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?
You can use tactics and strategies to anticipate problems, manage conflict, and avoid crises. If you have a disagreement or dispute with the school, tactics and strategy will help you control the outcome. This page has links to dozens of articles, free books and newsletters and other resources.
Click here. 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.
Click here. How does the school perceive you? Good article about how to ask questions and get better services.
Click here (PDF). A booklet containing information and tips for parents on advocating for your child through letter writing.
Click here. This short article by advocate Marie Sherrett describes joys and challenges of parent advocacy. What categories do you fall into?
From Emotions to Advocacy - The Parents Journey. Strong emotions cause parents to react, often with damaging results. Don't shoot yourself in the foot. If you are having problems with the school, use your head.
Click here. Introductory article; focuses on importance of planning and preparation.
Click here 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.
Click here. A Vermont mom provides a simple strategy to accomplish several missions.
Click here Strategies to find an educational consultant, advocate or attorney who represents children with disabilities.
Click here Sue Heath advises this parent, "You need a game plan. Before you can devise a game plan, you need to gather information, manage your emotions, and do your homework."
Click here - What can you do before your children leave for school to help them feel they can conquer anything? These no-nonsense pointers from Jackie Igafo-Te'o will help you eliminate a large portion of last-minute stress that comes with every weekday morning.
Click here. Good advice from attorney Leslie Margolis about steps parents can take to get quality educational services for their children with disabilities.
Click here. Educational consultant Ruth Heitin describes common areas of disagreement between parents and schools and offers suggestions about how to handle these disagreements.
Click here. Indiana advocate Pat Howey talks to parents about trust, expectations, power struggles between parents and schools and how to avoid them, the parental role, and the need to understand different perspectives.
Click here 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! Click here (2008)
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Advocacy Tactics &Click here Strategies
Click here 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...
Click here 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.
Click here 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.
Click here Learn how you can find answers to questions in the law and strategies you can use to fight mandatory retention and other damaging policies.
Click here. 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.
Click here. 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. Click here.
Click here. 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.
Click here. 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.
Click here. Research editor Sue Heath describes a strategy to eliminate the state exit exam as an obstacle, and allow otherwise qualified kids to graduate with high school diplomas.
How to Deal with a Hostile Environment at School. School told child's aid that she may not tell parents about things that happen in the classroom. Can the school order the aid to keep silent? What rights do parents and aid have? How should parents deal with these situations?
Click here. 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.
Click hereClick here. Frustrated at IEP meetings? IEP team does not answer your questions? Parent attorney Sonja Kerr devised an approach to deal with the IEP meeting quagmire.
Click here Have you ever attended an IEP meeting that began well, but suddenly turned to complete chaos!
Click here. Parent attorney Sonja Kerr has good advice for the attorney who is preparing for a due process hearing. Learn why you should not fly solo. Remember whose job it is to educate. Article includes tips about building the "perfect case."
Click here. 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.
Click here. A simple strategy to help others, get the word out about special education advocacy - and combat feelings of powerlessness.
Click here Parent attorney Wayne Steedman describes IEEs, the value of IEEs for parents and school personnel, what the law requires, and who is financially responsible.
Click here. Vermont advocate Brice Palmer describes negotiating in advocacy; explains important rules, offers excellent tactics and techniques.
Click here. Jennifer Bollero, attorney and mother of a child with autism, describes important 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 article includes "Eight Steps to Better IEP Meetings."
Click here. 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."
Click here. This article by Massachusetts attorney Bob Crabtree teaches you what documents are important and how to organize your child's documents. Learn how to use a log and create documents to prevent problems and get better services for your child.
Click here. 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.
Click here by Nancy Johnson. "Self-advocacy is the ability to understand and communicate one's needs to other individuals. Learning to become an effective self-advocate is all about educating the people around you. There are three steps to becoming an effective self-advocate . . .
Click here by Susan Bardet. To help children succeed, IEP teams can use the tools provided by IDEA, including support for school personnel and training for parents.
Click here- Pete answers questions from the president of a state LDA chapter. What can parents do to get good goals and objectives in a child's IEP? What can parents do when the school wants to use subjective "teacher observations," not objective testing, to measure the child's progress? How and when should parents use a consultant to help with IEP goals and objectives. How can parents avoid "methodology disputes?"
Click here Parent advocate 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.
Click here. Attorney Pete Wright (who has dyslexia and ADHD) represented Shannon Carter (who has dyslexia and ADHD) before the U. S. Supreme Court.
Click here. The Click here at William & Mary Law School. Sarah Bellinger Receives Equal Justice Works Fellowship.
Click here - Advocate Pat Howey describes the pros and cons of filing a complaint with the state.
Click here. Attorney Bob Crabtree explains, "As a parent, you must make sure that all areas of possible need are assessed as quickly as possible. While some parents would rather not allow their school system to evaluate their child, a refusal to cooperate at this stage of the process can backfire . . . " Read article
Click here - Benefits of a comprehensive evaluation, despite objections by school personnel.
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