Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brittany Lopez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brittany, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I came up with the idea of creating a learning center for children with disabilities due to the fact that I could not find a suitable educational environment for my own son, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at 2 1/2 years old. We had tried various educational settings, and although some were good, there were always drawbacks; sometimes it was distance, sometimes cost, other times they didn’t have the support they said they did for my son. After this last failure and him essentially being dismissed from a school mid-year, I decided to take the plunge and create something for him and his peers. During the COVID lockdown, we did a lot of homeschool and at home therapy and had a lot of success. But, as the time dragged on, I knew it was best for both of our mental health if we found a good balance of time at home and time with others. My son still needs a significant amount of therapy throughout the week, so full-time school was not an option either. Through my journey of figuring out what works best for us, I found many other families going through the same struggle. This gave me the confidence to create a program for children who need a social environment with individualized academics which will make learning more accessible to them. I believe COVID made a lot of families-mine included-rethink what education means to them and what it could possibly look like. The Brighter Futures Learning Center is unique in that it is a part-time university model program. Students will attend for 3 days each week and 3 hours each day. This allows families to still be in control of their child’s education through homeschooling if they want, gives children the opportunity to receive the additional therapies they need, and just gives time for a kid to be a kid. The majority of special needs private schools in the area do not offer part-time options, so I feel that I have filled a gap that I did not even realize existed. I also plan to take kids of various needs and academic and developmental levels. My passion is to show the world that these kids can learn and have so much to share with us-they just need their own personal way to show it. Over the years, I have seen people, professionals, and teachers underestimate my son and it is heartbreaking every single time. I want to be a place where parents know that I believe in their children and their children’s abilities. Brighter Futures Educational Therapy is set up to be a unique educational option for children with unique minds and we look forward to serving DFW for years to come.

Brittany, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As someone who grew up with a sister with significant disabilities, I was always involved in the disability community. I spent the majority of my teenage and young adult years working in various disability environments. Then in college I pursued an educational path. While teaching in a variety of settings, I only worked with children with special needs as I knew early on this was my passion and calling. At 2.5 years old, my son was diagnosed with autism and yet again my life was personally impacted by disability. Due to my life, education, and work experiences, I felt that I got a bit of a head start on other families in my community in terms of how to help our children. I knew that I wanted to use my head start to help others who were new to the disability community, rather than just separate from the pack. The personal and hands-on learning I received from my son gave me the confidence to support other families with the same struggles. I decided to start and educational therapy practice to help students who struggle in school as well as work with parents on how to best support their children. As my private practice has grown, I have seen from other families the need for a more intensive and individualized educational program for kids with learning, social, and communication challenges. This was the need that pushed me to begin creating a learning center for these children. This learning center will allow the students to get the high-quality education they need in an environment that works best for their bodies and minds. I am very excited about this program and proud that I am able to create something that works not only for my son, but many other children like him. My educational option is unique in that it will use evidence-based educational programs based on children’s strengths, weaknesses and cognitive profiles. Additionally, we will provide support for communication and social needs. My hope is that this becomes a tight-knit group of kids who can grow up together being comfortable in their own skin rather than always feeling like they have to try and fit into a world that doesn’t always work for them. The goal of both my private practice and learning center is to provide a setting for kids to grow and thrive when other settings have not done that for them.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Like many others over the last 2 years, COVID was a major pivot point for me and my business. However, my growing pains were different than most others in my field. At the time, I only had a few clients and did my best to transition them to an on-line learning platform. Although this in and of itself was a learning curve, the biggest area of growth during this time was my overall knowledge in my field. At this time, I was forced to be my son’s full time therapist and teacher. Even though I had extensive education and professional experience in this field, it was a brand new experience during quarantine. I had to learn how to create an at-home program that worked specifically for us and helped my son to continue to grow. I dove deep into child development, neurology, and the science of learning. This new knowledge has been immensely beneficial in the growth of my private practice, as I better understand how to help my clients. Additionally, I have been able to better understand and support children with complex communication needs. I am very invested in working with students that many other write off as not able to learn and providing them and education that is accessible to them. Being stuck in quarantine with my own son with complex communication needs taught me the strategies to help these students, as well as gave me the confidence that I could hep other families with children like mine.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Being a parent as well as a professional has helped others to trust me and seek out my services. I can provide the knowledge and expertise that they are looking for in a professional but also the understanding and trust that they are looking for in someone who is living the same life they are. I believe this has greatly helped my business to continue to grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.brighterfuturesedtherapy.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brighterfutureseducationaltherapy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-lopez-18973b21b