How Kara Scanlon Found Her Career Path in Education Therapy | EP 3

Today’s Episode with Kara Scanlon:

Kara Scanlon is an educational therapist based out of Southern California and is also the chair of the national conference of the Association of Educational Therapists.She meets with about 15 students a week and her specialty is working with kids in math. She has realized that students are not interested in learning executive functioning. So Kara’s strategy is to start with a subject that they’re failing to gain their interest and trust, and then weave in executive functioning.Her journey with this profession began when she started tutoring girls at her High School in math in the mornings before school, and in college she used her personal experiences with learning disabilities to help people with similar struggles in the math and science departments.In her early 20’s she realized that being a research scientist was not her path. Although she loved tutoring, she thought she couldn’t make enough money from it to make a career out of it. However, her ed therapist from her childhood told her otherwise. Once she started on the path towards a career in ed therapy, she felt like all the pieces came together perfectly.Asking for the amount of money you think you deserve can be awkward and difficult but realizing your self worth, working with families that you want to work with and respect you, stating your price emphatically, and showing the 110% effort you will give are the strategies that have helped Kara find success.  Kara has side projects in countries around the world where she works with clients pro-bono and this is something that helps her find a balance of serving more wealthy clients as well as fulfilling her purpose as an educator for all people regardless of socio-economic status. This is also something that makes the families she works with more comfortable with her price.  She also spends a lot of time volunteering with Association of Educational Therapists (which she is now chair of) and works on modernizing the organization. Such a large percentage of people who need an ed therapist do not have access to one and it prevents people from living up to their full potential. A passion project of Kara’s is working towards changing this. Kara has a contagious energy and passion. She likes to have creative and calming outlets to keep herself energized whether it is watercolor, planting, or playing with her dogs and it has a huge effect on her work life. Every student Kara has worked with has opened up a new part of self-understanding. Open communication is important to relationships with clients, and Kara lets her clients know how she is feeling so they feel comfortable doing the same. For those still trying to find their passion and educational identity, Kara talks about figuring out what makes you unique and how important that is.Word of mouth is another key to success and so Kara says starting with one or two clients and focusing really hard will still bring a lot of success because they will spread the word about you if they had a great experience.

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