Navigating the world of Special Education can be daunting, confusing, and exhausting for parents.  The journey from learning that your child has a disability to developing and negotiating an appropriate plan (504 or IEP) with your child’s school can be a bumpy one.  That’s where a special education advocate can be of great service to you and your child.

An advocate helps you dissect the myriad of evaluation reports and make sense of what they actually mean for your child.  An advocate also works with you to effectively advocate for your child’s educational needs and rights.  For some students, this may mean focusing on academics, but for others it may be a combination of academics along with specialized instruction and services in the areas of social skills or functional life skills.  

Navigating the special education system can also be emotionally overwhelming for parents which can in turn make communication with the school personnel challenging.  It can be difficult to articulate exactly what you envision your child needs when you are being bombarded with parental legal rights, special education jargon that at first sounds like a foreign language, jargon associated with the area of disability, and at times, opposition from the school on developing and delivering the individualized program necessary to meet your child’s needs.  An advocate provides an objective yet assertive approach to navigating the special education system.  They help parents understand their rights and obtain the appropriate services, accommodations, instructional tools and educational placement necessary for their child to receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).  For some students the public school environment is the appropriate placement for their unique educational needs.  Other students may require a specialized school in order to meet their unique educational needs.  You and your advocate will work with the school to develop an appropriate program that allows your child to access education on similar levels as non-disabled children and make meaningful progress within their program.