TPP 159: Inside The Flex School with Founder Jacqui Byrne
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
41 min
2 speakers
4 chapters
transcribed 12 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
You know, the accommodations that are Ін традичний шкулів кід. But when they don't work It makes going to school so much more difficult. And I I think that's part of the reason for the rise in anxiety and depression and also school refusal. across the board, but specifically in two E kids.
Welcome to Tilt Parenting, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. My name is Debbie Rieber and I'm the host of this show, and today my guest is an educator, the founder of the Flex School, and fellow mama of several Differently Wired Kids that I am proud to call a friend, Jackie Byrne. Jackie has deep experience in education, teaching, counseling, and writing. She's the co-founder of the widely respected IBED College Preparation and Counseling Firm and is an acknowledged expert in education, training school district guidance counselors and presenting at professional conferences. And if you haven't heard of Flex School before, it's a unique learning network for gifted and twice exceptional middle and high school students that embraces students for who and where they are and then supports them as they learn to thrive.
Right now there are two campuses in the Northeast United States in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, and another in New Haven, Connecticut. But there are more campuses in the planning and as you'll hear from our conversation, their plan is to continue growing. Jackie is passionate about supporting this population of learners and is committed to supporting these students wherever they are. In addition to sharing her personal story of why she created Flexchool, Jackie pulls back the curtain to share the strategies and approaches that Flexchool has found success with in working with differently wired, especially 2E students, including ideas for accommodations that could work in any classroom. Ah so, Jackie has such an optimistic vision for who our kids are and her energy is infectious.
I got off this interview feeling just so inspired and hopeful and excited about the possibilities. I hope you feel the same after listening. Thanks again, and now here is my conversation with Jackie. Hey Jackie, welcome to the podcast. Hi Debbie, thank you so much for inviting me. I'm excited to share your story and Flexchool with our listeners. I've had the chance to see it in action and I think it's such a fantastic model. And you are such a unique school creator and I'm just really excited to to share your story. So why don't we actually start with your story? Can you uh just tell us about how Flexchool came about? You know, how did this become part of your your mission and why did you create it?
I was running um I had a uh business partner and we were running an educational company already and I have four children and two of them were really struggling. in school, even though they were really bright and the teachers were trying. This was not I love to say it was teachers' fault, but it was not. It was it was my kids. They just weren't gonna fit. And One of them in particular was
What inspired Jacqui Byrne to create Flex School for gifted and 2e students?
sort of putting on armor at the end of the driveway to walk to school and getting more and more depressed and and anxious and yet getting up early to write a novel. And it was terrific. And so You know, she had dropped out of gifted and talented, and I think they were probably as happy to see her go as she was to go. And Gifted and talented programs are fantastic. if that's the way you need gifted and talented work. And she couldn't do it the way that they wanted. um her to do it. And you know, they're They're a part of a set of triplets and They were in sixth grade and There's a lot of schooling left after sixth grade and I knew that They weren't gonna make it in public schools. My other two kids great in public school, did super well.
And so I started looking around at other schools and I knew them professionally, but I hadn't sort of looked at all of their information from a parental point of view and There wasn't really anywhere for them to go and
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:37
2
What inspired Jacqui Byrne to create Flex School for gifted and 2e students?
3:37–11:47
3
How did Jacqui’s personal family challenges shape the Flex School model?
11:47–26:11
4
What are the core accommodations Flex School uses to reduce anxiety and school refusal?
26:11–41:29
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
TPP 266a: A Conversation with Poet and Advocate LeDerick Horne
TPP 522: A Whole Child Approach to ADHD with Phil Boucher, M.D.
TPP 091a: A Conversation With Steve Silberman About His Book “Neurotribes”
TPP 521: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Gray About Restoring Childhood
TPP 253a: Advocate and Author Jonathan Mooney on Why Normal Sucks
TPP 520: Dr. Özgür Bolat on Why Rewards Backfire and the Real Science of Motivating Kids