Education Advocacy
Special Education Evaluations
When your child is being evaluated for special education services – because they are not yet reaching typical benchmarks for their grade, or because they are being assessed for highly capable services – the process can be confusing and overwhelming, to say the least. I help families navigate the special education assessment/evaluation process, including helping families initiate the evaluation process if they believe that their child might need special education supports. I work with the family throughout the evaluation process to answer their questions about the information used during the evaluation and to be their voice if needed. When the family receives their child’s assessment or evaluation report, I review it and go over the report with them to help translate the technical information and data into what it means for their child in the classroom. If the family wants me to, I sit in on their meeting with the school to review the evaluation to make sure that the right questions are being asked and to help the family address any concerns that they might have.
IEP and 504 Plan Reviews
When your child is receiving special education services or has a disability under Section 504, they should have either an IEP (Individualized Education Plan/Program) or a 504 Plan (or, possibly both). These are formal documents that must meet legal requirements and often include a lot of technical language. The goal of an IEP is to document a student’s present level of achievement and to lay out measurable goals intended to support the student’s meaningful progress in the classroom. Section 504 requires by law that every child receive a “free appropriate public education.” A 504 Plan specifies appropriate accommodations, aids, and services to which a student with a disability under Section 504 is entitled. Both an IEP and a 504 Plan should be reviewed at the start of every school year and at regular intervals as appropriate. I review IEPs and 504 Plans with families to ensure that they adequately address their child’s needs and identify appropriate accommodations and goals to support the child’s meaningful progress. I translate the technical and legal language of the document for families into what it means in the context of their child and what the accommodations or learning/support plans might/could look like in the classroom. Throughout the school year, I work with families to review updates to their child’s IEP and to help them ask the right questions to ensure that their child’s IEP or 504 Plan is being carried out appropriately.
IEP/504/Special Education Meetings
IEPs and 504 Plans should be reviewed at the start of every school year. Throughout the school year, families and teachers should meet as often as necessary to ensure that the IEP or 504 Plan is being carried out as intended and is still meeting the needs of the student. As the student accomplishes the goals identified in the IEP, families and teachers should meet to discuss the student’s progress and to update the goals in the IEP. Many families are unaware that they can request, at anytime, a meeting with the school to review their child’s IEP or 504 Plan. I support families at IEP, 504 and other special education meetings to help them review the data, discuss their child’s progress, ask the right questions, and offer suggestions for how the team can better support the student. When needed, I advocate for the family to ensure that special education services are being provided in the least restrictive setting possible.
Teacher Conferences and Principal Meetings
Even when a student isn’t receiving special education services, sometimes families still need an advocate to ask the hard questions and address concerns at teacher conferences and meetings with their child’s principal. I support families at conferences and school meetings to help them address any concerns that they might have regarding their child’s success at school – academic progress, social/emotional concerns, bullying, behavior, school discipline, etc. I ask questions and advocate for the student and offer suggestions of strategies that the school could implement to better support the family and student.
Teacher Conferences and Principal Meetings
Even when a student isn’t receiving special education services, sometimes families still need an advocate to ask the hard questions and address concerns at teacher conferences and meetings with their child’s principal. I support families at conferences and school meetings to help them address any concerns that they might have regarding their child’s success at school – academic progress, social/emotional concerns, bullying, behavior, school discipline, etc. I ask questions and advocate for the student and offer suggestions of strategies that the school could implement to better support the family and student.
Gifted/Highly Capable Students and Students Needing More Challenge
Education advocacy and special education services are not just about students with disabilities or who are falling below standard “norms” of grade-level benchmarks. Education advocacy is about making sure that every student has what they need to make meaningful progress in the classroom, starting from where they are now. A student who is stagnating or not being sufficiently challenged in the classroom, is just as concerning and as a student who is falling below grade-level. I help families advocate for their child when their child is not being appropriately challenged in the classroom. I help families collaborate with their child’s principal and teachers to make sure that their child is getting what they need to make meaningful progress and be engaged at school.
Other Education Advocacy and Support
Education is about supporting every student and meeting each individual student where they are. Every student has the right to a quality education and to supports that they need in order to grow and succeed in the classroom.
