Special Education Advocacy
Does your child say everyone is smarter than them? Is there an academic gap between your child the rest of the class? Are you being called on a regular basis to pick up your child due to poor behavior? Is your child refusing to attend school or complete homework? Does it take your child an excessive amount of time to complete homework? Is your child coming home and melting down at the end of the day? If any of these are applicable, you are likely to need someone to advocate on behalf of your child.
We help families with the following :
- Navigating the special education process from the referral process through transition planning (preparing students for college or employment) and graduation.
- Identifying areas of suspected disabilities and referring clients to specialists.
- Obtaining a 504 Plan (grades k-12 and college) or an IEP (ages 3-21) that comprehensively addresses all of your child’s individual needs.
- Ensuring school districts are implementing IEPs and 504 Plans as written, and if not, seeking compensatory education services to make up for the missed education and services.
- Providing assistance to obtain out of district placements, including residential placements.
- Attending IEP/504 Plan meetings.
- Preparing clients with talking points for meetings.
- Coaching parents on advocacy and collaboration techniques.
- Resolving transportation disputes that arise regarding the need for bussing, pick up and drop off locations, and/or providing a paraprofessional on the bus.
- Preparing court documents and making appearances.
- Negotiating settlement agreements.
While we zealously advocate for our clients, we use a collaborative approach with each school district which has enabled us to resolve the majority of matters amicably before they escalate to litigation, thus saving our clients money and preserving the relationship between them and their school district. We have resolved hundreds of cases involving residential and private school placements; implementation of multisensory reading, writing, and math programs; related services (counseling, speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, transportation and nursing services); behavioral interventions; the assignment of a paraprofessional and/or teacher of the deaf; and use of assistive technology and/or auditory equipment.
We have both special education attorneys and education advocates on our team who each have different areas of specialization. We work closely as a team to develop creative and comprehensive strategies to yield positive outcomes for all of “our” children.