232 — Making Education Special for All with Dr. Amy Perez

What if making education “special” didn't mean doing more?

In Episode 232 of the No Name Paper Podcast, Meghan talks with Dr. Amy Perez, a recently retired educator whose 34-year career has included teaching, speech-language pathology, campus administration, and special education leadership.

Amy's commitment to special education started much earlier than her career. In fifth grade, a friendship with a classmate named Barbara, who had a brain tumor, began shaping Amy's understanding of the difference between sympathy and empathy—and ultimately the kind of educator she wanted to become.

Today, that philosophy lives in M.E.S.A. — Making Education Special for All.

For Amy, “special” shouldn't automatically mean more, harder, or more stressful. It should mean creating educational experiences where students, families, teachers, and leaders have the support and understanding they need to be successful.

One of Amy's central ideas is that empathy doesn't mean feeling sorry for someone or lowering expectations.

Instead, empathy requires understanding the person in front of you—their circumstances, skills, needs, and goals—and then providing the appropriate support while still maintaining accountability.

As Amy puts it, empathy means working to understand someone without judgment and building enough of a relationship to help that person move toward their goals.

Amy also challenges educators to look closely at the accommodations students receive.

Her example is simple: a student may want extended time, just as an adult might want a personal chef or trainer. The question for an IEP team is different:

What does the evidence show the student actually requires to be successful?

One of the more provocative moments in the conversation comes when Amy argues that educators can sometimes make their own jobs harder through good intentions.

When teachers consistently provide additional supports without documenting them or determining whether they're necessary, students and families can understandably begin to expect those supports.

Her challenge to educators is to move away from decisions based on opinion or simply “being nice” and toward intentional, evidence-based support.

Amy also shares candidly about leaving a principalship she enjoyed.

She was happy. Her campus was successful. But she eventually realized she wasn't fulfilled.

That distinction required reflection—and the courage to leave a position others might have viewed as a step up in order to return to the work that gave her a stronger sense of purpose.

Her reminder for educators considering their own next chapter:

Every job is hard. The question is which hard work is connected to something you care deeply about.

We finish with a game of Empathy or Extra, where Amy decides whether familiar education practices genuinely support people—or simply add unnecessary stress, confusion, or burden.

We tackle:

• Long IEP meetings with unclear outcomes
• Clear communication with families
• Overly complex documentation systems
• Collaboration where everyone feels heard
• Compliance-first thinking
• Systems centered on student understanding
• Meetings where everyone talks at each other

And Amy proves pretty quickly that she's perfectly comfortable calling something extra.

Dr. Amy Perez recently retired after 34 years in public education. Across her career, she has served as a teacher, speech-language pathologist, special education specialist, assistant principal, principal, diagnostician, and special education/special programs director.

Through M.E.S.A. — Making Education Special for All — she now focuses on consulting, training, coaching, and empowering educators and families to make educational experiences clearer, more efficient, collaborative, and meaningful.

Website: DrAmyPerez.com
X/Twitter: @DrGrowKnow