Need Special Ed Advocacy Santa Clara, Part 2

Need Special Ed Advocacy Santa Clara, Part 2

Why hire a special education advocate?  After all, the school knows the rules and will help you.  Won’t they?

Yes and no. They know special education rules and regulations. If the services your child needs to obtain a free appropriate public education (FAPE) is expensive and the district doesn’t want to spend the money, does not have staff to provide the service, or has allocated their budget elsewhere, it is an inherent conflict of interest for the school district. Their budgetary concerns will often influence their recommendations for your child.  Your child is entitled to the supports and services needed in order to receive FAPE. School districts may not deny services that your student needs because of their budgetary constraints.

Another district technique is to throw up repeated objections and distractions. A parent will ask for a specific service for their children, and the school will offer a variety of reasons why it is not a good idea.  Sometimes, if they offer enough of them, one or more of them will seem valid and parents will drop the request.  Another technique is to change the subject, or to provide a piece of information likely to upset the parents.  When the parents receive an upsetting bit of news about their child in an IEP meeting, it greatly reduces their ability to think clearly and to effectively participate in the IEP meeting.

An advocate can help.  We can quietly point out where the student needs services, and help the district do the right thing. Having formulated a plan with you prior to the meeting, we can help move the IEP meeting in a direction that gets your child what s/he needs.

Hire an advocate. Learn your rights.

http://www.aspireadvocacy.com

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As parents, we understand,  As advocates, we can help.