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See the pageIlonka Knowlton, Certified Life Coach (CLC)
Clear next steps for families carrying a lot.
Practical life coaching for parents and families of children with disabilities. Ilonka helps you sort what is urgent, build routines that fit real life, prepare for hard decisions, and keep moving one step at a time.
- Rogers, Arkansas
- In person across Benton County
- Online where coaching is permitted
20+ years
guiding students, families, and staff through change
Special education experience across Arkansas, London, and South Africa.
Start here
Not sure where to start? Answer three quick questions.
Tap one answer in each row. You will get a first focus that fits your family, and the page that explains it.
1. How old is your child?
2. Where is the pressure worst right now?
3. How would you like to meet?
A coach who knows this world
You do not need more generic advice.
Families raising a child with a disability already juggle school, care, work, paperwork, and worry. Coaching gives you protected time to think clearly, choose priorities, and turn a long list into workable next steps.
Build routines that can survive a hard week
Look at mornings, evenings, appointments, homework, meals, and rest. Keep what works, simplify what does not, and build a rhythm the whole family can actually follow.
Help topics
Start with the problem in front of you.
These are the four things families ask Ilonka about most. Each page explains what coaching looks like for that problem, in plain words.
IEP meeting help
Walk in prepared, not overwhelmed. Sort your papers, your questions, and your child's strengths before the meeting.
Open the pageFamily routines
Mornings, evenings, homework, and bedtime that hold together on real days, not just good days.
Open the pageTransition to adulthood
Work, independence, and life after school, planned early enough to matter.
Open the pageSupport for parents
For the parent carrying the load. Make the work visible, share what can be shared, and protect time to rest.
Open the pageMeet your coach
Ilonka Knowlton
Certified Life Coach, CLC
- Life Coach Training Institute
- Specialist in multi-sensory impairment
- Lead special education teacher in Rogers
- Warm, direct, and plain spoken
Meet Ilonka
Experience families can feel from the first conversation.
Ilonka Knowlton is a Certified Life Coach and lead special education teacher based in Rogers, Arkansas. Her Life Coach Certification is from Life Coach Training Institute, an International Coaching Federation (ICF) approved program.
For more than 20 years, she has guided students, families, and staff through complicated transitions and practical change. She currently leads a special education classroom for medically frail students at Rogers High School, where she partners daily with parents of children with complex medical and learning needs.
Her career also includes special education and leadership roles in London and school counseling and learner care work in South Africa. She brings that experience to coaching as steady listening, clear thinking, and next steps sized for real family life.
Certification
Life Coach Certification, Life Coach Training Institute
Specialist training
Specialist Teacher, Multi-Sensory Impairment (MQ), and Qualified Teacher Status in the United Kingdom
Education
Master of Arts and Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Studies in Education, Kingston University
Guidance background
B.Ed. in Educational Guidance and Counselling, University of Pretoria
Arkansas
Rogers schools, 2013 to present
Special education, IEP and transition planning, family partnership, and mentoring.
London
Special education leadership
Autism, sensory impairment, curriculum leadership, and multi-sensory impairment work.
South Africa
School counseling and learner care
Boarding school leadership, parent interviews, care planning, and learner support.
How coaching works
Start where you are. Leave with a plan.
Initial assessment
A full hour to talk through your family, the pressure points, what has been tried, and what needs to change first.
60 minutes, $75Choose the next steps
Set clear priorities and a practical plan for routines, decisions, school preparation, transitions, or family communication.
Clear goals, plain languageBuild momentum
Follow-up sessions review what changed, adjust what did not work, and keep the plan moving without making family life more complicated.
40 minutes, $50Coaching, not therapy
Life coaching is practical, goal focused support. It does not diagnose or treat mental health or medical conditions, and it is not counseling or psychotherapy. Ilonka is not providing licensed counseling through this service.
If your family needs clinical care, visit Solutions Psychiatry clinical services at psych.us.
From Ilonka's blog
Plain answers to the questions parents ask.
Short, practical articles written for special needs families. No jargon, no lectures.
School
IEP meeting checklist for parents: before, during, and after
What to bring, what to ask, and what to do when you get home, in one calm list.
Read the articleStarting out
After a new diagnosis: first steps for parents
The first weeks feel like a flood. Here is how to take it one true step at a time.
Read the articleFamily
Siblings need a plan too
Brothers and sisters often wait quietly. Small, deliberate steps help them feel seen.
Read the articleSimple, published fees
Know the cost before you start.
Every rate is listed below, including the cost of extra time.
Initial assessment
$75
One full hour with Ilonka to understand your family, your goals, and the best place to start.
Request the assessmentFollow-up session
$50
Forty minutes to review progress, solve problems, and set the next steps.
Need more time? Add $10 for each additional 10 minutes.
Follow-up cost checker
Total
$50
Examples: 50 minutes is $60. Sixty minutes is $70. Eighty minutes is $90.
In person
Rogers and Benton County
Ilonka is based in Rogers, Arkansas. In person coaching serves families across Benton County.
Online
Coaching by video
Online coaching is available in states where a life coach may provide coaching. It is a coaching service, not medical telehealth.
Questions
Before you start
Is life coaching the same as therapy?
No. Life coaching is practical, goal focused support. It does not diagnose or treat mental health or medical conditions, and it is not counseling or psychotherapy.
Who is this coaching for?
It is designed first for parents and families of children with disabilities. Ilonka also draws on long experience helping adults work on confidence, self-worth, and finding their place in daily life.
Where does coaching take place?
In person coaching is based in Rogers, Arkansas and serves Benton County. Online coaching is available in states where life coaching may be provided.
How much does a follow-up session cost if it runs longer than 40 minutes?
A 40 minute follow-up session is $50. Each additional 10 minutes adds $10, so 50 minutes is $60 and 60 minutes is $70.
Is Ilonka a licensed counselor?
No. Ilonka is a Certified Life Coach. Her background includes degrees in educational guidance and counseling and school counseling experience in South Africa, but this service is life coaching only.
Start with Ilonka
Tell her what your family is carrying.
Email Ilonka to request the $75 initial assessment or ask whether coaching is the right fit.