By Mary Miele, Founder of Evolved Education Company
Based on the Book: Now What? A Parent’s Guide After A Learning Diagnosis
Watch the Video: Click Here
When a parent receives a learning diagnosis for their child—dyslexia, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, or something else—it marks a pivotal moment in their child’s educational journey. It’s a moment filled with emotions: relief, fear, overwhelm, and hope.
So the question becomes: Now what?
That’s exactly the question we answer through the Specialized Education Consulting Model at Evolved Education Company—a model built to guide families step by step, not only through the maze of evaluations and services, but also toward clarity, action, and empowerment.
This article outlines the model we’ve developed and implemented over years of working with hundreds of families. It’s based on the framework introduced in Now What? A Parent’s Guide After a Learning Diagnosis—a comprehensive resource that gives parents a roadmap after receiving life-altering information about their child’s learning profile.
What Is Specialized Education Consulting?
Specialized Education Consulting is a research-informed, heart-centered process that helps families:
- Understand their child’s cognitive and academic profile
- Build and implement a whole-child educational plan
- Lead a customized support team
- Advocate effectively within and outside of school systems
- Reframe the diagnosis as a guidepost—not a limitation
This model doesn’t prescribe a one-size-fits-all program. Instead, it equips parents to take leadership of their child’s learning life and co-create a personalized, strengths-based, future-oriented plan.
The Model: 8 Steps from Diagnosis to Direction
1. Anchor the Parent as Leader
The first—and often most transformative—step is helping the parent recognize: You are the leader of your child’s learning life. Whether you’re navigating public, private, charter, or homeschool systems, your role is central. Our consultants help you clarify your values, define your vision, and anchor your decision-making in your child’s best interest.
This is not about knowing all the answers. It’s about owning your authority, curiosity, and love.
2. Understand the Brain—Uniquely
We help parents move beyond the label and into the function of the diagnosis. Through one-on-one review sessions, we interpret neuropsychological evaluations and translate dense reports into plain language:
- What areas of the brain are affected?
- What skills are impacted?
- What are the child’s natural strengths?
Then we ask: What does this look like in real life? Together, we craft a portrait of your child that’s rooted in science and real-world observation.
3. Process the News—Emotionally and Logistically
After a diagnosis, families often need support processing the emotional weight of the news before diving into logistics. Through reflective tools, we help parents normalize their reactions—grief, guilt, relief, hope—and move toward empowerment.
We teach parents the “Thought Model”: how our thoughts create our feelings, which shape our actions—and ultimately, our child’s results.
4. Explore What’s Possible
This is where the mindset shifts: from limitation to opportunity. We support parents in exploring:
- The neuroscience of their child’s diagnosis
- Common and effective interventions
- Accommodations that work
- Hidden strengths that emerge with each profile
- School options, supports, and community networks
We stay in the question: What else is possible?
5. Build the Action Plan: Your Child’s Total Education Process
This step involves mapping out the entire landscape of your child’s development across four key domains:
- Academic
- Social
- Emotional
- Physical
We help you build a profile, prioritize 2–3 key goals in each area, and outline initial supports—at school and at home. This becomes your child’s living education plan—one that adapts as they grow.
6. Implement the Plan and Lead the Team
Now, we move from planning to doing. We help you:
- Identify a point person (you, or a consultant)
- Assemble your support team (teachers, therapists, specialists)
- Schedule regular review meetings
- Track data, observations, and next steps
- Keep communication calm, consistent, and constructive
You don’t have to do this alone—we support you as the CEO of your child’s learning life.
7. Apply Strategies That Work—and Stick
Next, we help you identify the tools and strategies that best match your child’s needs and profile:
- Academic: Graphic organizers, chunked assignments, audiobooks
- Social: Social scripts, structured peer groups, role-play
- Emotional: Emotion charts, mindfulness, journaling
- Physical: Movement breaks, OT tools, sensory regulation
We teach you and your child how to practice and repeat these tools until they become second nature.
Repetition + consistency = long-term results.
8. Reflect, Revise, and Recalibrate
No plan stays perfect forever—and that’s okay. Our model is designed to evolve. At each stage, we ask:
- What’s working?
- What’s not?
- What needs adjustment?
- Where is more knowledge or support needed?
We help you continuously refine your plan based on your child’s developmental changes and lived experience.
Why This Model Works
- It’s personalized: Every child’s brain is unique, and so is every plan.
- It empowers parents: You are equipped—not overwhelmed—with actionable insight.
- It integrates research and real life: Rooted in evidence, tailored through lived experience.
- It brings clarity and confidence: You’ll no longer ask, What do I do? but instead, What’s next?
- It transforms outcomes: Children feel seen, supported, and set up to succeed on their own terms.
For Parents Ready to Lead with Clarity
If you’ve just received a diagnosis—or you’re months or years into navigating it—we invite you to step into this model. Not as a checklist. But as a compass.
Your child doesn’t need perfection. They need your clarity, your courage, and your commitment to keep asking: What’s possible?
Let us walk with you.
Explore the full guidebook and reflection workbook: Now What? A Parent’s Guide After a Learning Diagnosis
Schedule a consultation: mary@evolveded.com
More resources: www.evolvededucationcompany.com
You are not just reacting to a diagnosis. You are leading a learning life.
