Wrightslaw Special Education Law & Advocacy Boot Camp was held in Austin, TX on August 1-2, 2008.
We thank Laura Warren and the staff of Texas Parent to Parent, the organization that sponsored the Boot Camp. Texas Parent to Parent is a nonprofit organization created by parents for families of children with disabilities, chronic illness and other special needs throughout Texas.
During the program, parent attorneys Yvonnilda Muñiz and Martin Cirkiel tell the enthusiastic audience about the Texas Organization of Parents, Advocates and Attorneys (TOPAA) while Pete Wright listens to questions.
The mission of TOPAA is to assist advocates, attorneys and parents in securing appropriate and quality educational services for children with any type of disability by working together, in collaboration with the system in place. Learn more about TOPAA.
Meetings are held in Austin, Beaumont, Coppell, Houston, and the Valley.
Casey: Getting your child’s file in order is one of the most important things a parent can do. After you file the documents in chronological order, oldest first, most recent last, you can read the file like a book. You’ll see when key events happened, when decisions were made (or not made), when balls were dropped, and what needs to be done now.
There is other advantages. Schools tend to keep documents in different locations. It’s not unusual for an evaluation or report to be misfiled or lost. When you take your organized file to a meeting, you have all the information at your fingertips. If the school members of the team can’t find a document, you can provide it. Voila!
Parents who organize their child’s file send an important message – that you are approaching the job of advocating for your child in a businesslike manner. You are in control. That’s exactly the message you want to convey.
Thanks for letting us know you learned important things at the Boot Camp. It sounds like you had fun and are energized too. ~ Pam
WOW!!! What a great Boot Camp(Austin).
Thank you so much. I am now ready to properly advocate for my son. Knowledge is power when used correctly. I have requested my son’s records and the records I have are in order. Now I can see what I have and don’t have.
Both of you are the best. God Bless you and your family.
I recently attended your boot camp in Austin. It was GRRRREAT.
I just wanted to let you know that if I did forget 90% of what you taught, the remaining 10% is an enormous amount of info!! Thanks so much for what you do. After coming home and studying it, I finally got it with the BELL (curve)! YEAH.
God Bless you both and I pray for your son’s safety.