Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Robin Pokladnik M.Ed., NCED,. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Robin, thanks for joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

Neither of my parents went to college. Both were extremely bright. My father entered the army and my mother entered the secretarial pool following high school. They married very young and started a family. They were both voracious readers. They read books, non-fiction and fiction. They read multiple newspapers daily. My parents were very knowledgeable about current events both locally as well as state and nationally. Conversations about politics and other community concerns were held in front of the children daily.
My mother belonged to book clubs and books flooded our home monthly.
My brother and I always had new supplies of books appropriate for our age. If not reading, we were given Highlights magazines to complete puzzles, word games and draw. And, we were sent outside with just our imagination for hours at a time. My parents instilled a love of education and we never questioned the idea of higher education. It was only a matter of where we would attend college. My parents taught us that public education was important and part of democratic society. Education brought opportunities and options. Most importantly, my parents taught me that education is for everyone.
I learned though that some students needed supports and accommodations to access school.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I began my career as a special education teacher. My undergraduate degree is in special education and elementary education with an emphasis on developmental psychology and reading. My career began in the district that I attended as a child. I became friends with the diagnostician on the campus. I was fascinated with her job. I decided to become an educational diagnostician a few years into my career in education. I had a special interest in exploring the underlying cognitive and psychological processes that led to a child’s challenges at school.
I spent several years working as a diagnostician in a local public school district. I gained a tremendous amount of experience evaluating students and participating on committees (called ARDs here in Texas) to develop students Individual Education Plans or IEPs.
My career path led me to take on other positions such as Director of Special Education in a small, rural school district in Texas. I also spent some years leading a local urban special education evaluation department as well.
Finally, I spent some time at the Region 10 Education Service Center as the Child Find Consultant. That position allowed me to train diagnosticians all over the state and participate in statewide initiatives to improve Child Find activities and evaluation in Texas.
Opening my own business dedicated to providing quality evaluation to families was just the obvious next step.
Sometimes when I am working with a child, I feel like a detective hunting for clues. My job often feels like a puzzle, and I need to make all the pieces work together to reveal a story about the child. Every person that I have the honor to evaluate is unique. The job never gets old.
SpEC also supports other evaluation professionals through training and mentoring. It is very fulfilling to grow and enrich a profession that plays a role in the lives of so many children. All the best educational plans for a child begin with a thorough and thoughtful evaluation.
For me, the best part of SpEC is serving the community where I live and work. I am a 3rd generation Dallasite. I love the people. I love the families. SpEC is my way of utilizing my expertise to be a resource to families when their child has challenges at school. SpEC is here to help them get questions answered through evaluation.
SpEC of Texas offers full individual educational evaluations (FIE) for children and young adults. We evaluate and identify conditions and make recommendations for supports and accommodations to make progress and have success at school. We identify conditions like ADHD, dyslexia, specific learning disabilities, autism, speech and language difficulties, and intellectual disabilities.

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

I like to think my professional and personal reputation is built on transparency and quality of work. I strive to do what I say I will do within the agreed upon time frame with the highest quality.

Even with 30 years of experience, it is so important to continue to learn and train and develop, even when you are at a master level in your field. Growth is continual and healthy. It is very important to evolve your skills and evolve your product. Stagnation is not good.

I am human. Mistakes are made. One thing I have learned is that it is a sign of professionalism to apologize for mistakes and make corrections when possible.

I also believe it is important to grow the profession that you work in. Mentoring those new to the field is critical for maintaining high quality services for all.

Can you open up about how you managed the initial funding?

I started SpEC with a small business administration start up loan. It was critical to obtain a library of assessment/evaluation instruments. My SBA loan funded that library and other critical start up items and infrastructure to support the business properly. I am proud to be a small woman owned business serving the community in which I live. I am grateful to my local regional bank/banker that connected me with the SBA loan program.

Contact Info:

• Website: specoftexas.net
• Instagram: specoftx
• Facebook: Special Evaluations & Consulting of Texas
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spec-of-texas-llc/
• Twitter: @spectexas