Julian Saavedra talks supporting your child on The Mama’s Den podcast

Julian Saavedra joins The Mama’s Den podcast for an honest conversation about learning and thinking differences in kids of color. Listen as he shares how families can support their kids’ needs at home and in school. And get tips for how to work alongside your child’s teacher.

The Mama’s Den is hosted by Codie Elaine Oliver, Melanie Fiona, Ashley Chea, and Felicia LaTour. 

• Watch The Mama’s Den on YouTube

• 8 steps to advocating for your child at school

• Need help advocating for your kid at school? We talk to a pro

(14:23) Why talking about learning disabilities in diverse communities is important

(19:06) How educators can best support struggling students

(22:33) When should parents seek support for their child?

Julian Saavedra: What's going on, OG family? Julian here, and today I've got something super special to share with you. I recently had the privilege of heading out to LA. That's right, LA. I was a guest on "The Mama's Den," hosted by the amazing Cody Elaine Oliver, Ashley Chea, Melanie Fiona, and Felicia LaTour.

If y'all don't already know about "The Mama's Den," now is the time. These women are creating a space that's real and full of heart, especially when it comes to parenting and community. We talked about learning and thinking differences in kids of color. We broke down some of the stigmas around special education, and I shared some tips on how to have honest conversations with your kids about school. We even chatted about how families can become true partners with teachers to help their child thrive. We laughed, we learned, and now it's your turn to tune in. All right, here's the episode.

(Intro music)

Ashley Chea: What's up y'all? It's Ashley.

Felicia LaTour: I'm Fee.

Melanie Fiona: It's Melanie.

Cody Elaine Oliver: And Cody here, and you've tapped into "The Mama's Den." We're all mamas, and we've got 11 kids between the four of us. And let's just say we are tired. But we're also friends who are going through this journey of motherhood together. Each week we are giving you some laughs, maybe some tears, sharing our personal stories, and of course, giving advice what we hope is helpful. This is the show we wish we had before becoming mamas.

So grandmas, aunties, sisters, uncles, daddies, brothers, everybody who's in the village of raising children, we got you.

Ashley Chea: Shall we get into it, ladies?

All: Let's do it!

(Music continues)

Cody Elaine Oliver: I just want to know if Julian can sing. 'Cause we be singing. This whole show is a singing show. It's actually a musical.

Melanie Fiona: Welcome to "The Mama's Den." Welcome to "The Mama's Den."

Julian Saavedra: You gotta welcome to "The Mama's Den." My name is Julian, and I'm here to win. Passing to Melanie, what you got to say, baby?

Melanie Fiona: I'm here with Julian and Cody and Ashley, my friend. And we gonna do it again. Every mama's Monday den.

Cody Elaine Oliver: I don't have anything for that except the word, "melanin." "Melanin." It's just felt right, you know what I mean?

Julian Saavedra: It did. It did. It did.

Cody Elaine Oliver: Yes we here with a—Felicia she's not here.

Melanie Fiona: She will be later.

Cody Elaine Oliver: We're missing Fifi because she is booked, blessed, and busy. We love a book, blessed, and busy.

Julian Saavedra: I didn't know this was a singing show then. Okay.

Cody Elaine Oliver: I love that. Okay, so welcome to "Mama's Den Monday," mamas, and everybody in the village of raising children. We are very excited for today's episode because we have a special, special guest. A guest who's a podcaster I've been listening to. His podcast for almost a year now. He's a father of two and an assistant principal in Philly and the host of "The Opportunity Gap Podcast," Julian Saavedra.

Did I say Philadelphia? Did I throw that in there?

Julian Saavedra: You did. Philadelphia. As you can see, I am representing the champions of the NFL. Philadelphia Eagles. Go birds, go birds, go birds.

Melanie Fiona: Where's Tommy when we need him?

Julian Saavedra: Go birds. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so, so excited to be here.

Melanie Fiona: We love when there's a man in the den.

Ashley Chea: Matching the my den and I appreciate it.

Melanie Fiona: You know, it's the ladies, you know what I'm saying? A woman knows how to make a house a home.

Julian Saavedra: Yes, they do. Yes, they do.

Ashley Chea: I guess I realized we should probably introduce ourselves to you and like our kids so we can really vibe.

Julian Saavedra: Yes, please.

Melanie Fiona: Let me see your nails. Those are pretty.

Ashley Chea: Hi, my name is Ashley Chea. I'm using my broadcaster voice that Cody loves so much. I have four girls: Azara—why did I say her name first? That's crazy. Amira, who's 16, Azara, 8, Asia is six, and Italia is three. Woo.

Melanie Fiona: Hi, it's me. Melanie. That's me. I'm using my tired voice this morning because that's exactly how I feel. I have two children, Cameron, who's nine, and Kaia, who is three.

Cody Elaine Oliver: Love that. And I'm Cody and I've got three children. Uh, twins that are six, uh, Aristotle and Langston, and eight-year-old Brooks.

Melanie Fiona: Who's the light of her life and joy.

Cody Elaine Oliver: They are all the lights of my life, but I, you know, and we're gonna get into it. We're gonna talk about parenting children. You know, as we do every week, but especially with Julian. But you know, I got twins and I got a singleton as they say. Sometimes I gotta give him a little extra, extra.

Julian Saavedra: Can I also shout out my, my babies too? I have to. So I am the husband of Elizabeth, the son of Michelle and my mother-in-law, Regina. My sisters, shout out to Ray and Connie, and my beautiful children, Abram, 10 years old, amazing, and Amalia, nine years old. She's going on 25, but she is the boss of our family.

Melanie Fiona: What is it about the younger sister sibling? I have one of those.

Julian Saavedra: Do you?

Melanie Fiona: I am one of those. That is the truth. I am one of those, which is why I know. But now I have one. And it's just a reflection that I wasn't prepared for. Um, every, every guest that comes on here that has like a young, the youngest, they're like, and my daughter, the youngest, she's the boss. My daughter, Kaia runs the house.

Julian Saavedra: Somebody has to do a study on that. Like what, what is the b—

Cody Elaine Oliver: Maybe? It's you.

Julian Saavedra: Do you all hear that? Somebody want to give me a scholarship for that?

Ashley Chea: Okay. So, Julian, you're the host of "The Opportunity Gap Podcast," and I actually listened to an episode the other day about cultural responsive teaching, which was really dope because I homeschool my kids and I was really, really—it was a really good episode. It had like a lot of really good information. Thank you. Um, and for those who aren't familiar with your show, can you share what your show is about?

Julian Saavedra: Sure. Sure. So, uh, in my day job, I am an assistant principal at a high school in Philadelphia, and as I was working in that job, I was also able to do a fellowship with Understood.org. And the fellowship was all about general education teachers learning how to become better supporting special education teachers. So then they asked me, "Hey, you interested in doing a podcast?"

And so the focus of the podcast is all about bridging the gap for opportunities for our students, especially black and brown kids. What I know in 20 years in the game is that so many of our students are not getting what they need, especially our boys. Our black boys are not getting the services they need, the educational environment that they need, and frankly, the respect that they deserve. And so the podcast is all about bringing some of those issues to light. And we bring on people that have expertise and really just to support information. A lot of our families just don't have the information that they need. Uh, and a lot of times they walk into situations where they're not armed with the proper terminology. They haven't had any experience with the information that they have to give. And so we try to bring on people who just can give you information that you need. Yeah. And so that, that's where it was born. And now we're in season four and we're rocking and rolling.

Cody Elaine Oliver: So, I have a question before we even get further into it. So you mentioned special education. And I know the longer title of the show is like, "The Opportunity Gap Podcast," "Parenting Kids with ADHD and Learning Differences." Very long, but I love it. So will you walk us through like, what is, uh, special education? What are learning differences? Like what are the, the things that we should be thinking about in the context of the show?

Julian Saavedra: Sure. So there's a lot of information around what special education is. Uh, essentially, a learning disability is any sort of challenge that a child might have in the process of picking up information. And we know that all of us learn and think differently. So on our show, we like to frame it as a learning and thinking difference. Uh, by law, there's a federal law called IDEA. And that federal law signifies that there are different disabilities that students can be qualified for based on how they learn.

And those disabilities are then allowing students to get services in school where they can get provided extra help or accommodations, modifications, or a whole host of different things. And so with special education specifically, when you get those services, it doesn't mean that you're not in the general education population. It might mean you have a special education teacher that provides extra support. It might mean that your teachers give you something different. It might mean that you get extra time. But it's really designed to give you individualized education.

Right? So when we think about a disability, uh, in some cases, people use that phrase and they feel, well, why am I being labeled with a disability? What's wrong with me? It's not something that's wrong. It's different. And so on our show, we really try to focus on the idea that learning and thinking differences are at the crux of the situation. I'm sure we'll get into more about especially in our community, when you hear special education or you hear learning and thinking differences, people tend to feel a certain type of way.

Melanie Fiona: I think that that was something that I found interesting is that, you know, the word "disability," I think might have someone feel a little bit more, but when you say learning differences, I think that's, we can agree we all have learning differences right here right now without a diagnosis. Right. But the term disability, I think is what kind of maybe gives people this like—

Julian Saavedra: This pause.

Melanie Fiona: Is there any sort of conversation that's happening around changing the language that is used on a like a, on a, what is it? It's like a governmental level or an educational like system systematic level, right? Um, like, is this language that teachers and principals are now using to help encourage children to own these differences?

Julian Saavedra: Yeah, so, uh, yes and no. Yes and no. So we know that, uh, as I said, the, there's a federal law, IDEA, and that comes from the terminology, "disabilities" is embedded in that law. But that law comes way back from back in the seventies. And that law hasn't been recertified for a really long time. And so if that law changes or the terminology changes, then maybe that word will change.

In modern circles, most people do use learning and thinking differences. But we also know that education is different state by state. Right? So depending on what state you're in, depending on who's in charge, the terminology can be different. But if I were to sit here and tell you that people don't feel some type of way if they use the word disability to describe their child, I'd be lying to you. Right. And so a lot of times as an administrator, I have to sit and talk with people about, hey, there's something going on with your child. And I have to say it in a way where I'm honoring the child's differences, I'm honoring their abilities, but I'm also respecting the fact that this is somebody's baby.

Ashley Chea: Yeah, even on a smaller scale, it's interesting that you said that like my daughter, um, she has a like a speech impediment. And she struggles saying like, "world," "girl," so that earl sound. And so I noticed it when she was little, and it was cute. And then she's eight, and it's not that cute anymore. And so I always correct her every time she says it. And so I told my husband, I was like, she needs a speech therapist. And he did not want to get her one 'cause he was like, well, I don't want her to be labeled. And I was like, I don't want her to be 10 saying "gwirl" 'cause that's, that's wild.

Like, especially if like there's a, it can be fixed. Like, you know what I mean? And so 'cause she can whisper it. So then I was like, okay, so I'm doing my own research. Took her to the orthodontist, and she was like, she needs a pallet expander. And the way there's not enough room for her tongue. So she's not able to say some of these words correctly. So I was like, great, but we, I also scheduled her an appointment. And so it was funny 'cause we're sitting there and it was a zoom and it's a guy and two women and, and so she just started crying and he was like, listen, there's nothing wrong with you. He was like, I went to a speech therapist. I was like, I used to stutter as a child. I went to a speech therapist too. Now I don't stop talking.

So I was like, it's, it's fine, but I agree with you that it's, is about, sometimes it's about the parent them not wanting their child to be labeled, specifically like with young black boys, and then you don't want that to follow them 'cause I know my daughter's in high school and she said that they don't separate children with learning differences anymore. They're in the classroom, they're all in the class together. So they'll have like an assistant or an aide or whatever with them helping them. Sometimes they'll pull 'em out of the class.

But there's children with high functioning autism, some who are, I don't like to say low functioning, but do you know what I mean? Like, yeah, they're like, you might yell out and stuff in the middle of the class. And she's like, sometimes it's distracting. And I was like, yeah, but I mean, we have to learn to function with one another because I think us consistently being separated — I remember in high school, they were down the hallway. They put everybody in a room and then they got laughed at. And there could have been children in there who were higher functioning or whatever, but now because they're separated and they call them special, and then, you know, you're on a short bus, but like all of these things, it puts that stigma. So now our generation growing up having children, we, it's harder for us to admit.

Julian Saavedra: Well, that, that was something I wanted to, you know, bring up with you all. I'm sure, you know, all of us came up in a situation where special education wasn't really talked about, right? We didn't know much about it. We didn't realize that there's all these services out there. And especially black folks, both black and brown folks, we have trauma around education. We have trauma around our educational experiences. Our parents have trauma around that. Our grandparents have trauma around that. Uh, you know, generational poverty has been a thing for us for years and years and years.

And so we have to retrain our relationship with the public education system. We have to understand that a lot of these services have always been around and available, just not for us. And so how do we do that? We start to destigmatize that by making sure that there's trusted adults that can say to the parent and to the child, "Hey, guess what? I went through that too. Look at me now." Like, "I did that too. Look at me now."

Everybody out there, over there, they've been doing that. Right? If you, you go to the suburbs, they've been doing that. They've been having those situations have, they've been having that support. It's not talked about as much. But now that we have access, now that we have opportunity, we have to take advantage of that. 'Cause at the end of the day, all three of you are mamas that are gonna do whatever you can to make sure your child has the best possible shot at being successful, right? And so if there's something that you can get out there, then why not take the opportunity to, to do it?

Cody Elaine Oliver: And so is that how you would define the opportunity gap in terms of like what we as, as black and brown families have had access to versus, um, like the majority in this country in terms of education and access? Yeah.

Julian Saavedra: Yes. Uh, there's something called disproportionality where there's a disproportionate number of our students who are not getting the chances to be involved in programming or to get identified as having special education services. And so when we look at those numbers across the country, there's a pretty big gap in those that need it versus those who actually get the services they need.

And only in the last 10 or 15 years has that number increased where our students are finally getting the services that they should get. Uh, on the Understood.org, uh, has a whole host of resources that you can find giving you like strategic numbers on this. But on our podcast, we did an episode about the school-to-prison pipeline. Uh, and we talked about how I had a, uh, man that is an attorney for Marin County, California. And he talked about how so many of the people he represents are black boys who did not get the special education services they needed, and they wound up in jail.

So if we look at the combination of people who are sitting in jail, and if, imagine, what if they had gotten what they needed when they were younger? What if they had gotten the services they needed to learn how to read? What if they had gotten the opportunity or the chance just to love learning? And because that doesn't happen, all the societal pressures that are put upon them, coupled with, I'm not getting what I need in school, and I'm made to feel like there's something wrong with me, then what's gonna happen? It's inevitable.

And so when we look at this opportunity gap, it's a giant gap and it's not talked about enough. That's why I love that you all decided to let me come on here because we need to get this out. Everybody needs to talk about this. It's not something that it just automatically goes away. When I leave here, I'm going back to work, and I'm going back to Philly, and I'm gonna be working in the same population and the same schools that we're trying to support our kids. And we have to understand that our families are struggling to get what they need. So all of us have to talk about how do we access and provide that information for each other?

Cody Elaine Oliver: And, and I can't stress enough. I, you said, you know, thank you for letting you come on, but I was like, I love this podcast. I love the diversity of the, of the episodes. And even you talking about the, the, the, uh, what was it, "School to Prison Pipeline"? Yes. You know, I haven't heard that one yet and I, and I've heard many of them and I just appreciate, um, having the tools to, to work with my kids and hear from them, like talking to them and learning from them more easily. How do I work with their teachers? Um, and I also appreciate that all the episodes are very brief. They're like 10, 20 minutes. Um, but one question, especially because you said you are in high school. I didn't realize that. You're a principal at a high school.

So, presumably, you're often seeing sometimes the failures of the, the elementary and middle school education. So how are you able to course correct or, or impact kids that are older before it's too late?

Julian Saavedra: So, you know, there's a couple things that, that we look at. Uh, I am fortunate enough where I get to oversee ninth grade. So I'm their first introduction into high school. And normally I don't dress like this normally. I tried to fancy myself a little bit to come on the show. But normally, I, I dress like the kids. I am, I appear to be like somebody that they can relate to from the beginning. Uh, the way I speak with them is, you know, I speak their language. And it's building trust so that once the trust is built, the families can start opening up and telling us, tell me what your experience was before this.

So many of our kids come to school and they haven't had a good experience with school. And if that's been for seven, eight, nine, 10 years, I only have four years with you. So what can I do in those four years to get you prepared to go on to the next level? I'm not gonna say that we solve it every single time. Like, we try. And a lot of the work we do is a team effort where we try to work with the family, we try to get the student involved, and we try to diagnose exactly what we can do to support that student to get them caught up.

Our kids are brilliant. Right? You think about so many of our kids are taking two, three, four buses just to get to school. They take care of a little sister. They get grandma's pills. They do whatever they need to do, and then they show up to school and they're treated like they can't do anything. But wait, you're telling me were you doing that in high school? Were you taking three or four buses to get to school? And then handling yourself when you did that? No. So if they can do that, then of course if I put a book in front of them, they should be able to do that too.

And it's all about activating the skills they already have and making sure that those skills are activated in a school setting. And so our job is to really create programming that empowers them to show what they can already do, to value who they are. They have to see themselves and they have to see right in front of them. I can't tell them, "Oh, in 15 years, you go, you're gonna be successful when you're 30 years old." No, I need to know that I'm going to be successful tomorrow.

So, when I leave here, I'm going back 'cause I gotta be there. And I have to be a face that they see and they see continuously and consistently. And so the combination of consistent effort, the combination of allowing them to speak up for themselves, the combination of getting their parents involved, and the combination of diagnosing with expert advice and research-based intervention, these are things we know work. And we do that and we give that because it's the same thing that they do in the suburbs. Our kids in the city should get the same exact thing. That's how we can start to bring that catch-up and kids can start getting what they need.

Melanie Fiona: I have a question at a very base level. How does a parent identify if their child is showing signs? Like what are the signs of identifying that your child might have a learning disability or difference? Because I think sometimes, you know, we, we hear these conversations where, "Oh, he just doesn't have focus. They just don't have focus. Oh, I have to talk to them so many times." And, "You know, how come you can focus for that, but not for this?" And like, where does a parent begin to start to question, is this just an eight-year-old or a 10-year-old being all over the place 'cause they're 10? Or what, what is it that they a parent needs to be looking out for to say, "Hey, we might need to research if this is worth diagnosing and seeking out intervention for this."

Julian Saavedra: Right. Great question. That's a question we get all the time. Uh, and that's something we bring up on the podcast. Uh, but I would say that one, trust yourself. You are your own child's number one advocate, and you are the person that's the expert in your children. You know them. You know them well. And so I would pay attention to how are they feeling about school. Start there. Don't look at the product, look at how they feel. Right? When they come home from school, what's their demeanor? Do they feel confident in school? Are they frustrated? Do they come home and they say, "I don't wanna do anything. I'm tired. I'm worn out. I don't wanna talk about it at all." And if that's continuing over time, that's already a red flag. "Uh oh, I need to see what's going on."

Because ideally we want our babies to love school. We want them to come home excited about it. They might not tell you everything, but at least their feeling should be they're not worn out from the experience. And once you start seeing that, that might be a a warning sign that you want to look into. Uh, secondly, have a conversation with them about how they feel about their production at school. Ask them targeted questions.

"Tell me what you learned. Tell me something that challenged you. Tell me something that you felt successful at today." A lot of us will say, "Did you have a good day at school today?" Or they'll say, "How was your day?" And of course, you don't wanna disappoint mom. So you're gonna make something up. Or say fine, or say hungry. "Let me get a snack." But if you ask targeted questions, then those targeted questions are gonna give you the information you need.

"Tell me one person that you talked to at recess today." "Tell me about what your teacher said to you today. Is there something good that they said?" And once you start asking these questions, then that's where the information starts coming. Outside of that, obviously we have grades as a way to assess, but grades are not the only thing that you can look at. It's really about looking at what skills they're developing.

And there are benchmarking of different skills at different levels. I would say the earlier that you're paying attention the better. Uh, and I always tell parents, keep a record of your observations. Start writing down over time. "I'm noticing that my child is struggling with every Thursday, they come home upset." "Well, what's going on every Thursday?" "Is that when they have a math test every Thursday?" "Or every Monday the spelling test comes home and they're, they're really mad at me. They don't wanna be around me no more. They don't wanna do anything." Well, I wonder what's going on with spelling. What's happening with that?

And then thirdly, I would say, have a relationship with the school. Have a relationship with those teachers. And not in a, "You know, I'm going in there raising high hell because they're not taking care of business." Start early and say, "Hey, I'm a parent and I'm gonna be present."

Melanie Fiona: When my son was in first grade, I noticed a shift for him with, he's now in third. I noticed a shift with him in school, and um, I went and volunteered at the school. I would volunteer once a week and I'd go in that classroom because I was like, "I want to see what's going on." And I was able to see what was going on. And it was very helpful. And so there was nothing we could do about the environment he was in that class for the year. It wasn't anything that needed to be changed, but it was, it gave me insight as to how to parent him through his education experience and how to deal with certain things and also like create different, um, uh, opportunities for different resources for him to navigate that particular year. First, first grade was tough for him.

Um, so I, I actually also want to say this because I think if I think about my parents, they worked every single day, and my grandmother lived with us and she raised us for the most time and so my parents came home and I, I think about, you know, the, the the weight that parents have to carry in this, you know? Now more than ever, these conversations are being had like, "Okay, we need to keep a log. We need to pay attention." Like, some parents might feel overwhelmed by that. Um, and then are there resources for the parents like communities and podcasts, for example, that help parents navigate that? Because it can feel overwhelming. It's like, some parents didn't even identify these things within themselves that they may have struggled with, and now they have to try to learn it for their children. And it's amazing that parents can do that, but I know it can feel overwhelming. It's like, oh, I gotta take a log of what's happening. You know, I got to pay these bills too. You know?

Cody Elaine Oliver: I definitely got overwhelmed, but also decided that that's something that I need to do. I'm not even home, by the way. My our nanny picks the kids up from school, does the homework thing, and bedtime. So I'm typically home after bedtime, but that's just like a reminder of like, even how to have those, my mom that comes into town, how to have those that are there be a part of it.

Julian Saavedra: I mean, I'm glad you asked that question again because one, we've all come up in situations where we're okay. Our parents did the best that they could. But we, but I, I think in modern parenting, that's something we don't talk about either. Modern parenting, it's a pressure cooker. And all these things are telling us that we have to do this and this and this. And especially, I commend all of you as mothers because the pressure on you is even heavier than it is on me as a father.

That's real. That's a reality. I see the pressure for mothers, uh, to be a perfect mother and to have everything together and to function in a way where everything on social media looks perfect. Your kids are all put together. Everything is perfect. That's a lot. Right? And so we have to remind ourselves that somebody did it before us, and they did with less and they did just okay. And they did the best they could at the same time.

And so when we think about the resources, you have the resources right here. You have each other. I find that our biggest resources are each other. And so when we encourage our families, talk to each other. Anytime I have a meeting with, uh, anytime I have any meetings with parents or, you know, I do a lot of mediations, like, you know, they, they, they throw their hands up. They, yeah. They, you know, they, uh, they, they say, you need that. If you need that, then that, that means it goes, that's, that's a new phrase, by the way. Somebody says, you need that, walk the other way. Walk the other way. They say that to you, walk the other way.

But I do mediations, and a lot of times we'll bring the parents in, and at the end of the mediation, we say, exchange phone numbers. Talk to each other. Because listen, we're all trying to raise kids together. We're trying to do this together, and we're so isolated in our phones, not talking to each other. We have to just sit, go have coffee together, come over the house, and just share. What's going on with your kids? Hey, your kids doing something? My kids, all right, tell me what's going on. "Oh, Julian, you're a principal at a school. Tell me what is this? Explain it to me." "Oh, you're a lawyer, look at this for me." Right? Like, you know music, tell me what, put me on to what's going on in music right now. Let me know what, what music is gonna help my kids calm themselves down. We have to share, share this stuff with each, that's your number one resource.

But then outside of that, every single state, every school district has a number of organizations. You can just Google child advocacy, and you'll find an organization that can help you. But again, I would always say, go back to the school. Find one person at your school that you trust. Find just one. Somebody in that building is somebody that you can really tell you what's actually happening. If it happens to be an administrator, then that's even better because we know everything. And we can unlock a lot of the things that parents might typically not know.

But you find somebody that can help you put you in the right direction. And we can diagnose what's happening. Like, I can walk into a classroom, and I can tell you exactly what's happening. I can tell you what kids are learning on what's reading level. I can tell you what teacher moves are happening. I can tell you, you know, what the teacher did and did not do. And you might not be able to do that. But if you come to me and say, "Hey, Mr. Saavedra, I'm having a little bit of trouble with this. I'm noticing that, you know, my son is really struggling. Can you give me some advice on what to do?" I can help walk you through that. But if you don't have a trusting relationship with anybody there, then that's hard.

And listen, my mother worked many, many, many hours. Thank you mama for, thank you. But she worked many hours and she didn't have the chance to be at the school all the time. But every time I saw her, we had to explain what was going on in school. And we had to, we had an expectation that we were gonna do the best we could at school. And the school knew who she was. Even though she wasn't there, they knew who she was, and they knew that we had a mama that didn't play. And just by the way that we were, they knew her representatives. Tell your children, when you go out in the house, you're representing you, but you're also representing us.

Ashley Chea: But speaking of parents, where is somewhere parents should go, um, to help like champion with learning disabilities and they want to learn more about this?

Julian Saavedra: Yeah, so, uh, Understood.org. Understood.org, uh, it's an organization I work with and it's a really user-friendly website. There's a tons of resources. Uh, it walks you through if you are concerned about special education and you think maybe my child might need services, it gives you the templates to write a letter. It gives you, walks you through step by step, what does it look like?

Because again, so many of our families, they just don't know. And you might find yourself sitting in a meeting and you don't know what they're talking about. Go to Understood.org, and they'll break down everything for you. And the podcast, you can listen to that. There's a lot of stuff that, and you know, we talk a lot about again, our families. Like what is specific to us? Uh, because it looks different. It looks different for us and it looks different for our journey. And my goal really is to help people trust public education is there for you. Special education has drastically improved. It's changed since we were in school. And there's a lot of great resources out there for you.

Cody Elaine Oliver: And something that you said in an episode, I just wanna emphasize to parents that like there are modifications that can be made to your child's learning experience, whether that's sitting in the front of the room because they get more distracted in the back of the room was something that, that was said in an episode that I listened to. And it's just simple things like that that could make the difference between your kid like having a great experience or just like not being able to hear and, and, uh, zoning out.

And so I just, I, I'm glad that you shared that Understood.org is where we can go if we just wanna kind of understand better what the options are. And definitely check out "The Opportunity Gap Podcast" with Julian as the host.

Julian Saavedra: OG fam.

Cody Elaine Oliver: OG fam. How he greets us. Yes.

Julian Saavedra: Thank you, Julian, for joining us today.

Melanie Fiona: Thank you so much. This is a fantastic platform and y'all keep doing what you're doing because it's important.

Cody Elaine Oliver: Thank you for the work that you're doing.

Melanie Fiona: Yeah. You keep doing what you're doing because it takes a village and it's wonderful to see an administrator, somebody in the schools with these kids. That's, we're sitting here talking to you as homies, it's all cool, but you're with these kids. You wanna make a difference. You're making an impact on a direct level with these kids.

Ashley Chea: Yes. And as someone who who grew up in the inner city, AKA the hood, and went to inner city high school, teachers and administrator staff like you, they really do matter and they really do make a difference. Like I literally would not be—I mean, shout out to my mom 'cause she homeschooled me until I went to high school, but I'm telling you like, I call it planting the seed. Everything you say to these kids, you might not even see the difference immediately, but trust me, like that it grows and it grows and it gets unlocked again at some time as an adult and they're gonna remember something you said to them and they're like, "ah," and it all starts to make sense. So I hope you realize how important everything you say them seeing you. Simply seeing you, how much of a difference that truly makes in their life.

Julian Saavedra: Well, to all my students out there, I love working with you. You are my investment plan. I tell all of you that you need to make it and then come back and find your old teacher and hook me up. Because when you make it and you make it big and you have your own podcast and show, you come in, hook me up. Um, but that's why we do it, right? It's investment in the next generation. And it's an honor to do the work that we do. Uh, but I also say that we need help. And so I ask all of you with the resources you have. Uh, you know, something we didn't bring up as much, but in our community, there's a differentiation between those that have and those that might not have.

And so many of our families, they don't have the time to sit and do it. And they get demonized because they're not showing up. "Oh, this parent just doesn't care." Well, no, they got two jobs. They're trying to put food on the table. And so those that do have, we need to have a responsibility to support those that don't. How are we sharing our resources? How are we activating what we have at our disposal? How can we mentor those that are coming up behind us?

Right? And I, I charged that to anybody who watches this podcast, anybody that's watching this show, if you don't have a young person in your life that you're mentoring or supporting, get one. Find one. It doesn't take much. It takes a couple of minutes to just share what you do and share what your journey is. And like you said, that can be the seed that changes somebody else and puts them on. And a lot of times all we need is a chance. Opportunity gap. We, we let's close it.

Cody Elaine Oliver: I love that. A great way to end it. Wait, the other way to end it is, uh, you said something about moms, uh, doing the hard work. It was really beautiful.

Julian Saavedra: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Moms are superheroes. Moms are queens. All the pressure, moms are superheroes. Send your moms on vacations. Yes. Do everything you can. Send nice things. Tell your husbands to do what you need to do for your wives. Moms, yes. Moms are superheroes.

Cody Elaine Oliver: Especially black moms. All right. Well thank you so much, Julian. Um, we're so happy to have you here on "The Mama's Den Podcast." All right, so our family, if you have questions, comments, concerns, never mind, don't send us concerns. Uh, email us at podcast, with an s, at blacklove.com. Leave us ratings and reviews on Apple and Spotify. It's a thing. Yeah. Spotify. Heard of it? Um, and on Instagram, "The Mama's Den Podcast." And then also remember, y'all, we not playing about "The Opportunity Gap" at all. Okay. It is a podcast hosted by this man, Julian Zavedra. Is it Saavedra?

Julian Saavedra: Saavedra. Saavedra. Saavedra. Saavedra.

Cody Elaine Oliver: Saavedra. Get it right, girl. That song in the closing song about Saavedra. All right. Yes, listen to it.

All: Thanks, y'all.

Julian Saavedra: Thank you for coming on, Julian. Thank you so much.

Cody Elaine Oliver: Thank you. Thank you.