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Good special education services are individualized, intensive and expensive. Schools
often balk at providing intensive services. Parents are often dealing with personal
obstacles - lack of information, isolation, and emotions. What can you do?
Ask the Advocates. Got questions about negotiating with the school for special education services? This is a good place to start.
Advocating
for Your Child - Getting Started. Good special education services are intensive
and expensive. Resources are limited. If you have a child with special needs,
you may wind up battling the school district for the services your child needs.
To prevail, you need information, skills, and tools. Advocating
Through Letter Writing
(PDF). A booklet containing information and tips for parents on advocating for
your child through letter writing. Other publications from Parent to Parent of New York State. Assertiveness
and Effective Parent Advocacy. This short article by advocate Marie Sherrett
describes joys and challenges of parent advocacy. What categories do you fall
into? Game
Plan for New Parents. Introductory article; focuses on importance of planning
and preparation. Parents Leading the Way. Susan, a fierce advocate for students, has trained over 5000 parents, attorneys and advocates on virtually any topic that has to do with special education and civil rights law. Parent Advocates: Decoding Dyslexia. Let's Take it Viral! Decoding Dyslexia, launched in 2011 by New Jersey parents, is an excellent and inspirational story about how a small group of parents banded together to change education in their home state and in other states.. Advocacy Rule #1: Write Things Down When They Happen. You can’t wait until the last minute to prepare documentation. Documenting events and conversations later is never as effective or accurate as writing things down, in detail, at the time they occur. Here are some tips for parents, teachers, and paraprofessionals. Help! How to Find an Educational Consultant,
Advocate, Attorney Strategies to find an educational consultant, advocate
or attorney who represents children with disabilities. Parent Advocacy at its Best. If you have the answers to these questions, you will also need an effective way to demonstrate the answers. A picture (or graph) can be worth a thousand words. You will find an effective way to get your message to the decision makers and change perception. Watch the video. Fighting the Good Fight: How to Advocate for Your Students without Losing Your Job by Rick Lavoie. One of the greatest blessings of my professional life is the opportunity I have to talk with hundreds and hundreds of my Special Education colleagues. These conversations confirm my long-held belief that some of the finest people on the planet are toiling daily in America's classrooms…and particularly in our Special Education programs! LDonline (2008) The Power of Parent Advocacy. If you don’t have it, get some advocacy power. Find out what other parents have done. Advocacy Power - More Parents Leading the Way. Parents are paying it forward by providing advice and information to others, developing advocacy study groups, or training parents, service providers, and educators in special education advocacy. Meet special education advocate Graciela Tiscareño-Sato, her husband and Milagro. Walk in the School's Shoes: Help Them WANT to Help Your Child. The most important ability to use in resolving problems with the school is to put yourself in the shoes of the people on the other side and answer these questions...
A Parent's Nasty Email: Cry for Help or Reality Check? We emphasize the importance of keeping your emotions under control and treating others politely, regardless how nasty someone may be acting. Learn the Rules of Adverse Assumptions and the Ms. Manners-Peter Colombo strategy.
Why "No" May Not Really Mean "No". Most parents seem to believe that “no” means “no” forever. They give up. Other parents view a “no” from the school in the same light as the denial of a health insurance claim. They don’t give up. They persevere.
10
Strategies to Fight Mandatory Retention & Other Damaging Policies by Sue Heath.
Learn how you can find answers to questions in the law and strategies you can
use to fight mandatory retention and other damaging policies.
Advice
About the 10-Day Notice Letter to the School. Pete Wright answers questions
about what should be included in a 10-day notice letter; includes links to "Letters
to the Stranger" used in his cases.
Advocacy
Training: Partners in Policymaking. Participants in Partners in Policymaking
learn about the history of disability advocacy, political issues, and how to become
effective, involved community activists in civil rights and disability matters.
Learn more.
Effective
Advocacy: Documents, Records and Paper Trails. Good records are essential
to effective advocacy. Keep
a record of your contacts with the school. Use low-tech tools: calendars, logs,
journals. Keep a log of telephone calls and meetings, conversations, and correspondence
between you and the school. Starting a New IEP Advocacy Year: Back to School Tips. For parents of children with special needs, “back to school” means the start of a new IEP advocacy year. Here are some tips to help you monitor, evaluate, and document your child’s year at school from attorney Lisa Krizman. Advocating for a Child with Communication Problems. In our experience, many or most school people don’t know how to educate a child who can’t communicate. Some believe that if a child cannot communicate, the child is unable to think or learn. How
to Disagree with the IEP Team. Pete answers questions about IEPs and
teaches you how to disagree with the IEP team without starting World War III.
Learn about the Rules of Adverse Assumptions, how to use tape recording and thank
you letters to clarify issues, and how to deal with an IEP team bully. How to Start a FETA Study Group. Do you want to learn about effective advocacy? The best way to learn is to teach others. This article is about the nuts and bolts of starting a FETA group, how to get free publicity, how to manage emotions and stay on task. Get
the Word Out Advocacy Campaign. A simple strategy to help others, get the word out about special education advocacy - and combat feelings of powerlessness. Play
Hearts, Not Poker. Jennifer Bollero, attorney and mother of a child with autism,
describes differences between advocacy and parenting, explains why you need to learn the rules and strategies . When you learn the rules, you reduce
the risks when you negotiate for your child. This terrific article includes "Eight Steps to Better IEP Meetings." Preparing
for a Due Process Hearing. Vermont advocate Brice Palmer says, "Your job is
to present your case in an organized manner that gives the decision maker enough
good factual information to reach a conclusion in your favor -- this is different
from advocating at IEP meetings or evaluation meetings." Representing
the Special Ed Child: A Manual for the Attorney and Lay Advocate. Comprehensive
article by Pete Wright about representing the child with a disability, from analyzing
legal issues, legal principles, analyzing evidence, getting additional evidence,
through the due process hearing. Support
for School Personnel and Parent Training: Often Overlooked Keys to Success
by Attorney Susan Bardet. To help children succeed, IEP teams can use the tools provided by the IDEA -- support for school personnel and training for parents. Tactics
and Strategies: IEP Goals and Objectives - Pete and Pam Wright answer questions about IEPs and IEP Meetings. How can parents get good goals in their child's IEP? What can parents do when the school wants to use subjective "teacher observations," not objective testing, to measure their child's
progress? How and when should parents use a consultant to help with IEP goals
and objectives? How can parents avoid "methodology disputes?" Tactics
& Strategies: Power Struggles, Meetings, & Follow-Up Letters. Pat Howey teaches you how to avoid power struggles, deal with IEP meeting
frustrations, use follow up letters to get answers to questions - and how to use your power wisely. Three
Generations at the Supreme Court. Attorney Pete Wright (who has dyslexia and
ADHD) represented Shannon Carter (who has dyslexia and ADHD) before the U. S.
Supreme Court. A New Generation of Advocates. The Wrightslaw Army at William & Mary Law School. Sarah Bellinger Receives Equal Justice Works Fellowship. If
you are advocating for a child with a disability, Wrightslaw:
From Emotions to Advocacy, 2nd Edition by Pam and Pete Wright
is an invaluable resource. "If
I were asked to choose just one book to help me learn advocacy skills, this is
it!" - Support for Families of Children with
Disabilities. Internet
Orders l Mail, Phone & Fax Orders l 40% Discount l Exam Copies For more articles, success stories, resources and publications about advocacy, visit
FetaWeb.com Collingsru
v. Palmyra Bd. of Education, U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Parent rights - Can a non-attorney parent
represent his or her child in court? Why? Why not? (1998)
For
legal and advocacy information, use the Directory
of Legal and Advocacy Resources. Here are suggestions about how
to find an advocate or attorney. For
additional resources, visit FetaWeb.com,
the companion site to Wrightslaw:
From Emotions to Advocacy, 2nd Edition. You
will find hundreds of articles,
newsletters, Q's &
As, and legal decisions in the Wrightslaw Advocacy
Libraries and Law Libraries.
For information about specific issues, from autism and ADD to zero tolerance,
visit our Topics Page. Subscribe
to The Special Ed Advocate, our free online newsletter. You can read back issues
in the Newsletter Archives.
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