What happens when your child isn’t just a student, a patient, or a passerby—but the customer?

In Part 5 of the Service Switching series, Instructor Mike dives into the often-overlooked skill of self-advocacy—the power to speak up, clarify needs, and challenge unfair treatment without collapsing into entitlement or rage.

This episode teaches you:

• The developmental science behind self-advocacy vs. entitlement

• How to coach your child to name problems without emotional outbursts

• The role of tone, timing, and calm in getting what you need from adults in power

• How to practice scripts that work in schools, clinics, and even police encounters

Whether your child is ordering food, questioning a grade, or needing help in a crisis—this episode equips families to raise communicators, not complainers. Because in a system-driven world, knowing how to ask matters just as much as what you ask for.

“You’re not raising a customer. You’re raising a self-advocate.”

What if your child’s diagnosis isn’t just about behavior—but about business?

In this powerful episode, Instructor Mike unpacks the billion-dollar pipeline that thrives on pathologizing Black and low-income children through labels like ADHD, ODD, and IEPs. From pediatricians to school psychologists, from behavioral techs to pharmaceutical contracts—this system depends on your misunderstanding of child development.

We break down:

• Why certain children get labeled faster—and what those labels lead to

• How schools become profit centers through diagnostic coding

• The role of well-meaning but under-trained parents and educators

• Chicago Public Schools’ layoffs as proof the profit model is cracking

• And how YOU, the parent, are often unknowingly flipping the switch

This episode isn’t just an exposé. It’s a roadmap. Because once you understand the system, you don’t have to comply with it.

🎧 Tune in and take your child off the diagnostic train—before it reaches the last stop.

In Episode 7 of Foundations First, Instructor Mike reminds us of a simple truth with deep implications: Families are not guests in a child’s learning journey—they’re the foundation of it.

Before curriculum.

Before standards.

There was home.

There was rhythm.

There was family.

This episode explores how to honor that foundation by:

• Empowering parents and caregivers without shame

• Building healthy, respectful educator-parent partnerships

• Using shared language that makes learning portable across environments

• Applying Epstein’s Family Involvement Framework to practical, everyday communication

You’ll learn how to stop blaming, start bridging, and support children by aligning—not competing—with the values they bring from home.

Because the first classroom was a living room.

And the first teacher was someone who loved them.