Shana Burke is the creative owner behind Shana Burke Creative Advocacy, a venture born from her personal passion for helping all kids connect, understand, and thrive in the classroom.

As a mom to wonderful neurodivergent children, and with her professional background as a Certified Special Education Advocate and Paraeducator, Shana has a unique insight into the challenges and incredible strengths of neurodiversity. Her path to creating these resources began during an IEP meeting for her son when he was in kindergarten, where his teacher noted that his speech disorder, linked to his epilepsy, was making it difficult for his classmates to understand him.

The conversation immediately brought Shana back to her own childhood. After a diabetic coma in second grade, her mom and teacher worked together to help her classmates understand her new diagnosis in a way that felt empowering, not embarrassing. Shana knew that same thoughtful approach was exactly what her son needed. With his teacher's full support, they began to create a presentation for his kindergarten class.

Shana even reached out to the Susan Kaufmann Foundation, who graciously sent them bookmarks and information to share. The real turning point, however, came after her son was diagnosed with a second type of seizure—now focal seizures—in 1st grade. Shana wanted to create a more personal presentation for his new classmates. After a frustrating search for a "perfect" kid-friendly story to explain epilepsy, she found a simple, kind note from his kindergarten teacher, which she'd tucked into a book the year before. That note sparked a huge idea: she would write the story herself.

This pivotal moment led to the creation of the “Friends with Seizures” story, coloring book, and presentation. The project was not just about epilepsy; it was also a way to gently educate other families about those subtle, often-missed signs of seizures—signs that Shana herself hadn't recognized when her son first started experiencing absence seizures. Through her work as a paraeducator, collaborating with amazing special education paras and teachers, Shana consistently observed a common challenge: neurotypical kids sometimes struggle to understand their neurodivergent peers. This insight fueled her desire to create social stories that help bridge that gap. Her epilepsy story is not only teacher-approved but also received the green light from a school district nurse for use in her son's classroom.

Shana's goal with all of her stories is simple yet profound: to build empathy and understanding, especially for those navigating neurological differences like epilepsy, functional neurological disorder, autism, ADHD, and other challenges. By intentionally fostering understanding in classrooms, she believes we can create a more inclusive, compassionate, and effective learning environment for all students.