​​Happy New Year! We can’t believe it’s already 2026. We made it through the holidays, which can be a particularly challenging time for many students. Our last episode of 2025 covered the topics of misbehavior and dysregulation, and we continue in that direction with today’s guest. Join us to learn more!

Dr. Desirie Sykes is a speaker, leader, advocate, author, and CEO. She is the founder of NESS Behavior Consulting and NESS Cares, a nonprofit in New York. NESS Behavior Consulting provides resources for mental health and special education, targeting children with a primary diagnosis of autism. Dr. Sykes collaborates with local school districts in the Long Island, NY, area, providing support and services tailored to meet a student’s IEP. Her passion is to enlighten, uplift, and empower, while changing the narrative around mental health and providing accessible resources to those who need them.

Show Highlights:

1. Being sensitive and intuitive when behavior signals a deeper mental health issue
2. Bridging the gap between home and school behavior: A look at the big picture
3. Parents should speak up in IEP meetings and ask questions confidently.
4. Identifying your “starting point” in getting real about behavioral responses
5. The challenge: Turning functional behavioral plans into doable bits
6. Importance of concrete, objective data about student behavior
7. “How does the child feel about their environment?”
8. Look at the big picture, not just the IEP meeting.
9. Implementation of the needed supports is the key!
10. One thing Dr. Sykes wants educators and parents to know
11. Services available through NESS Behavior Consulting

Resources:

Connect with Dr. Desirie Sykes

NESS Behavior Consulting

NESS Cares

DesirieSykes.com

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

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This episode will be the final one of 2025, as we take a break from the podcast over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Before we introduce today’s topic and guest, we want to address the “elephant in the room”: the shifts happening in the Department of Education under the Trump administration. Just a heads-up: following us on Instagram is the best way to stay up to date on current happenings in our world. Please keep in touch! Today’s topic is behavior and discipline with our guest, Dr. Doug Bolton. Join us!

Dr. Doug Bolton is a clinical psychologist who has always been drawn to working with kids who experience behavioral problems. Knowing that being in schools gives him the best vantage point from which to help kids, Doug became a school psychologist and later a principal at a therapeutic school. He is currently a consultant working with families to help vulnerable kids become more resilient. From his unique perspective and wide range of experience, he wrote the book Untethered.

Show Highlights:

• When it comes to discipline and punishment with our kids, we are getting it wrong.
• Incentives, motivations, and punishments
• Regulation and dysregulation show up differently for different kids. (“Misbehavior is stress behavior.” –Stuart Shanker)
• Figure out the “why” of the stress—and help them learn to cope.
• How punishments reinforce failure and create shame
• Understanding upstream vs. downstream behaviors
• Our expectations of students under the guise of “academic rigor”
• The results of our insensitivity to kids’ developmental needs
• An issue of development: Kids born in August are 31% more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than kids born in September.
• Steps to create upstream solutions to help kids build resilience when they misbehave:
• Focus on assisting them to get regulated.
• Get curious, and listen to what’s going on with them.
• Get them talking to each other to create a community of belonging.
• The value of taking a classroom to “pause and ponder.”

Resources:

Connect with Dr. Doug Bolton: Website and Untethered

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show.

Be sure to connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns: Facebook,

With so many school holidays fast approaching, there are many kids who need interventions right now, and their parents are panicking. Furthermore, the effects of the government shutdown are being felt as Head Start programs are having to close their doors. Families are scrambling, and we are witnessing significant shifts that are having a profound impact on our kids. Today’s guest shares her perspective on anti-DEI sentiment and the current state of our country, affecting both education and the corporate world.

Nadine Jones is a 2003 graduate of Howard Law School, with a background in antitrust and corporate law as a general counsel. In January of 2025, she left that corporate position to work from home as a consultant. As the mother of a special-needs son, she has insight into what parents in the US face today.

Show Highlights:

• Nadine’s perspective on the most immediate risks to legal compliance in the shutting down of DEI programs
• Anti-DEI sentiment, which causes major problems for contractors whose top customer is the federal government
• Diverse workforces and better marketplace competition
• Nadine’s advice for educators who want to do the right thing for their students (in lower and higher education)
• Ethical considerations when funding is not available
• What was so attractive about eliminating DEI?
• Nadine’s thoughts about what’s coming and what our attitudes should be
• The importance of letting the data ground what we do
• DEI work can go on, even when it’s not termed “DEI.”

Resources:

Connect with Nadine Jones

Website and LinkedIn

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org.

Thank you for listening!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help other listeners find this show.

Be sure to connect with us and reach out with any questions or concerns: Facebook, Instagram, X, IEP Website, and Email.