Hi, I’m Dr. Cindy Fisher, Smart Steps® President and CEO

As a special education teacher with 40 years’ experience, I taught and led in K-21 roles as a resource teacher, co-teacher, learning specialist, inclusion facilitator, and staff developer. My mission: to support independence and self-advocacy in students, especially important after high school.

What You Already Know

When young adults transition to the ‘rest of their life’, whether it’s college, employment, or participating in the community, they need to be able to work through challenges because getting through tough situations builds resilience, independence, and self esteem and develops one’s success potential.If a person needs support to become employed, job coaching is available for some, but typically not on a permanent basis. As students navigate a college campus, supports that might have been available in K-12 are no longer there. We need a solution.

What Inspired Me

My inspiration came about when working with post-high students with autism in the community. I noticed the amount of stress that came along with unexpected challenges. Visual schedules provided predictability and structure except in situations that involved decision making. The reason: Solving everyday problems can be complex because the solution depends upon the context, personal preferences, and resources that are available at that moment. What works at 8:00 a.m. might not work at 12:00 p.m., or there may not be someone standing nearby to ask. For many daily problems, there is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Because of all of these factors, I went to work trying to figure out how to better prepare my students.

How Smart Steps Was Designed

I tried making flow charts, but that’s a lot of information to absorb and memorize. Then I thought, education isn’t about memorizing; it’s about accessing resources when and where someone needs them. I then realized this would make a great app, and that’s how Smart Steps began.

In designing Smart Steps, I wanted several features to personalize the app experience. After all, people vary in independence, resilience, social skills, communication, awareness of safety, reading ability and so on. I reflected on the different personalities and needs of students in my career, and I spoke with hundreds of parents, adults with disabilities, and professionals at assistive technology conferences, autism carnivals, and other networking opportunities.

What Students Taught Me

I realized that the app needed to bridge a variety of needs. For example, some people don’t want to have to talk to someone when they need help. They would rather use the app and text message when they need help. Others like to ask for help before trying, so the app provides structure to encourage them to think for themselves. Some individuals have vision issues or may have a hard time reading, so they might want a read-aloud button. Some really like certain colors, or they see better with a certain color scheme, so they would want to customize the overall look.

What Parents and Professionals Wanted

The most common request from parents and professionals was to be able to edit current content and create new decision trees. I’m happy to say that these are available!

My vision is to bring a new level of support to adult services that is a win-win for everyone. Not only does this provide an efficient and user-friendly type of support, it’s fun to use. I’m excited for you to see it.

How to Get Started

Ready to give it a try? Consider this an invitation to take some Smart Steps today with the Smart Steps Mobile app. Just click register to set up your free account… It’s that easy.

I’m also available for consulting and onsite training. Contact me at connect@smartsteps4me.com to make your request.

President and CEO, Cindy Fisher, Ed.D.

Dr. Cindy Fisher has a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education with an emphasis in K-12 Learning Disabilities, a Master of Arts degree in Special Education with an emphasis in Learning Disabilities, an Education Specialist degree in K-12 Educational Administration, and a Doctorate of Education in K-12 Education Administration. Her dissertation “Photography as a Communication Tool for Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities” bridged her interests in photography, social critical theory, self-determination, self-advocacy, and parent involvement. This qualitative study brought to light a new level of voice, the Voice of Grace, as an addition to theory outlined in Women’s Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind (Belenky et al., 1986). Self determination is a core value, reflected in Smart Steps Mobile.