I’ve sat where you’re sitting.

When my daughter was four years old, I requested an evaluation. I knew something was there — I could see it clearly. What followed was a long stretch of delays, misunderstandings, and well-meaning professionals who still missed the full picture. She was eventually identified as twice-exceptional: gifted, autistic, and dyslexic. By then, we had already lost time.

And I’m a special education teacher. I knew the system from the inside — and it still happened to us. That experience changed the way I show up for families.

I’ve spent more than 20 years working across nearly every level of education — as a classroom teacher in Hillsborough County, a literacy interventionist, an instructional mentor, a district leader, and now as an adjunct professor and clinical supervisor at the University of South Florida’s College of Education. I’ve trained teachers, shaped programs, and sat at countless IEP tables.

What that experience taught me is this: the gap between what special education policy says and what actually happens in classrooms and meetings is real — and it falls hardest on the families who are already stretched thin.

I’m also raising a gifted child — and watching the system respond to him completely differently has taught me just as much.

Step by Step Educational Consulting exists to close that gap. I bring the expertise of a career educator and the perspective of a parent who has navigated the system firsthand — so you don’t have to figure it out alone.

I work with a small number of families at a time — intentionally. This isn’t a volume business. It’s expertise-based, relationship-centered work, and I want to do it well.

If you’re navigating an IEP, a school transition, or the path of homeschooling a complex learner — I’d love to talk. The first conversation is always free.

• Florida Certified: Early Childhood PreK–3, ESE K–12, ESOL, Educational Leadership K–12, Reading Endorsement
• Orton-Gillingham Certified — structured literacy and dyslexia-informed instruction
• Adjunct Professor & Clinical Supervisor, University of South Florida College of Education
• Verified FES-UA Provider — Step Up for Students
• EdD — beginning Fall 2026, research focus: early childhood, neurodiversity, and twice-exceptional learners
• 20+ years in education — teaching, leadership, literacy, and higher education

Step by Step Educational Consulting LLC Tampa, FL stephanie.rubly@stepbystepedconsulting.com