Spesh is a multi-faceted practice focused on advocacy and consultation, inclusive experiences, educational resources, training, and merchandise that supports accessible, inclusive environments.
About Your Special
Education Advocate
What Spesh Is
Spesh is an advocacy, education, and inclusion-focused practice built around five interconnected areas of work:
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Advocacy & consultation
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Educational resources and visual supports
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Training for educators and families
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Inclusive experiences and events
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Merchandise that supports identity, awareness, and inclusion
Each area connects back to the same goal: creating environments where participation is supported through structure, clarity, and access.
The Work of Spesh
1. Advocacy & Consultation
Support for families and educators navigating special education systems, IEP processes, and school-based decision-making.
2. Educational Resources
Visual supports, structured tools, and evidence-based materials designed to increase clarity, independence, and access.
3. Training
Workshops and professional learning focused on practical implementation of inclusive practices, behavior support systems, and visual structures.
4. Inclusive Experiences
Hands-on, interactive setups like the #BEspesh Bracelet Bar that demonstrate how structured environments support participation for all individuals.
5. Merchandise
#BEspesh merchandise is custom designed by me and thoughtfully created in collaboration with my mom.
Each piece is made with intention and rooted in lived experience, advocacy, and a deep belief in inclusion and belonging.
This isn't mass-produced branding--it is personal work from the heart to represent visibility, identity, and connection with inclusive communities.
Hi, I'm Charley Jo
If you're here, you're probably navigating something related to support, inclusion, school systems, or figuring out how to make environments work better for the people in them. I want to start by saying--I understand how overwhelming that can feel, and I'm glad you found your way here.
Spesh is deeply personal to me. It grew out of my work as educator, my experience in special education classrooms, and my ongoing role teaching future educators at Western Kentucky University. But more than anything, it comes from years of sitting in the middle of systems--trying to translate, explain and bridge gaps that often leave families and educators carrying too much alone.
Over time, my focus became very clear: I am most effective when I'm designing and implementing visual supports, structured tools, and evidence-based resources that make environments more accessible. Not in theory--but in practice. In real classrooms, real homes, and real community spaces.
That's what Spesh is built around.
I care loudly about clarity. I care about tools that actually get used. And I care about making sure inclusion isn't just something we talk about--it's something we can see, set up, and support with intention.
Everything I create, whether it's advocacy support, training, inclusive experiences like the #BEspesh Bracelet Bar, or resources and merchandise, is connected to that same goal: helping people feel more equipped and more supported in the spaces they're in.
I don't believe there is one right way to do this work. But I do believe that when people have the right tools--and the right understanding--things become more possible than they first seem.
Thank you for being here and for engaging with this work. If you're looking for support, resources, or just a place to start, I'm here.
--Charley Jo
Special
Educator
Bringing hands-on classroom experience supporting diverse learners and individualized student needs.
Experience & Expertise
University Instructor
Preparing future educators with practical, student-centered special education strategies.
Trusted
Advocate
Helping families navigate IEPs, evaluations, and educational planning with clarity and partnership.
Resource Creator
Designing practical tools and systems that make special education easier to implement well.
What I Believe
I believe meaningful special education starts with seeing the whole child--not just the paperwork.
I believe in presuming competence and recognizing that every child has strengths, potential, and something important to say.
I believe behavior is communication, and when we get curious instead of reactive, we create better support for students.
I believe students deserve to be active participants in their own educational journey, including meaningful involvement in goal-setting and planning whenever possible.
I believe well-written, compliant IEPs matter--not because compliance is the end goal, but because strong, thoughtful plans create the foundation for meaningful support.
I believe data-based decision making is essential. While these plans are deeply personal, educational decisions should be guided by the information we have--not solely by emotion, assumptions, or opinion.
And I believe special education should go beyond checking boxes. It should result in individualized, intentional plans that genuinely help students grow.
Because compliance matters. Data matters. But meaningful progress is always the goal.
Beyond the Credentials
You won't find this on my resume, but it matters just as much.
I've sat at the table as a student, a teacher, and now as an advocate. I know what it feels like when things click--and when they don't.
I've had the hard conversations.
I've seen the gaps.
And I've learned that most of the time, everyone in the room cares... they just don't always have the clarity or tools to work together well.
That's where I come in.