Find an advocate to
fit your family

Ashley Traylor she/her

Special Education Advocate

I am a non-attorney special education advocate with a master’s degree in special education and nearly two decades of experience supporting students with disabilities and their families. My background includes work as a special education teacher, education consultant, and parent advocate, which gives me a strong understanding of both the school and family sides of the IEP process. I support families with IEPs, 504 plans, evaluations, eligibility, behavior plans, discipline concerns, transition planning, and parent participation in meetings. My goal is to help families feel prepared, informed, and confident while working collaboratively with school teams to address the student’s individual needs. I am also a parent of a child with disabilities, so I understand how emotional and overwhelming the process can feel. I believe families deserve clear information, practical support, and someone beside them who can help translate the paperwork, organize the concerns, and keep the focus on the child. My advocacy style is calm, collaborative, and solution-focused. I help families understand their rights, ask meaningful questions, review documents, prepare for meetings, and communicate concerns clearly and productively.

Tina Ayhan

Diagnosis & Healthcare Advocate

I had no experience with speacial needs and had to learn the hard way. My daughter has CP, epilepsy, global development delay. Had surgeries, had status epilepticus, stayed in hospitals for months. Learned to advocate for a non-verbal child while caring for two other kids one younger one older. Later went back to school and got my LMSW degree and now working for LCSW. Working in a psychiatric hospital while raising kids and managing being a full time assistant to my daughter with disabilities.

Leah Wright

Special Education Advocate

Hanna Mayfield

Parent Mentor

Familes can receive completely free parent mentoring services through the Family Resource Center for Disabilities and Special Needs. We are a community parent resource center and support families through the special education process for ages 0-26. Call our office at 8432661318 to complete an intake. We have served Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties since 1999.

Shayna Abraham

Diagnosis & Healthcare Advocate

Beyond the NICU supports families transitioning home after the NICU through parent coaching, care coordination, developmental guidance, and advocacy. Combining professional expertise with lived experience, Shayna Abraham helps families build confidence during one of life's most challenging transitions.

Michelle O'Neil

Supporting parents of children with disabilities/special needs through healthcare navigation, early intervention, and mental/emotional support.

I am both a registered nurse and licensed professional counselor in addition to being an adoptive parent of child with special needs and licensed foster parent. Since I began my nursing career in 2012 and then counseling career in 2021 and motherhood in 2023 I have had a passion for helping those in need, supporting holistic health from a physical, spiritual, and mental/emotional perspective, and working together with whole families. I would love to use my professional and personal skills to support others who are needing an advocate in their corner as they navigate finding and feeling supported in their journey.

Jeff Byars

I help patients and families navigate complex healthcare issues, including medical bills, insurance claims and appeals, coverage disputes, and communication with healthcare providers.

Families come to me when they feel overwhelmed by medical bills, insurance denials, coverage problems, confusing healthcare processes, or difficulty getting clear answers from providers and insurers.

Ayala Horwitz

Diagnosis & Healthcare Advocate

I do alot of coaching for families

Joy Barlean

I work with families in two primary areas of disability advocacy. In Medicaid and HCBS, I help families understand waiver and state-plan services, self-directed services, EPSDT, service options and rights, and how to make well-supported requests for the services they need. I also provide support when services are denied or reduced, including grievances, appeals, and state fair hearings. In special education and school-based advocacy, I help families navigate IEPs and 504 Plans, evaluations, accommodations, behavioral supports, inclusion, placement, and dispute-resolution processes. Across both areas, my approach is family-led: I help families understand their options, build strong documentation and requests, and develop the knowledge and confidence to advocate for themselves—while being there to stand beside them when they need additional support.

Hi, I’m Joy Barlean. I’m a mom and disability advocate who found my way into advocacy by navigating these systems for my own family. What started as learning everything I could about my boys’ needs and rights grew into helping other families navigate systems that can feel incredibly complicated and overwhelming. Today, I focus on Iowa Medicaid and HCBS—including waivers, self-directed services, EPSDT, service requests, denials, and appeals—as well as special education advocacy, including IEPs, behavioral supports, inclusion, accommodations, and dispute resolution. I bring both lived and professional experience, including work as an Independent Support Broker and service on several Iowa disability and Medicaid advisory groups. My goal is ultimately to work myself out of a job by giving families the knowledge, tools, and confidence to advocate for themselves—while also being there to stand beside them when they need the support of someone who has walked in their shoes.

Kelli Helmer

Special Education Advocate

I am a social worker, care coordinator, non profit creator and a special needs mom x4. A guardian and one heck of an advocate!!