Voiceblocks: Unlocking Every Student's Voice

FROM THE FIELD | Stories and reflections from entrepreneurs, community leaders, and innovators working to address real challenges across Central Florida and beyond.
Written By Ben Hoyer

All children deserve access to a quality education, regardless of disability, income, background, or zip code.

For many families, especially those navigating special education for the first time, knowing where to begin can feel overwhelming. Understanding school systems, Individualized Education Plans, accommodations, meetings, and advocacy can be difficult even for families with time, resources, and support. For families from low-income communities, those barriers can be even harder to overcome.

Voiceblocks was created to help change that.

Founded by Dr. Lonna Hardin, Voiceblocks is an education technology platform designed to help K-12 families of students with disabilities better understand, navigate, and participate in their child’s education journey.

For Lonna, the work is deeply personal.

When her daughter was three years old, she had not spoken one word. As a single parent, Lonna did not know where to turn. An early learning home visitation readiness program became a critical source of guidance, helping her understand the evaluation process, her daughter’s learning disability diagnosis, and the importance of an Individualized Education Plan, often called an IEP.

That support changed the trajectory of her daughter’s education. Years later, her daughter no longer needed the accommodations outlined in her IEP. She went on to score in the top 14 percent of her peers in reading and math and later graduated summa cum laude in the top 3 percent of her high school class.

Lonna believes every student deserves access to that kind of opportunity.

Voiceblocks was built from that belief.

Helping Families Advocate and Engage

Voiceblocks serves as an intermediary between families and schools, offering tools that support communication, education, IEP navigation, advocacy, and community connection.

The platform is designed to help families better understand the special education process while giving schools, nonprofits, and service providers another way to support students and caregivers.

At its core, Voiceblocks is working to make special education easier to navigate, especially for families who may not have access to legal support, private advocacy, or other resources.

Why This Work Matters Now

The COVID-19 pandemic intensified existing challenges across education. Students with disabilities and those receiving special education services were disproportionately impacted, and many families returned to school systems that were already difficult to navigate.

Parents and caregivers were often left carrying the weight of learning loss, behavioral challenges, social disruptions, and uncertainty around what support their children needed next.

For many, the process of communicating with schools, understanding special education rights, and securing appropriate accommodations became even more stressful and isolating.

Voiceblocks is working at the intersection of those challenges by helping families feel more informed, supported, and equipped to engage.

Building Toward Better Outcomes

Voiceblocks is focused on improving outcomes for K-12 students with disabilities by strengthening the support systems around them.

The platform is designed to help contribute to outcomes such as improved school attendance, stronger progress toward IEP goals, fewer suspensions and expulsions, improved literacy and reading scores, and better social and behavioral outcomes.

As a software-as-a-service platform, Voiceblocks plans to offer annual subscription options for public schools, charter schools, nonprofits serving students with disabilities, and families.

What’s Next

Voiceblocks is continuing to develop its product, build partnerships, and prepare for future pilots and beta testing opportunities.

The team is seeking families, school districts, nonprofits, sponsors, and partners interested in helping test, strengthen, or support the platform.

For Lonna, the mission is clear: unblock the voices of students with disabilities by empowering the families, educators, and communities who serve them.

To join the waitlist or learn more, email info@voiceblocks.app or visithttps://voiceblocks.app.

About the Author

Dr. Lonna Hardin is the founder of Voiceblocks, an education technology venture helping families of K-12 students with disabilities navigate the IEP process and access stronger educational support. She has worked with special needs and diverse learners for more than a decade and is passionate about improving academic and behavioral outcomes for underserved students.

Lonna is also the founder of Live Your Song, an after-school program focused on literacy, leadership development, and social-emotional learning. Through Voiceblocks, she is focused on helping students with disabilities unlock their voice, access quality education, and reach their full potential.

About Rally

Rally is a civic innovation platform that connects entrepreneurs, institutions, and community partners to test and strengthen solutions addressing real social and environmental challenges. Through workshops, accelerators, partnership opportunities, and ecosystem engagement, Rally helps move promising ideas toward real-world impact.

Learn more at www.rallysea.com.

Ben Hoyer
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