How these speech-language pathologists shifted their focus to parent education
In today’s episode of the Learn With Less® podcast, we’re doing something a little bit different. We’re actually going to share with you the replay of a private event we held recently for accepted applicants of the Learn With Less® Facilitator Training and Certification Program, wherein we brought in a few of our current clients who are licensed, Learn With Less® facilitators, and had them answer your questions.
We covered:
- Why they initially joined the Learn With Less® Facilitator Training & Certification Program
- What benefits they found to utilizing an existing framework that would show them how to lead high quality caregiver & me* classes instead of creating their own (*we use this inclusive term as a substitution for “mommy & me” classes as we serve and welcome parents, caregivers, non-binary folks, foster parents, grandparents, babysitters, etc.)
- Big shifts each of them have made in their lives and businesses as a result of joining the Learn With Less® parent educator program and becoming Learn With Less® facilitators
- How some of them have found confidence to become parent educators, even if they aren’t parents themselves
- Some of the unexpected or unanticipated wins they’ve made as a result of joining the Learn With Less® program
- How much time it took each of them to complete the training program, and how much time they dedicate continuously to leading Learn With Less® classes
Whether or not you have applied yet for the Learn With Less® Facilitator Training & Certification Program, I know that you will learn so much about not only our program, but about the incredible and generous and supportive individuals that are part of it. In this episode, we feature several amazing professionals, they all actually happen to be speech language pathologists, however, we do have many different types of professionals who are involved in our program, including SLPs, we have occupational therapists and physical therapists, early childhood educators and social workers, para educators and instructional assistants, and other people who are pursuing different kinds of endeavors in the educational or therapy world.
So go ahead, if you are interested in learning more about our program, you can head over to our website at learnwithless.com/certification – We’d love to share more with you! You can apply today, and when you do, we will be gifting you a private training that is all about how you can create lasting impact in your community with a high quality and evidence based plug-and-play program that will have families coming back again and again. So, cannot wait to hear from you. And I really look forward to sharing this episode with you. Okay, here you go!
Helpful Resources Related to This Episode
Learn With Less® podcast episode: Leading Caregiver & Baby Classes – From Therapist to Parent Educator, with Carly Dorfman
Learn With Less® podcast episode: Enrich Your Practice as a Parent Educator, with Sara Moreno
Learn With Less® podcast episode: Educating Parents to be Their Child’s First Teacher, with Rachel Kammeyer
Learn With Less® podcast episode: How to Impact Your Community With Parent Education and Parent Coaching Skills, with Laurel Smith
Learn With Less® podcast episode: How Lesley Took Her Existing Skills as an Educator, and Started Serving Infant/Toddler Families In a Holistic, Meaningful Way
Learn With Less® podcast episode: How to Use Your Skills as an Educator or Therapist to Serve Families Holistically as a Parent Educator, with Allie Glazer
Learn With Less® Bundle: get our favorite infant and toddler development resources (save 70%)! Discover how to support & connect with your tiny human, without having to buy a single toy.
Learn With Less® Facilitator Training & Certification Program: Use your existing skills as an educator or therapist to serve families holistically with a high quality program that will provide lasting impact! Apply now to become a licensed facilitator Learn With Less®.
Learn With Less® “Caregiver & Me” Classes: the magic of Learn With Less® lies in the communal aspect of coming together with our resources, in community with other families. Join us for a virtual or in-person class led by a licensed facilitator near you!
Connect With Us
Allie: Website / Instagram / Facebook
Ronesha: Website / Instagram / Facebook
Melanie: Website
Carly: Website / Instagram / Facebook
Ayelet: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest
Text Transcript of the Episode
Ayelet: Welcome, everyone. I want to go ahead and introduce to you well, I’ll actually have you all introduce yourselves. I don’t need to do it for you. So I’m Ayelet, I am the founder of Learn With Less®, and I am the creator of this program. We’re so happy that you all are joining us today we have Ronesha, we have Allie, we have Carly, we may have one or two more who knows can pop in today. But, looking forward to chatting with you all and anybody else who joins us live. I’ll just go in the order of my screen. So Ronesha, you’re right next to me. Would you like to go ahead and just let us know you know who you are, where you’re located your professional or educational background what you do, and your pronouns!
Ronesha: Sure. I am Ronesha Roberson, she and her, and I am located in Tampa, Florida. I am a speech language pathologist, and a licensed Learn With Less® facilitator.
Ayelet: Awesome, Carly, you want to go?
Carly: Sure. My name is Carly Dorfman. She/her, I am in Parkland Florida. I am also a speech language pathologist, Learn With Less® facilitator, and I am a mom to two little ones.
Ayelet: Awesome. All right, two Floridians. Awesome. Okay, Allie, go for it.
Allie: I am Allie Glazer, my pronouns are she/her/hers. I am also an SLP. I am in the Bay Area of California, I have my own private practice. I’m also an employee, a couple places and a licensed Learn With Less® facilitator. No kids of my own, just cats, you might seem running around behind it, though.
Ayelet: Yes, supervisors, perfect. So two, very funny that we’re all SLPs who are here. But we also obviously in the program have many occupational therapists, early childhood educators, we have social workers, we have physical therapists, so lots of different kinds of backgrounds from people who have a lot of, you know, it’s really nice to have that diversity in thought and diversity in background as well, because we can all pull from our own information and our own understanding of the world and of early childhood. So I would love to hear from each of you. What were those initial reasons why you join the Learn With Less® program? Does anyone have any specific things that they are ready to share? Should I pick you out?
Allie: I can go first, I think my I had like three trifold interests, I wanted to diversify my income a little bit and kind of add an addition to the direct therapy that I was doing for my employer. I wanted to get more into the enrichment world because I had so many families who I was working with in a therapy level, but who are also reaching out to me, like what should I be doing with my baby? What should I be doing with my toddler, what kind of things are just enrichment-based… and I had to, I was wanting to work hard to like take off the therapy hat and put on the professional hat.
And also I was just looking for a community to help kind of expand my own private practice in terms of how I was developing my social media presence, creating a website. Prior to Learn With Less®, I had like no social media presence whatsoever, and it’s still something I’m working on but I think those were the three big things, is just wanting something a little bit different out of my career that I wanted to kind of create and make for myself.
Ayelet: That’s awesome. And I will also say like creating that website and social media presence is always a work in progress. It’s one of those fun things that you get to just play with, if that’s the direction that you decide to go in. So yay. I see Melanie has joined us. Welcome, Melanie, when you are ready, we will be ready to for you to introduce yourself as well. Anybody else, Carly or Ronesha? Do either of you want to share a little bit about you know, those initial reasons about why you joined the program? Ronesha, I’d love to hear from you.
Ronesha: Okay, sure. So I think the first, like foremost reason why I was drawn to it was like, the name, Learn With Less®, at the time, I was a mom, I think he was like, one or two. And he was my second, and it was just like, am I even doing like all the things that I could be doing for my child, you know, for the two of my child’s mother, I was two years older than that. So I was like, in the throes of like, you know,
Ayelet: Oh yeah, early motherhood.
Ronesha: Exactly. So I was intrigued by that. And then I also knew that I wanted to eventually start my own private practice. And I also knew that I wanted to work with parents of young children. And so I was just like, if I was a parent of young children, I wanted to diversify my income, like Allie said, and also, I wanted to work with children, parents of young children, so it just kind of like, fit. And then as I was reading more about it, I was like, Oh, this is great, because parents need to, like, I feel like need that encouragement that they have everything that they need to succeed and to help their baby. So it really spoke to me that way.
Ayelet: Awesome. Melanie, welcome. Thank you for joining us on the go. It’s great. Do you want to go ahead and quickly introduce yourself? And then so we’re just sharing you know, where you are in the world, your professional or educational background, your pronouns?
Melanie: First of all, I’m Melanie, my pronouns are she/her, and right now in the world, in my car, and in the Bay Area in California, and I’m a speech language pathologist.
Ayelet: Too funny that that’s how we have we have like two on the West Coast and two on the east coast, the same state and area. And all SLPs today, but you know, again, we have lots of different kinds of people. This is just the the way the cookie crumbles today, and then Melanie, if you wouldn’t mind sharing to about, you know, what were some of the initial reasons for you why you joined the Learn With Less® program?
Melanie: I had a similar idea as you, Ayelet, and that’s why I was like, man, back before I even heard about this, I was thinking, man, is there a way I could do like a late talkers program that children who don’t necessarily have a diagnosis or they’re concerned, but we still could help a little bit and use everything around the house, and then your program came along! Actually, it was Allie who mentioned it, or put it on her Facebook, and then told me more about it, and then I hopped on board.
And it was just, it’s basically everything I was thinking about. And I love it, I you know, yeah, just passed the certification. And even though I had it run much beyond the demo class, it’s a lot of the skills and the mindset behind it and the modules have really shaped a lot of my behaviors and practices as a clinician right now.
Ayelet: That’s awesome. I want to talk more about that in a second, too. But I want to get Carly in to chat about her own initial reasons of why you, you joined also.
Carly: Yeah, so for me, it’s like a little bit of what everyone has already mentioned. Like Melanie mentioned, I sort of had this idea in my head, too, of caregiver education classes, but didn’t know how to organize my thoughts around presenting the information. I wanted to diversify my income, I knew I wanted to have my own private practice in the future, and the philosophy behind Learn With Less® in that you can use what you already have at home to support your child and their development. All of those reasons just led me to you and are why I joined the program.
Ayelet: That’s great. Well, I like what you said too, about how I mean, both you, Carly and Melanie, who both just said, like you you already had this idea. So I mean, but you decided not to do that idea yourself. But instead invest yourself your time, your energy, your financial investment into something that already existed. I mean, is it worth talking about the benefits of that?
Melanie: Oh, yeah, especially, I think, I guess we’re all a room of our we solopreneurs in here all of us. I think so.
Ayelet: Yeah. Everybody here currently.
Melanie: Yeah. So it’s just, you learn that you can’t do it all! And I am now learning that, as well. This being my. I would say like 2017, almost five years into a private practice, where now I have no choice but eventually become full time. But you just can’t. And so time is money and money is time. So I saw it as, Okay, rather than spending extra time I have to create a program have my own, why not explore some other option that is already established that already has the system going. And also has added benefits to it.
Like, I’m pretty self motivated as a person. But there are just some things that I need that push from, and what I’m grateful for the community is that that little extra push and that camaraderie of everyone going through the same process, or same process different stages, it’s just, it’s been really wonderful to have that community to lie back on and also grab ideas – and be motivated to, like, go beyond a certain hump.
Because at one point as solopreneurs, like, we’re just tired, we get burned out, we have only so much energy to give and that just seeing little posts of Allie you having your little post in the local newspaper, and then Lindsay getting her site set up. And then I believe it’s another, I think Miranda, another person, who just did a whole bunch of establishing for her business while dealing with personal things. So just little moments like that have really been helpful.
Ayelet: Mm hmm. Yeah, hearing from others and being able to cheer each other on, for sure. I mean, that’s like a nice added sort of unanticipated additional piece, right. And then let’s just talk through like some of you, like you, Melanie said that you have been a lot of private practice work for the last five years, but you also work a job in the schools, correct? And then Carly has recently left her full time job and started her own private practice where she sees private speech therapy clients, as well, as leads Learn WIth Less® classes. Allie, you’ve been doing, as you said, private practice for a few years now. And you were primarily word of mouth, I think you still are, but you’re building that very much. And now you also have additional offerings. And then Ronesha, you are in the schools? And what else is going on for you?
Ronesha: And seeing private clients as well.
Ayelet: Awesome. That’s very cool. Let’s hear a little bit because some of you have, again, like had been doing private work, doing solopreneur kind of work on your own before, and some of you hadn’t. So I know that that’s one of the big shifts like for Carly, for instance. And I know you can speak to that. But what are some of those in general big shifts for you that have happened in your life, in your business, or in say, the goals that you have for your life and business, as a result of being part of this program? And Carly, since I mentioned you, go ahead and go first.
Carly: Sure. So I discovered the program about a year ago. And at that time, I had this vision of one day, I’m going to have my own private practice. And one day, I’m going to be leading these classes multiple days a week. And that’s what I want to be doing with my time. But when I signed up for the program, I wasn’t quite there yet.
So I went through the modules, I did the training, I did my demo class. And then I just sort of sat with it all for a few months, until, you know, I felt the stars aligned, and the time was right where I could… now, where I am today is living the dream that I saw for myself many years ago when I decided to be a speech language pathologist. But even more recently, a year ago when I signed up for the program. And you know, now I’m doing that work that I wanted to be doing, then.
Ayelet: You’re doing the thing!
Carly: So, complete 180 shift.
Melanie: Congratulations!!
Ayelet:And you can actually listen to an entire podcast episode of the Learn With Less® podcast with Carly telling her full story, which is just on our website, if you look up Carly on the website with a Y, Carly with y. Who else… what I mean, and again, it doesn’t have to be that ginormous shift. But like, I know that things have shifted for every single one of you. So let’s let’s hear some more about that. Who else would like to go ahead?
Ronesha :For me, like, I just I had like this huge like imposter syndrome going on. Like I still do. But like, it’s just so much better now! Like with how I see myself last year compared to right now, this program definitely has pushed me out of my comfort zone and also gives me the confidence to be like, You know what, you do have the skills! Thank you, Ayelet, by the way, I do have the skills, and you know, I can lead these classes, I can take on private clients. So that’s been a shift for me, for sure.
Ayelet: Thanks for sharing that. That’s so great.
Allie: To go along with that, too. I feel like the Learn With Less® program and modules and community have really helped me feel comfortable establishing myself as a presence versus just this like random person that some people know about that is very skilled but me being hesitant to seek out marketing, to… I was very terrified of even creating like an Instagram or social like, I feel like that the social media piece has been I’m even just creating a website. I did not do that for the first three years of my private practice. It was just teeny tiny word of mouth.
People found me because they knew somebody I was working with, and got referred, but then I think there’s there’s a level of ownership and confidence that comes when you kind of put yourself out there and are really proud of what you create, and what you yourself have created! You’re kind of identifying, what skills do I want to tell the world about? How do I represent myself in my community? And that’s been something that has has been huge for me over the last year that I wasn’t even close to prior to kind of investing.
Ayelet: I love that. Melanie, how about you?
Melanie: Oh, Allie, you just had a perfect segue for me because I’m going to address the marketing part. Because I know, and the conversation I had with Ayelet after finishing that module, like I am, I’m gonna say this, again, I am the one person you do not want to sell things to, because I will have a ton of questions, I will always think about the game and I don’t like being pressured, like it has to align with my values. And that’s who I am as a person. My old housemate was a salesperson. And she noticed that she’s like, God, You’re horrible.
Ayelet: Discerning, you’re discerning!
Melanie: There you go, I’m discerning! But I was so turned off by a lot of network marketers, and but just hearing it shifted as more of like a conversation and that there is a need, definitely like shifted my whole mindset about what marketing is, especially for us as SLPs. And for anyone leading “caregiver & me” classes, really, if you’re doing a service, it’s quite different versus marketing for a product. Like that’s what I’ve also noticed, I mean, it’s probably same concepts. But for me, I feel more comfortable with the ideas of marketing and advertising now, because I don’t have to be that pushy salesperson, right? The pushy, sleazy car salesman, I don’t have to be that person.
And that’s what Learn With Less® has really taught me with all the modules, a lot of it is conversations, you have conversations in our group, we have conversations virtually, and we hone in until those little support groups and see what people hear when people are talking about like, I never thought of it that way before. I never thought about looking at a toy posting on Amazon and seeing it as a way to shape my marketing for my services at all!
Ayelet: Yes, yeah. So awesome. I know you have all had that, like come to “higher power” moment with, with your own understanding or feeling towards marketing. Does anyone else have anything to share about that? Yeah, Carly!
Carly :I can say, so, you know, it was something that I knew zero about prior to taking the Learn With Less® course. And one of the things that really spoke to me is that in marketing myself and my services, I’m essentially selling me, you know, and so really channeling that and being my full authentic self and having it be real and relatable to the people in our community, I think helped me to put myself out there in a way that I was comfortable with, and in a way that I think people responded to because it was genuine and real. Not a sleazy sales person.
Ayelet: Yeah, totally.
Carly: So, that was, that was really helpful.
Ayelet: I loved also, you know that some of you like Ronesha and Carly, you can both pull from your own specific experiences as mothers, but and Melanie and Allie, you pull from other things. I mean, Melanie, Melanie has a dog, and that, she is a dog mom, and it’s very clear. And she absolutely is a caregiver. And we all know that. And that is not something to mess with. Am I right? I’m not wrong, right?
Melanie: Yeah, especially when you got the vet bill come in through Oh, my God. I am learning a lot about being a solo, a single mom. Right.
Ayelet: Right. But I’d love to talk a little bit about… because I do actually get this question about people especially linked to that sort of imposter syndrome feeling of like, well, how can I serve, you know, parents and caregivers in this way, if I’m not one myself? Which I think I, it’s a totally valid question. But somehow it’s a different role, right. It’s a different role as a facilitator of a group, as a, as parent support versus just like you as the expert, maybe telling a parent how to get their child to communicate or to work on sensory needs, or whatever it is that you specialize in, or you work with, or how you work with children or our parents.
So I’d love specifically to hear from those of you who do not have human children, like was that something that you struggled with or wondered about in the beginning, and is like, how has that sort of resolved for you? And what are the places that you pull from as far as experience?
Melanie: Allie, mind if I go first?
Allie Hit it!
Melanie: Okay, so for me, how do I put this? So culturally and community wise, I service both monolingual populations, but I also service bilingual populations, specifically Spanish speaking populations, and culturally, a lot of times they see us more as like authority figures. And so regardless of whether or not I have children or not the fact that I am a professional, they have that respect or they understand that I do with expertise, I do I warn them, hey, I might be an expert in communication, but you are the expert for your child. So we work together. And that’s how I kind of minimize that imposter syndrome feeling because I am looking through the lens of communication not as a lens of a parent. And so I put it out there that this is a team effort.
I’m not going to tell you, I know this about your child, because you probably know that too, if not more so. But I look and I always tell my parents that when – I’m especially now thank you Ayelet, by the way – I tell them that I’m coming in here to help you change what you’re already doing. You are doing something right, let’s just add a little bit more. Yeah. And so that’s what I’ve been telling a lot of the families that I’ve been working with now, regardless of whatever language they’re doing.
So yes, I’m a dog, mom. But in the beginning of my career, especially when I was mostly in the schools, I hold a lot is my experience of a sibling of a child with autism, now young adult. So for me, my caregiver experience extends to being kind of like, my mom might even admitted like a second mom to him. So in a way, I have my own background as a caregiver.
Ayelet: Yeah, that’s great. Thank you for that. Allie, how about you?
Allie: Melanie, you’re a powerhouse. Early in my career, I got so much of well, you don’t have kids, how can you know what you’re doing? How can you know what you’re talking about? How can you know what’s best for my family? And I had a lot of childcare experience growing up, I nannied, and I babysat, I did all of that. But I really do think in the last two years with shifting my practice into routines based intervention and going through this Learn With Less®, of learning how to facilitate those conversations and shifting again, from that “I’m a therapist-expert” into how can I help your family figure out what you need? Because I don’t have all the answers for your family.
And I also think it’s a practice in kind of exploration for us to guide families to figure out what is best for them, too, because you’re you’re absolutely right, I don’t have kids of my own, I don’t know what it’s like to wake up at 3am. Yes, I wake up at 3am for my cat puking, but I don’t like have a screaming toddler. But I think also shifting into when you have other families in the room, opening up that conversation to anybody else I’ve experience with this? And like, so often just seeing that that light bulb go off of, I’m not alone, I’m you know, somebody else will give me ideas, and I can give ideas to a different family member – has been really pivotal for me, because I’m not coming in with this, I have, you know, my own child to to draw from my experience, but also knowing that we have a very different experience and skill level, two, we are coming, we are bringing a lot to the table by sharing what we know. And that’s one piece of what we have to offer. It’s not the only piece, it certainly is a very powerful piece.
And I think, in some of my classes too, parents are trying to kind of capture that person that they used to be before kids and like, what are the other things that happen before kids? How do I kind of merge myself as a, as an individual with this tiny human, like, we have different ideas of what we want to do right now. And kind of helping facilitate that piece. So I like again, it’s still a process to take off the therapy/expert hat and be like, no, no, this is the only thing that I know, I can’t rely on my other caregiving experience. But also just it’s, it is a tool and a really powerful tool as well.
Ayelet: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. What are some of the unexpected or unanticipated wins that you have experienced as a result of being part of this program? Because of course, there’s always I joined because I want to, you know, lead Learn With Less® classes, I want to lead these caregiver and me classes, like, clearly that’s often why people join this program. But I would love to hear a little bit of, what are some of the other wins? What are some of the other big sort of aha moments, the unanticipated things that have happened as a result of this time we’ve we’re spending together. Carly, you look like you have something to say!
Carly: So for me, what was unexpected was how much of a positive response I got from pretty much everybody that I reached out to in the community to let them know I’m doing this work and I’m leading these classes. Every organization, every community person that I spoke to was like, yeah, yes. Like how can I sign up? How can we work together? And so that was a huge confidence booster for me even before I led my first class this time around, was just that idea that people in my community who are in touch with the people that would possibly be attending the classes, are interested
Ayelet: In partnering with you, and giving you a voice. Yeah, that’s awesome.
Carly: So that was unexpected. Also really good, a good feeling for me.
Ayelet: So awesome. Why do you think that is? What is it that piques their interest?
Carly: I think it’s it’s a different take on anything that is going on in my community aleady, any other kind of caregiver & me or music class or thing that people are doing with their children? So having the professional, you know, a speech language pathologist there, leading this class in a different way than the lady with a guitar would, if you know what I mean. Yeah. It just was filling this void that people were searching for. Where, I think like Melanie mentioned, you don’t need Speech-Language Services, you don’t have like a labelled disorder or anything like that. But you still want this information. And you could benefit from being in this environment and learning from from a professional. And so I think that’s why.
Ayelet: Right, I mean, it kind of sells itself like, Ronesha, I think it was you that said, like, it was just the words like Learn With Less®, that absolutely resonates with many, many people, right? And we’re in this absolutely – even more so today, as we record this, like for the last almost two years, we’ve been in this, like, we have less, we have less bandwidth, we have less time, we have less patience, we have less opportunity to buy things, we have less opportunity to go and do things: it’s, what can we do with what we already have, that in the culture and the phenomena of what we are all collectively experiencing resonates? Yeah, that’s awesome. How about for others what are some – Oh, go ahead.
Melanie: I have some, to go with the Learn With Less®, one personal win for me in terms of like my services is I have literally reduced so much of the bag lady syndrome, I can not tell you how much I have reduced like that. Ta da! That’s it!
Ayelet: That’s awesome. That’s all you bring the families’ homes.
Melanie: Well, for my, for my more like early intervention younger, you know… Like, I literally have just got in, I have nothing but like my little backpack, maybe I’ll have that just as like a little carry caddy, if my backpack feels heavy on my back. Like, I have walked in to a recent new client that I have nothing except for the handouts and like the homework, or any files give and I maybe have one toy. And then afterwards, I literally just go in and see what they’re what they’re playing with. And I just, I do my work there. And one of the dads said, you know, let’s pay attention to what she has here too, so that we can buy it and I literally had a parachute. And I just told parents, you could use a towel, you could use a blanket.
And it’s like, oh, and I even demonstrated a way to like fold it up and end the activity but have the parachute fold it up. I was like, see, you could do this with a blanket. Because now you’ll have time to play and fold your laundry. Two birds in one stone with that one. So that was like my big like, clinician win is now I’m able to confidently go in and, one, use whatever they have.
But now when they’re like playing with like, you know, one parents playing with the child, I’m actually more able to just kind of sit back and not necessarily tell them, this is what you should say. And then I now I’m starting to use more open ended like what else could you say in this opportunity? Or how about you try this? And then oh, the parent might go, Oh, yeah, or I can also say that? Exactly.
So a lot more, I feel more of like a facilitator as well as a coach in my sessions now, whereas before I was more of coach only. And then the other big one is just similar to what Carly said, just having that receptive, like, Oh, yes, I definitely need this. My Buy Nothing group has so many responses. And then they you know, because of time schedules, I didn’t have as many bookings. But there was a big response for it. I was so shocked to see that there were people who really wanted it and to go with it, you know.
Ayelet: Yeah, I mean, we’re in we’re in a time when people are like really needing that connection, you know, families, especially new parents for whom their children have been born within a pandemic, for instance, they personally need time to connect, they’re looking for places where their children can connect. And again, whether that is in person or virtual, because it’s both and actually Ronesha, I would love for you to share a little bit about like that experience of of doing like your demo class, for instance, online and feeling like oh, my gosh, you know, something that surprised you was the level of connection that could be created within this class, would you would you care to share a little bit?
Ronesha: Oh yeah, no, that’s exactly what I was thinking about that. So, I was trying to figure out why it made such a big difference for me and it, I feel like it’s just because, you know, I’m a parent of young children. And with this pandemic going on, you’re starting to feel isolated, and it was just a way… I was surprised and like, oh my gosh, I need this as much as they need it, too.
And then I posted in like a Black moms group and it was also just the connection of just being with other parents of color. And it was just like surprising to me, a good, surprising win. So like, when you are leading these classes, it’s not just them that’s getting the community out of it. You are too. So I think that’s important.
Ayelet: Yeah, yeah, I mean that getting to watch your demo class too, for me was just like so special, because there were so many connections that people were making. And, and you all can watch that if you haven’t yet, as in that everyone who’s present here on this call, it’s in one of our, in our example of demo classes that we have, and it’s lovely. Like, they’re these parents, and they, they’re two of them were like, Oh, you’re from the islands, I’m from the islands. It was – or three! – it was amazing, it was just really neat to see that level of connection with people who had never met each other.
Ronesha: It was online, too.
Ayelet: And it was a totally virtual class. And so it was just it was like, beautiful. So yeah. What about what other kind of like unexpected or unanticipated wins, Ronesha, have you experienced as a result, you know, of being part of this?
Ronesha: I think we kind of talked about it a little bit before, but like, just I’m not like a huge poster of my, posting things on social media. I just, No, that’s not me. But like, ever since I was forced to find people for my demo, it’s like, I just like even with my private practice, I’m just more of like, okay, it is what it is. I’m just gonna do it. So I call that a win. And like all areas of my life, and it definitely started with having to do the demo and finding people.
Ayelet:That’s so good. Allie, have you shared?
Allie: No, but I think this this program, and this experience really forces a lot of us outside of our comfort zone in many different ways. And it’s unique for each person, too. I have a similar like, just surprised at how powerful the connection is not only for families, but for myself as well, like just leading in this in this slightly different way of for me, it’s kind of a relief too, like, okay, it’s not a therapy session, okay, we can we can just kind of create this community. But I think we also enter it into it being like, is it gonna work? How’s it gonna go? What’s this going to be like? Why am I doing this? What and I think we’re kind of expecting it to go awry. Or we’re kind of trying to be careful with how much we invest in it. Because you know, we are in a time where our, you know, our bandwidth is very slim, we are pulled in a million a million directions and putting ourselves out there is incredibly scary.
But we’re also seeing the reward of that of like, every time I end a Learn With Less® class, even if I’m like, oh, no, I didn’t. I didn’t know all the lyrics. Or I was stressing out about gathering materials (which is just so ironic), but it is what it is. But I close my screen. And I’m like, That’s my why! That like, I’m thrilled. And I’m it’s always a surprise, but it’s it is something that’s so powerful. And then I get, when I send out the post class survey, just warm fuzzies all in and most people are like, “yeah, that was great. This was wonderful. I met a friend, I am thinking about things in a different way.”
And even the hard moments to where, you know, we might end a class and like toddlers were awry, somebody was crying. It’s still sharing a very real moment with people. And I think also creating the space for it to be like, this is just part of the day. And that’s okay. It doesn’t have to be Pinterest, perfect. It doesn’t have to be picture perfect. It doesn’t have to be all out there for us to be like, Yep, I see your humanity. We’re here together.
Ayelet: Yes! And that, but I don’t know, I think when I was experiencing having very young children, and like hearing other people talk about classes that they went to, or going to classes myself, like that experience of being in a group wherein the facilitator was not understanding of like, everything is different for everybody, or did not create a space in which like, it doesn’t matter, whatever happens, happens, it’s totally fine. Of course, go feed your baby or do it right here. Or, of course, change your child’s diaper. Like wherever you need to do it, it’s totally cool. Or if you need to step away, it’s fine. Or if your child is asleep, no problem. All of the things where, a big part of what we do in our classes is to contain a space that is inclusive to wherever you’re at, right? And acknowledging that like the [BLANK] hit the fan, and you’re you’re really exhausted as a new parent and holding that space for families is such an important piece of it.
So I would love to hear because this is actually a question that I get a lot from people is about your time, like how much time have you spent and do you spend? Like how much time did you each dedicate to getting through the training itself? Or how difficult was it to complete and Ronesha, because you’re right next to me, go ahead.
Ronesha: Sure. So when I was doing the training, I would take just a Sunday afternoon and just like take time for myself that was like my me time, and I’d go and I’d just do it, it was just an afternoon each week that it came out and and then whenever whenever it was time to do the demo, I would take about… I’m very… I just want everything to be perfect sort of thing before I even go out and do it but I think it was a push from Ayelet, was like, okay, like, let’s set a deadline for yourself.
And then so that really helped. And then I’m just now getting started with leading classes. And right now I’m going to go ahead and spend about, I usually spend about like, an hour a day, like just getting things like if I need marketing stuff that’s just been in the last couple of weeks, like just me gearing up to hold some classes,
Ayelet: Do you… and we’ll hear from everybody else, too. But do you feel like that amount of time is going to be what’s necessary for you to get stuff going, and continuity wise, like to keep things up? Or do you feel like that will shift or
Ronesha: No, I feel like that will shift. I’m just like I said, very, like, I need to make sure things is like, perfect. And I do know that that’s like something that I need to work on. But it’s, I feel like once I start getting going, like, it’s not gonna be like a lot to do. I just started like, just starting to hold it, though. I am putting a lot more time upfront.
Ayelet: Right, and then creating those systems for consistency. Yeah, that’s awesome. Allie, you’re nodding a lot why don’t you go ahead. How about you for…
Allie: I want to hop onto Melanie because she has to leave sooner than I do.
Ayelet: Go ahead. Melanie, go ahead.
Melanie: Similar to what Ronesha said, it just, I feel like about an hour, or maybe even a little less to prepare for the demo class that I did. And now that I got like the feel of it, for those two, in particular, I feel like the time preparing will be a little bit less. It’s more of like reviewing the lesson and making sure I know, okay, what am I looking for? Or like, what am I trying to facilitate and guide for today’s lesson.
The one that I think it will be a little harder will be I thought to look at the Spanish lessons, because I haven’t looked through all of those yet. So I am fluent-like I’m not a native speaker. So if anyone else is interested in facilitating those classes, and are in my boat, it might take a little bit longer just to read through the lessons and also modify the vocabulary if needed, since not every Spanish speaking household uses the same vocabulary, right? So I might have to, one modify the vocabulary.
But my pre-survey for those classes might be different. I might have to actually ask what regions are you from? Because from there, I could actually figure out, do I have to address all the different vocabularies? Like do I have to address all four words for car or something like that. So, I might literally have to shift my brain in like five directions, depending on the class.
Ayelet: That’s so interesting. Yeah. I mean, I think it’s so it’s fascinating, right? When we start to look at language, and whether we’re looking at one language or multiple languages. I mean, I think there’s space too for like asking a family like, oh, what word do you use for for car for coche, for carro, like, which one do you use? And then just putting it in there as you go along? Like, but But yes, I think you’re right, that’s a whole other level of things that you’re going to need to think about. Because you’re thinking about leaving classes in two different languages, potentially. So yeah.
Melanie: Yes. So yeah, that’s but I mean, you already saw it didn’t take me long once I actually started and spent the time, I had to do it in the summer, because I knew my schedule. And I knew the school year was gonna be very interesting this this year, and I knew that the breaks are when I’m going to be able to focus on Learn With Less®. So, the next time I’m going to offer some classes would be like that Christmas, winter holiday break. Yeah.
Ayelet: Yeah. So that’s awesome. And how about you for the training, because I see you have to go sorry, I didn’t actually see that in the chat until just now. Melanie, how long did you you know, what kind of time did you dedicate to getting through the actual training? What did that look like for you?
Melanie: Like one night, two nights a week, really, just setting myself a time where, you know, Puppy was down and somewhat compliant. And then I could actually focus on a module. And if I had to pause, I had to pause. But I found a time in my schedule to actually say I can pretty much get uninterrupted time for about two hours, more or less so.
Ayelet: And how, how long would you all say that each of the modules would take you and of course they vary because some of them have more – of those six modules, some of them have more in them than others. And like Allie, you were part of our original set of facilitators. So of course, it’s grown. So I’m sure you’ve gone through and looked at stuff again, but especially like Ronesha, Carly, and Melanie, who have been through it a little bit more recently, at least, how long did did each of those modules take for you to complete? Specifically,
Ronesha: Probably one to two hours, I think…
Ayelet: Okay, that’s what I say.
Carly: I would agree with that.
Ayelet: Okay, good. Yeah. Melanie, would you agree?
Melanie: Probably!
Ayelet: Okay. Okay, good. That’s good to hear. Because that’s what I say to people. Thank you, Melanie, you’re heading out.
Melanie: Yes, I have another client to go to. I think some my final word is to let go of control as much as you can. Really let go of a lot of control because sometimes… I think Allie, you also told this to me too. Like if you just let it go. It’s like you know when the class goes, that’s when the best moments happen. And it’s true. Like, just let it go.
It’s okay. I mean, everything I realized you just let it go. Like I didn’t know I was gonna be in private practice. I literally just fell into it, kind of going through and then realizing my dream during the pandemic was, that was my eye opener, really to shifting mentalities and saying, no, I am really wanting to go to private practice and shift gears and focus on early intervention. So let go of control.
Allie: Let it go, let it go!
Ronesha: I was totally thinking in my head the whole time!
Melanie: I mean, in the school systems, two years of girls and boys singing Let It Go, the whole time. I’m like, all right, I’m over this! Let it go, I’m done!
Ayelet: So good. Melanie, thank you so much for for coming and chatting with us today.
Melanie: Thank you, have a good morning, bye, or afternoon for east coasters!
Allie: I can go next, because I have to hop off soon. I think it took me about six months to get to the modules. Pandemic had just hit, and I was also planning my wedding. So I took it really slow. I took it as I could, sometimes it was 30 minutes, like, in a month. Other times, I knocked out two modules in a week. For my planning, it depends on if I’m running a four class series or a single drop in class, I am still working on my systems to make a lot more things automatic in terms of, because I send out the zoom with myself, I email out the pre- and post-class survey.
I’m… so it can because I’m also a, in these moments, a very detail oriented person, like I check the email four times. I check that I sent it out four times. Versus another moment, I’m just like, what it will happen with whatever happens. So my classes are usually around 45 minutes to an hour. And then around at that the actual class itself, I may have an hour of prep time, that’s 30 minutes before 30 minutes after. I’ve gotten better, I set a timer for myself for 15 minutes, I look at the materials list, and I say okay, I’m just gonna get this. Otherwise, I’m going to spend three days looking in my my kitchen cabinet.
Trying to like just set some systems for myself to minimize the amount because I could also spend a lot more time prepping than I need to. And so on a good day, like 30 minutes to get the emails out, to send out the handout afterwards to gather all my materials. If I’m prepping for a series, then it might take a little bit longer, so closer to an hour.
But and that’s this, I’m going to be honest, this month, I have not done too much. I don’t have any classes going, and I haven’t done any advertising, marketing, anything. So I’ve spent no time on it. Other months, it might be like you know, 30 minutes to four hours. It just it really depends and that’s the beauty of it is that it’s flexible for what you need when you need it.
Ayelet: Such a key piece, too. And I love hearing that because it is, it can totally shift depending on the season in your life. That’s great.
Allie: Thank you lovely ladies, have an amazing day.
Ayelet: Thanks so much, Allie. All right, who would like to go next?
Carly: I can kind of pick up on where Allie just left off, in that depending on the season of your life that you’re in, and I have experienced both having a lot of time to dedicate and having zero time to dedicate – and I made it work in both scenarios. So in terms of getting through the modules and doing the training, I did, I spent about an hour or two on like a Saturday or a Sunday and I was doing the modules as they became available to me. Yeah. So I got through them pretty quick in about six weeks and then leading up to module six I was already thinking about my demo and prepping for that so that I could do that. I think the following week.
Ayelet: You were fast.
Carly: Yeah, I got through the training really fast. And then I set up a four class series with very little time dedicated to marketing that you know, yes, just an email that I sent out to friends of friends of friends and got a full class that way which took very little time on my part. And then, now that I’m in my own private practice and I am I have the space to dedicate more time I’m doing it so I’m doing a social media post every day. I’m scrolling through the mommy groups on Facebook to see, you know, do some social listening and hear where I can be of service to those families. I’m leading multiple classes a week so, but I lead the same class!
Ayelet: Very smart! So easy.
Carly: So then I kind of keep everything in my trunk and don’t tell my husband because he hates when the car becomes a storage..
Ayelet: But it’s just your spatula!
Carly: Ha, but bought a rolling laundry bin, is my where I stash everything. I take that with me everywhere I go and it has my blanket and all my materials.
Ronesha: I like that idea!
Carly: Yeah, and it speaks to the brand.
Ayelet: That’s really smart. Yeah.
Carly: And you know it practical.
Ronesha: And functional.
Carly: Yeah, totally, and so you know, now because I have the time, I’m dedicating more time because I want to and I have the time for it. And when I didn’t, I didn’t. Yeah.
Ayelet: All right. Well, thank you for coming today! Ronesha or Carly, do either of you have anything else that you would like to share? Just you know, from the heart, anything that is something that you just that makes you feel good about being this program?
Ronesha: I think community of it all. And like, like Carly was saying, like, some sometimes I just don’t have the time. And sometimes I do have the time. And then whenever I come back to the group, you guys are like, hey! You know, it’s just, you don’t have to feel pressured to do it to do it. But when you have the time, just do it. Also, I just love that I’m able to just put myself out there and be with a group of people who get it and, and are supportive as well.
Ayelet: Yeah, that’s huge. Awesome. We’re so happy, you’re, you’re part of it, Ronesha!
Carly: This, this community that you’ve built, Ayelet, is like, unlike anything that I’ve experienced professionally, in my career, it’s amazing to be surrounded by a group of like-minded individuals who understand each other and who are supportive of each other and who celebrate everything, and are there for, you know, whatever that other person needs to share. And, and there’s no, you know, there’s just no negativity. It’s so positive and uplifting. It’s really great.
Ayelet: I’m so glad to hear that. It’s that for me too, so. Thanks for keeping it awesome. Yeah. Yay. Well, thank you all for being here. And to those of you who are watching in the future, thank you and please go ahead and DM me any questions that you have, you are welcome to apply for the Learn With Less® Facilitator Training and Certification Program over at learnwithless.com/certification. We’d love to see it come through and we’d love to hear more about you. So go ahead and submit that application today. Looking forward to being in community with you!
