You invest thousands in professional development, but your teachers still struggle. Here’s why it’s probably not the training that’s failing—it’s what happens after.
Schools pour resources into supporting their special education teachers, yet many initiatives fade away within weeks. In this episode, we uncover the critical gap between implementing support systems and actually monitoring whether they stick—and why that difference determines whether your teachers and students thrive or survive.
Featuring Dr. Anisha Mendez, Special Education Consultant and Founder of Prestige Management and Consulting LLC, we explore the real challenges facing new special education teachers, the compliance complexities that go unsupported, and the follow-up problem that’s sabotaging your best efforts.
What You’ll Learn
If you’re an administrator struggling to understand why your support systems aren’t delivering results, this episode is for you. Dr. Mendez shares her journey from feeling completely lost as a new special educator to building systems that actually work—and reveals the overlooked practice that separates schools where teachers thrive from those where burnout wins.
Key Takeaways
✓ Why onboarding new special education teachers requires ongoing mentorship, not a one-time orientation
✓ The compliance and documentation maze that teachers navigate alone—and how to help them navigate it
✓ The critical role of follow-up monitoring in determining whether professional development actually changes classroom practice
✓ How active listening and attention to detail become your competitive advantage in supporting staff and families
✓ Practical strategies for creating sustainable support systems that stick beyond the first semester
What Dr. Mendez Reveals
“Oftentimes we kind of throw them in and then we forget that, yeah, they are new. They’ve never done this before. And so my passion is to support those new teachers and really help them as they navigate through being a special ed teacher.”
On the real issue behind failed initiatives: “We put so much into professional learning and kind of support for the teachers but we don’t always go back and follow up or monitor the work. When we go back to monitor, we find that to be very, very important.”
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Ready to close the follow-up gap in your school? Listen to this episode to discover how intentional support systems transform teacher experience and student outcomes.
Subscribe now and don’t miss future episodes designed to help K-12 leaders build stronger, more sustainable support cultures.
FULL PODCAST Transcript
Lighthouse Therapy (00:00.761)
Hello everybody and welcome to the brighter together podcast. My name is Janet Courtney and my special guest today is Dr. Anisha Mendez. Anisha is a special education consultant and she owns Prestige Management and Consulting LLC. And she’s, she also works in the schools, but we’re going to talk about her business today more. And apparently she’s also authored a couple of books. So she is very well rounded and I’m super excited to have her on the show. And they should thank you for being here today.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (00:30.136)
Thank you, Janet. I’m so happy to be here. It’s a pleasure to be here and to be able to talk about the work that we do in education. So thank you.
Lighthouse Therapy (00:39.903)
Awesome. Yeah, absolutely. So tell us a little bit about a little bit. Give us a little bit of your background and how you got into consulting and we’ll go from there.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (00:53.004)
Okay, sure. So my background started out in business. I have a bachelor’s and my first master’s is in business. I kind of…
Lighthouse Therapy (01:01.313)
Your first masters and she has her doctorate. my goodness,
Dr. Anisha Mendez (01:05.646)
I guess I did nothing but school. But so my first master’s, have an MBA and I kind of did some legal work as it relates to paralegal. And I kind of worked in between civil litigation and some other areas such as that. And then I had the bright idea of entering education. And so entering education, I did get my master’s, my second master’s in special education.
because I really, really want to know more about the laws and the rules and things like that. And then, of course, I went on to get my doctorate, which is in special education. I just love being in special education, coming from a business background and kind of more of a legal background. It kind of, I didn’t even realize, but it kind of works. kind of bridges together.
Lighthouse Therapy (01:38.467)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (02:05.456)
At the time coming in as a new teacher, I had no idea what I was getting into. And so as I kind of began to navigate through it, I was like, huh, it’s kind of similar. It’s not the same, but it’s similar to having to kind of document and look at different laws and things that I was kind of used to doing previously. so coming into education, it has been a complete joy.
Lighthouse Therapy (02:10.061)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (02:35.376)
Some of, you know, I guess I want to say the things that I’ve experienced as a teacher.
It was kind of scary. I always say that when I first got hired, I’ll just tell you this real quick story. When I first got hired, it was over the summer and the principal hired me on the spot. She said, I could tell you’re, you can do this. And I was like, okay. And she said, you’ll be a co-taught teacher. And I was like, well, what is a co-taught teacher? And she said, well, it’ll be two teachers in the room. And I said, okay. Never had taught before.
Lighthouse Therapy (02:44.664)
Yeah.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (03:13.032)
But got hired and I was really really excited and I spent the rest of my summer just kind of processing and you know I said it’s gonna be okay because I’m gonna be in a room with someone else who will be able to kind of help navigate And so when I showed up during pre-planning I was so excited and she greeted me and she said there’s been a change of plans and I said Okay, and she said but I’m gonna you know, let you meet the team
Lighthouse Therapy (03:36.011)
Dr. Anisha Mendez (03:42.664)
and I said, what’s the change of plans? And she said, we’re gonna put you in the resource class. And I said, okay, I said, is that different from the co-taught class? And she said, it is. And I said, well, is that two teachers? Because that’s all I remember, all summer I’m going in, it’ll be two teachers. And she said, no, it’s one. And you’re gonna be the one.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:02.517)
You’re it.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (04:04.842)
And so I remember walking down the hall saying, I have no clue of what I’m doing, none. And she was like, you’re gonna be fine. And the whole week it was like, you’re gonna be fine. But I found that I was not, I was not fine. I had a lot of anxiety, know, even going into the first day of school because all of these educators are like, you got it. And I’m like, I don’t, I’ve never.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:21.177)
you
Lighthouse Therapy (04:34.062)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (04:34.736)
I’ve never done this before. I’m used to sitting with in board meetings. I’m used to, you know, sitting with attorneys and, you know, kind of going through those type corporate, you know, America, but not in the classroom with students. And so I have a passion.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:52.504)
Right?
Dr. Anisha Mendez (04:56.696)
for new teachers. have a strong passion because oftentimes I think building leaders are responsible for filling those roles and positions and it’s very important. But oftentimes we kind of throw them in and then we forget that, yeah, they are new. They’ve never done this before. And so my passion is to support those new teachers and really help them as they navigate through being a special ed teacher.
Lighthouse Therapy (05:26.627)
Wow, good for you. It’s interesting how our experiences in our lives take us in a direction that we didn’t know we were gonna go in. And yet that’s, I’m a Christian, I believe that God just pushes us where he puts the right things in front of us. So yeah, so that we do find that mission that he has for us, which is really cool. So tell me what do you do when you do consulting? What kinds of things do you do?
Dr. Anisha Mendez (05:41.942)
Yes, yes, I believe that.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (05:49.826)
Yes.
Lighthouse Therapy (05:55.596)
Obviously, I’m assuming you do stuff with new teachers, but.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (05:58.893)
Yes.
Yes, so all teachers, but I will work with different schools and school districts. They will contract me to come in and kind of each school and school district is different. So I kind of listen to what their needs are and based on their needs, I will then kind of see how to support. Oftentimes it’s special ed with instruction as well as compliance. And so
Lighthouse Therapy (06:01.912)
Okay.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (06:29.634)
A lot of times in Georgia, some schools may be on certain high need lists, so maybe a TSI list or maybe the CSI list or even TSI. So depending on what the different needs are, I will tailor my support. We’ll do professional learning with the teachers, we’ll do check-ins with the teachers. Sometimes if it’s a compliance need, we’ll kind
you know, go a little deeper in that instructional wise, you know, we’re always tasked with trying to make sure that the student outcomes are where they need to be. And so we will kind of look at those progress monitor where students are and kind of see how we can continue to help them to show growth. So all of those things, I’ll work with school districts and support. And I think oftentimes the
key that we forget like we put so much into professional learning and kind of you know support for the teachers but we don’t always go back and follow up or monitor the work that we’re saying hey put this in place do this but when we go back to monitor we find that to be very very important.
Lighthouse Therapy (07:40.204)
Mm.
Lighthouse Therapy (07:51.905)
So the list that you talked about, said, you gave me some acronyms and I don’t know what those are. So can you tell us what the lists in Georgia, you said the schools were on these particular lists and you listed three of them.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (08:07.358)
And you know what, you just put me on the spot. And so.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:10.105)
I’m sorry. So what will give me just give me if you don’t have the it’s okay if you don’t have the exact words, but why are they on different lists? That’s a better question. Why what puts them on a particular list and that that’s enough right there.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (08:25.176)
Absolutely, so and and it’ll probably come to me in a minute, but
Lighthouse Therapy (08:28.249)
Ha
Dr. Anisha Mendez (08:30.914)
Based on the needs, so it may be like more of overall of how the school is performing versus it may be certain areas. So it may be that a school is not performing well. When we look at like CCRPI scores, may be more of they, it’s a certain area. So it may be students with disabilities or it may be ESOL students who are not
So depending on it could be as a whole school wide, the school is not performing with achievement or it could be certain areas.
Lighthouse Therapy (09:10.937)
Gotcha, gotcha. And Conyers, where is Conyers at in Georgia?
Dr. Anisha Mendez (09:18.23)
So it’s probably about 20 miles outside of Atlanta.
Lighthouse Therapy (09:22.797)
Okay, almost like a suburb, but not quite, right? Yeah. So do you do a lot of your work in the Atlanta schools or where are you consulting the most?
Dr. Anisha Mendez (09:26.742)
Yes, yeah, yeah.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (09:33.934)
It just varies everywhere. I always say that if I’m getting in my car
It’s almost like 30 minutes everywhere, every direction that I go in, depending on traffic, of course, but it just depends. It’s wherever I’m needed to support. am looking to kind of grow in other states, so not necessarily just Georgia. And so that is where our focus is trying to build in 2026 to build and not just in Georgia, but in
Lighthouse Therapy (09:43.097)
Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (10:10.818)
other states because there may be other, you know, rules. However, compliance is compliance, instruction is instruction. And so we want to support, you know, wherever we can.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:20.247)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:24.365)
Right, yeah, that’s very cool. So you were gonna tell me a little bit about some of the books that you’ve written. I’d love to hear about those.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (10:33.912)
Sure. So one, I have a navigating case management. It’s a journal or planner, and it’s specifically for special education teachers. And so.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:46.451)
neat.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (10:47.954)
inside of that planner there are several sections. One section is instruction and so in that area a new teacher or a teacher will find sections such as maybe present levels. So we all know that when we’re writing
an IEP or Individualized Education Plan, we have to make sure that present levels are added within the IEP. And so there’s a section where you could collaborate with a general ed teacher and kind of write down what those strengths and needs are. So that’s something that they can use. There’s another section that kind of goes over what co-teaching, the different co-teaching models are. So it’s an interactive plan.
for teachers to have because I always say kind of like what you were saying about the acronyms that as a new teacher and even sometimes as a teacher you’re walking around and you’re asked to do different tasks and you don’t remember so you might put it on little stickies and have all these sticky notes all over your desk but if you have a planner that you can just kind of open and kind of jot it down at
Lighthouse Therapy (11:58.499)
Yeah.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (12:05.782)
you know any moment when you get find time or you know have free time then you’re able to go back and say okay where was I on
Progress monitoring. there’s a progress monitoring section in there as well as well as compliance. There’s a section where a teacher could list, you know, however many students that they have and then just kind of keep up with those important dates like those annual review dates or those re determination eligibility dates and then they can just kind of glance. OK, I have a few months before I need to schedule those meetings. So this is
Lighthouse Therapy (12:42.317)
Right, right.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (12:44.138)
more of an interactive planner to have just instead of just having a blank notebook then it’s something to help them with the work. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (12:51.993)
Structured, yeah, to help, yeah. Yeah, give them that structured piece, yeah, absolutely.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (12:56.608)
and the second.
Second planner is kind of similar, but it’s for school leaders. And this is something that I’m also passionate about as well, because oftentimes principals and assistant principals, they are tasked with leading the work, but oftentimes they don’t always understand special ed, because special ed can be so complex and all the things that they need to do.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:20.121)
Right.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (13:27.856)
to help them. there are sections in there that have guiding questions and those guiding questions are things that they can help lead their school teams and kind of still be in the know of what’s going on in their school building.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:45.143)
Very cool. Very, cool. So where would people go if they wanted to get their hands on those? Anisha.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (13:52.734)
So they would go to my website. It’s www.prestige-ga.com. Again, prestige-ga.com.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:04.409)
And prestige for those of you that are listening and don’t spell well like me, it’s P-R-E-S-T-I-G-E, right? Okay, beautiful. It’d been bad if I’d have spelled it wrong. But I wouldn’t put it past me. I’ve never been more grateful for an innovation as I am for spell check. It is one of my favorites because I never spelled well. I don’t know.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (14:08.673)
That’s…
Dr. Anisha Mendez (14:12.716)
Yes.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (14:26.892)
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:31.543)
why that is. My kids spell incredibly well. My husband spells well. I’m so grateful they got that from him and not me. I have my master’s degree, but don’t ask me to spell, because I’m not gonna spell it right. Not off the cuff.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (14:37.472)
Not right. Yes ma’am. Eventually, I’m sure you’ll get there. That’s funny. That’s funny.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:47.297)
Yeah, I’ll look it up. Because that’s exactly what I will do is look it up. you know, you own you own the things that you have and you own the things that you don’t have. mean, I’m like, it doesn’t. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I that was never a strength that I had. But it’s okay, because you adapt. You learn and you adapt and you just deal with. Yeah. So anyway, so
Dr. Anisha Mendez (15:00.48)
Exactly, we have strengths and needs, so we all do. Yeah.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (15:14.189)
haha
Lighthouse Therapy (15:16.117)
What would you say is probably one of your greatest strengths? You personally, like when you talk about what you do in education, I know you have a passion for for new teachers, but I mean, you just you have such an incredible resume. I’d just love to hear from you. Like what do you think are your are your biggest strengths?
Dr. Anisha Mendez (15:33.46)
thank you.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (15:37.482)
So one, I feel like I have a strong sense of key details and able to really listen.
to what’s happening and I think that’s important when you are in special education and you’re listening to maybe challenges, you know, from maybe staff or even concerns from parents that just being able to listen and pay attention to certain key details. Also, I feel like a strong strength of mine is being able to document and to make sure that those things
that’s needed, whether it’s in an IUP meeting minutes or even articulating to, let’s just say to a superintendent or whoever it’s needed, I feel that my documentation is another strength that I would say I possess.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:35.479)
Awesome. Awesome. Very cool. So if people have questions or want to work with you, I know you gave the website. Is that where they would need to go? If they are interested in talking to you about your services.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (16:51.31)
They can go there or they can send me an email. My email address is amendes.com or my number. I can give my number. It’s 678-310-9555.
Lighthouse Therapy (17:10.827)
Awesome. Awesome. Well, Anisha, it has been a pleasure to have you on the show. You’re doing amazing things. And I’m so grateful that you were willing to come on and talk about your experiences and how you help because, you know, it doesn’t it isn’t just the teachers in the classroom and it isn’t just the administrators. It’s all of us coming together for those kids. And that’s that’s the that’s the beauty about brighter together because
Dr. Anisha Mendez (17:17.984)
Awesome!
Dr. Anisha Mendez (17:35.255)
Yes.
Lighthouse Therapy (17:40.577)
All of us make education brighter together. So thanks for being here. Yeah.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (17:43.95)
Absolutely. And I appreciate the opportunity. I love the work that you’re doing. I think it’s awesome to be able to kind of share kind of what others are doing. So I would say continue doing the work that you’re doing. It’s awesome.
Lighthouse Therapy (17:58.977)
Awesome. Thanks. Yeah, it’s a it’s a it’s a labor of love. It really is. I really and I love to talk to people. I tell people my husband’s like you are suited for this, you know, a speech therapist. And now she’s got a podcast. It’s absolutely like because I just love it. I love it. I get to do and I don’t have to do the front end work of getting people here and I don’t have to do the back end work of all of the editing and all of that. I just get to do the show, which is super fun and pay the bills. I pay the bills.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (18:07.47)
Dr. Anisha Mendez (18:23.118)
And when you have a passion for it, you don’t even think about it. So yeah, I get it.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:26.753)
Yeah. Yeah, when it comes to education, it’s just it’s a part of our DNA almost, isn’t it? It’s just so much of who we are. And I’ve said this on the show before, but I’m like, I tell people I’m an SLP first, you know, and I’m I’m an educator first. I’m I’m somebody that loves kids. One of the hardest things for me to do when our when Lighthouse because I was her first therapist, you know, I started my own business and I was the first SLP. And I was like, I don’t have to hire somebody. I can do it myself.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (18:34.35)
Yes.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (18:43.362)
Yes.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (18:51.788)
Okay.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (18:55.82)
What? Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:56.185)
But you can only do so many kids. I can’t do 3,300 kids all by myself But and and I and that was something that God really like took a hold of me and said yeah, you can see 55 kids That’s about what I could handle in on decent caseload But you’re but you can’t do the thousands of kids that you’re gonna reach still doing speech therapy and it was one of those things where it’s like I Don’t want to give it up, but I had to in order to do what we’re doing now. And so
Dr. Anisha Mendez (19:01.057)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:25.837)
I feel like this is my way of giving. Yeah.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (19:26.604)
And I’m glad you-
And I’m glad you said that because that is exactly how I feel with now being a consultant, because I just want to share with others as much as I can. And that’s kind of another reason why I did author and publish those journals that I talked about earlier is because I’m trying to reach more people. like you said, 55.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:40.249)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:52.345)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (19:56.918)
you could do, but now you’re able to reach, you know, so many more. And so that is my goal. I just want to be able to help as many teachers that I can, as many school leaders that I can, and just share, you know, what I know and support them as much as I can.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:00.814)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:16.249)
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, have a great rest of your year. Stay warm. It’s a little chilly in February here and Georgia too. And I live in South Texas and it’s still a little cold. I’m not a fan. Not a fan of the cold. So I’m looking forward to warmer days. Yeah, yeah, darn it. He saw his shadow. got six more weeks. Yeah, that just happened. It’s funny. I was talking about that on another show. I was like, oh,
Dr. Anisha Mendez (20:31.49)
The warmer, yes, please warmer. Where’s the groundhog?
Lighthouse Therapy (20:44.217)
I don’t want six more weeks and I’m not even where it’s cold. You know, I’m like, it’s, don’t even know what the temperature is, but it’s, it’s chilly, but it’s not, it’s not like my girlfriend, my best friend in the entire world lives up in Michigan. And she’s like, yep, it’s 17 and it’s going to get down to negative two. And I was like, Oh, I lived there for 19 years. I don’t have, Oh, I don’t like that weather. So yeah, crazy cold, crazy cold. So, and I was talking to another, another administrator up in Minnesota. He was outside of St. Paul.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (21:00.91)
Thank
Wow, yes, yes. Yes.
Lighthouse Therapy (21:12.921)
And he said it was a Thursday and he said, yeah, schools are closed until Monday because the wind chill is going to feel like negative 40 at the bus stop in the morning. And I was like, oh, my God, that is too cold. That is way too cold. So those of you that live north, I’ve been there, I feel for you. I don’t want to go live there anymore. I don’t live there anymore. So I moved to South Texas for a reason. Right. All right. Well,
Dr. Anisha Mendez (21:23.502)
Wow, wow, negative 40. Wow. Yes.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (21:36.63)
Yeah, yes, yes.
Lighthouse Therapy (21:41.241)
Have a great rest of your semester and God bless you and keep it up. Anisha, I appreciate it. It’s been a pleasure to have you here.
Dr. Anisha Mendez (21:48.376)
Thank you, same here. Thank you.
