About Grade A Advocate
Advocating for a special needs child is a years’ long project that is time consuming, frustrating, and costly. It takes skill and knowledge that may not come naturally or easily to some of us.
The positive results of the effort it takes far exceed the investment.
For more than 30 years, I’ve advocated for students with special needs. Much has changed over that time. I’ve learned a lot and so have the parents of the students that I represented.
Initially, some parents came with the attitude of “fix it for me.” I’d hear:
“This is too complicated.” , ” I can’t understand it”, “I don’t have the time to figure it all out”, “The school won’t listen to me anyway”
I get it. It’s not easy.
These were parents that could more easily afford the services, but eventually even they got tired of paying the high cost of representation. When they got tired of paying, they would disappear. Then, sooner or later, they would show up again asking for more help.
I realized that I had not prepared these parents to continue on without me. Whether or not they believed that they were capable of advocating, I could have been providing them with the knowledge and strategies from the first day our meeting even if I was doing everything for them.
Equally important were the parents that could not afford advocacy services. The price of hiring a competent advocate is prohibitive for many parents, but their children deserve high quality representation as much as any other child.
There are many more people that cannot afford to pay than those that can. The number of pro bono clients quickly outnumbered all others. I couldn’t advocate for all of them, but I couldn’t reject them either. So, I started providing guidance. I’d provide a letter with instructions, answer questions, or assist with reviewing paperwork. As time went on, these “help” sessions became more specific. We’d practice speaking up in an IEP meeting with role playing. They might call to check on the validity of something they had heard. Or, they might send me a letter and ask for input.
It has always been rewarding to be able to help parents and their children by advocating for them. Even more rewarding, is seeing elation and pride of a parent that tells me of his or her success. That’s empowerment. That’s value.
One of the first was a father headed to informal dispute resolution with the school district. We talked about what to expect. I showed him how to calculate compensatory services. We practiced what to say. He successfully took on the school district and single-handedly represented his child, and he prevailed. He received a fair and generous settlement. He was thrilled. That accomplishment felt great. It empowered him to take on much more than he had thought possible just a short time earlier.
That was rewarding! The child got what he needed, and the father’s success from his endeavors empowered him to take on more than a single bureaucratic battle.
Since then, I’ve received calls, cards, emails, videos of children’s accomplishments, invitations to graduations, and much more. That’s priceless. That feels rewarding. It makes the frustrations pale in comparison to the gains.
The next step was to figure out how to empower more parents to be successful advocates for their special needs child. That is the purpose of Grade A Advocate.
Resources to advocate for your child’s education
Special education and IEPs can be a very confusing process. Grade A Advocate strives to clarify and inform in order to empower parents to obtain all the services that their children need for their education.
Furthermore, schools may complicate the process with misinformation or otherwise obstructing the means to obtaining access to needed services. Grade A Advocate provides strategies that enable parents to avoid or manage these roadblocks.
Grade A Advocates
Empower you with valuable information on how navigate the special education process.
- Avoid or overcome roadblocks
- Understand your rights
- Utilize strategies for success
- Hear success stories from other parents
- Gain insights from supportive and knowledgeable professionals
Access to free materials to simplify and assist in your efforts.
- Express needs
- Enforce timelines
- Expedite and simplify writing
- Access additional information
- Find media of interest, support, knowledge, and entertainment
and support from the advocate when you need it.
- Explore and learn about specific areas of interest
- Get answers to questions pertinent to your child’s case
- Receive support specific to your situation
