I wanna do that.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (21:48)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (21:49)
Right? I know.

Jori Broidy (21:50)
So do I.

Jori Broidy (21:54)
But it's about giving our kids

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (21:54)
That my gosh.

Jori Broidy (21:55)
experiences and and remembering that our kids have just as much potential as any other child out there.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (22:03)
Yeah, yeah.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (22:04)
Yeah, I love, I just love the what's behind, I guess, what you're saying, like the adaptability, but also the routine that you guys offer is just something that sometimes because of class sizes, because of whatever can't be offered even in these other amazing schools. And it's like, it's kind of the same with like, you know, when a kid comes into my office, I might have a plan for that day because I know what they've been going through. know what their struggles are.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (22:31)
But if they come into my office and they've had a terrible day and they're totally dysregulated, my plan goes out the window and we readjust on how we're gonna deal with that session and help them work through whatever they need, right? And that's just not always possible in every single setting. And so I think that that's really cool that you guys like check in on that. And how can I

Jori Broidy (22:55)
And you have to.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (22:56)
help you? Yeah, yeah, I think that's just the...

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (23:00)
best way to make kids feel safe and be able to learn.

Jori Broidy (23:04)
And I think like one of the things we talk about this with our staff our school has a huge commitment to professional learning for our staff. And I think we you we tell our staff like the best laid plans don't always happen. You know, you know, our planning you might have that whole week planned and it might all change by Tuesday. And that's okay. Because you g have to go with what these kids need and we have some pretty incredible staff working at open wings at both campuses and

Jori Broidy (23:31)
y you you won't you won't understand it 'til you come see it. So I I mean that's what I always tell people. People just need to

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (23:34)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jori Broidy (23:36)
come out and see the schools.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (23:37)
Yes. Yes.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (23:38)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (23:39)
Yes. yeah. And I'm I'm curious too, like just a couple of things of what we were talking about, right? Like not everybody I mean it sounds like I would want everybody to go to your school, right? But not everybody is going to. So I'm I'm curious if you have any thoughts of like of what maybe parents can do if if they're not able.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (24:00)
to come to open wings? Are there some things that maybe they could be looking at as far as like different learning styles, any any tips that could be useful for them at at their typical school, at their traditional school?

Jori Broidy (24:15)
Yeah. Listen, I I agree with you. Not everyone's gonna be able to come. Like there's there might be a financial barrier, which we will work with people, but there's right, there might be a location barrier. but I think communication is key. Sit down with your child's teacher, sit down with the school principal and say, Hey, I wanna work together. How could we do this? I think one of the best things that you can do for your kid is figure out what the schedule is at school. Try to mimic it at home.

Jori Broidy (24:43)
also talk about what are the things that you're what are the s routines that your teacher is trying to build in? Are there call and responses that are working really well at school that are getting your child's attention? If you're having trouble getting your child's attention at home, maybe your, you know, kids love to play outside after school and you can't get your kid to come in, but you know that the teacher uses something that works really well, great,

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (25:05)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (25:06)
use that at home. Anything

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (25:07)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (25:08)
that you can mimic that's working well at school.

Jori Broidy (25:10)
That you can do at home, and vice versa. If you can tell, you know, I know that teachers can't implement everything from home, but maybe I've seen teachers that use like a little notebook where you can write a little note to your teacher, hey, this is how the night went, so that they know what the kid's coming in like.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (25:27)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (25:27)
And that the teacher can read it first thing in the morning, hey, he so and so had a great night of sleep. They were a little nervous this morning coming in because of whatever reason, and then the teacher

Jori Broidy (25:39)
Has that in their back pocket for

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (25:40)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (25:40)
the rest of the day.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (25:41)
Yeah. Or even

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (25:42)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (25:42)
those meltdowns sometimes that happen in those transitions of getting the shoes on.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (25:48)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (25:48)
I feel like that's the thing I hear about most parents are

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (25:50)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (25:51)
like, I just get those shoes on. Let's go.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (25:54)
you

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (25:54)
and just even giving that teacher a heads up of like, there was yeah, it was a rough start because then at least that there's some

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (26:04)
acknowledgement that that's I mean it does a couple of things. It makes it not the teacher's fault, right? If a kid is like

Jori Broidy (26:10)
Right.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (26:11)
responding in a certain way and it makes it makes sense and there's something to pull from of like, okay, this is what

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (26:18)
happens if so and so is having a rough morning, they might need a little quiet time right away or they might need a couple high fives

Jori Broidy (26:28)
and then there's one other one if I can share that I think

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (26:30)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (26:30)
works so easily for every school. for a kid who tends to like get overstimulated and get frustrated, a frustration bag. So parents make it with the kid at home. Couple things that the kid can do when they are frustrated. So when I am frustrated, I can't. So you can't hit, obviously. You can't kick people, you can't scream out. But here's the things I can do. I can read a book.

Jori Broidy (26:54)
I can play with a fidget. I can do, have you seen those plus plus blocks? I can play

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (26:59)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (27:00)
with those, you know. And if the parent can send them in, they can send those five items in, you put them in a little bag, they go in the kid's cubby, and the kid and the teacher have an agreement that the kid, the teacher can just point to the bag and the kid can go. That's so helpful. We use them at our school. Any school can do that. It's no work on the teacher's end because the parent has already sent them in.

Jori Broidy (27:23)
And then the parent has the exact same bag at home. It mirrors it.

Jori Broidy (27:28)
you keep one in your car for when you're on the go as well. Things like that. teachers are the hardest working people in the world. Like

Jori Broidy (27:36)
but like things like this that are easily done for the teacher and in the classroom will help the kid and the teacher.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (27:43)
Yeah, I love that. It's such a great idea and that it's parallel, like that there's the same exact one at home. Because that is something that right,

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (27:50)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (27:50)
Yeah, that's key.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (27:52)
that that sometimes doesn't transfer so well. Like, I have this this tool here and a different one here. And so part of that automatic thinking, you know, isn't gonna develop quite the same way if if there's two separate things going on. Like, I can use this

Jori Broidy (28:09)
Right.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (28:10)
at any point.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (28:11)
it starts to become just second nature. Yeah.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (28:15)
you

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (28:17)
Really cool. So, I wanna just check in a little bit and and check and see if there's anything we missed today, anything you'd want parents to know, anything that they could maybe take away from our conversation.

Jori Broidy (28:30)
The biggest takeaway is to know that there's options and to not get yourself stuck in a rut and to know that you you are your child's best advocate and there's always something else out there for your kid, and to ask for it and use your resources, whether it's your therapist, a friend, another educator out there, and to know that that there's places and there's things you can do. open Wings is happy to be there for to support your child.

Jori Broidy (28:55)
and I always tell parents, if we're not the right school for you, I will help you find the right school. Because every child deserves a good education.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (29:04)
Yeah, I love that.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (29:04)
again.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (29:04)
And a and one more thing that it just made me think of is, you know, that the therapeutic piece, right? Where, you know, when we've talked last, you shared that that peop like therapists are welcome to come into the school.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (29:18)
Mmm.

Jori Broidy (29:19)
Yeah, so

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (29:19)
And that's yeah.

Jori Broidy (29:21)
that's a huge thing. So kids who receive private speech or private OT, their therapists are welcome to come in and do that at school. So right now we have a partnership with St. Francis Children's Center. They come in and do speech and OT there. For anyone who signs up, it runs directly through their insurance. They can have that at the school. if you get those therapies somewhere else, they can do it there. If a child receives mental health therapy,

Jori Broidy (29:47)
Your therapist is welcome to come and do therapy at school. and the re part of why we offer that is at the end of the day, kids are exhausted. And so, one, that four o'clock coveted appointment is often hard to get.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (29:59)
Yeah.

Jori Broidy (30:00)
And two, your therapist is gonna get the best of your child at 10 a.m., whether it's at 10, but not at 4 p.m. And so we tell people like, let your therapist come to school. We are okay with it. part of educating the whole child is.

Jori Broidy (30:15)
is their mental health too. And so we are happy to let them come in and do that. for children with autism, we work well with EBA therapists. They're welcome to come in too. So there's you know, we we're ha we want to collaborate with everyone.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (30:30)
I love that so much because I have seen that be a barrier with so many kids that I've worked with or, you know, parents that just can't, they can't get them to, you know, PT, OT, all the things during, you know, pulling them out of school. It can be challenging when your kid has a lot of services. And I think,

Jori Broidy (30:51)
It is. It's hard.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (30:53)
yeah, and especially that the mental health piece too, I think.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (30:56)
you hit it right on the head. It's like, sometimes their best self is going to be during the school day. And so I think that that's so awesome because I've definitely

Jori Broidy (31:07)
Yeah.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (31:08)
run into that as an issue before. even trying to sometimes get parents to like encouraging them to advocate for that. They're kind of like, I don't know. I don't know if the school will be OK with that. And so it's good to know right off the bat, we're OK with that.

Jori Broidy (31:22)
Yes. We are okay.

Jori Broidy (31:23)
I tell parents at every tour. We welcome therapists, we encourage it, we have a space for them. I would rather you give them an hour I'd rather give them an hour of our time every week to know that your child's needs are being met. It's important.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (31:37)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (31:38)
Yeah. Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (31:39)
And how that just it can impact the school day too on a positive note. And reduces

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (31:43)
Thank you.

Jori Broidy (31:44)
so

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (31:45)
it reduces the stress too on the parent of going like drive you know, that part too. I think I you know, from my experience

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (31:52)
Yes.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (31:53)
I talk to Stacey about this a lot, is like my most stressful is actually just driving kids. It's not it's not any like other thing than just like I gotta get here. I gotta get here.

Jori Broidy (32:03)
Right.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (32:04)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (32:04)
And to

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (32:04)
be able to say,

Jori Broidy (32:04)
Yeah.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (32:05)
like, this this is gonna work with you and with your family and with the needs of your kid.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (32:12)
parents of special needs kids especially are already starting out at a higher stress level, just

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (32:18)
Yeah.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (32:18)
innately trying to fit everything in and trying to do the best for their kid that has maybe some different needs. And so it's so awesome to just feel like the people that you are allowing to be around your kids are being the most supportive that they can be.

Jori Broidy (32:33)
O open wings is for your family. It's not just for

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (32:33)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jori Broidy (32:36)
your kid. It's how do we support your family? That's I think that's

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (32:37)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jori Broidy (32:39)
what's important for people.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (32:41)
So Jori, I'd love to hear how people could reach out to you and how they can get set up with a tour, which, yeah.

Jori Broidy (32:48)
Absolutely.

Jori Broidy (32:49)
So on our website, you can reach out to us there. also calling our school.

Jori Broidy (32:55)
And certainly call us. I would love to give people a tour. I think that's the best first step. Come in, meet us, see what we're all about. And I think that's that's the best place to start.

Jori Broidy (33:05)
and I always am willing to connect families with a current parent because I think that the best way to really understand is to talk to someone who's here.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (33:15)
Yeah. totally agree. Like that that information is so important of what is it actually like from that perspective. so they know, right? Like that's the thing is knowing

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (33:26)
Thank

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (33:27)
exactly what to expect. I mean the kids want it, we want it. Yeah. Yeah.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (33:30)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jori Broidy (33:31)
Right. I mean you're and you're making a choice. It's

Jori Broidy (33:34)
it is a financial commitment. It's a choice. It's sometimes it means taking your kids to two different schools and we we understand that and we respect it and we want it to be comfortable for your family.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (33:46)
Yeah, I love that. All right. Thank you so much, Jori. And thank you, Stacey. And I will put your

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (33:51)
know.

Laurie Groh MS LPC SAS (33:52)
all of your information in the show notes. And if you'd like to work with Stacey, I'll also have her information there as well. She works with kiddos and moms with kids with special needs. So feel free to reach out and thanks again for chatting with me today.

Stacey Glasenapp MS LPC (34:12)
Thanks, Laurie.

Jori Broidy (34:12)
Thank you.