An advocate can:
- Equip you to make informed decisions
- Help you access the services your child needs
- Help develop an educational plan
- Build productive working relationships that benefit you and your child
- Bridge the understanding of your child’s needs among adults in your child’s life
- Lessen the sense of isolation that can come with parenting a student with a disability
- Provide guidance regarding: referral process, eligibility, evaluations, identification, plan development, discipline, progress, extended school year, programming, implementation, and placement
An advocate works because your child is worth it.
Even for parents who are educated and experienced, it can be overwhelming to face a full team of school personnel on your own. It’s advised to take a professional with you.
Utilizing the expertise of a skilled advocate will positively impact the IEP process by putting you, the parent, on an equal playing field with the school district and ultimately help ensure your student’s success. A well written IEP takes time, knowledge, and precision. Getting professional help will stop delays and ineffective meetings, and get your student an appropriate education in place.
Having an advocate present at meetings can be liberating, frees you in your role as the parent. It eases tension in marriages and can lighten the stress. It allows you to invest in your child and let somebody else find statute title number subsection bla bla bla.
In some instances parents are treated as invaluable members of the IEP team. Unfortunately, from experience and discussions with parents, this is not frequent enough.
We can work together to build a cooperative, collaborative team to develop an appropriate education plan to meet your child’s needs.
Referral process
Eligibility
Evaluations
Identification
Plan development
Discipline
Progress
Extended school year
Specialized Programming
Implementation
Graduation
Problem solving with school
Placement
IEP and/or 504 Plan
parts of due process preparation