Advocating for Your Child
What is an Educational Advocate?
***There is currently no licensing requirement in Massachusetts to call ones self an advocate. It is important to look into an advocate's training and experience carefully before hiring them.***
An advocate may be a teacher, specialist, attorney, or anyone else who wants to help students get what they need at school. Legitimate advocates know about legal rights. They know that a child with a disability is entitled to an ‘appropriate’ education, not the ‘best’ education, nor an education that ‘maximizes the child’s potential’.”
A parent can be an effective advocate.
An advocate should:
Act as an objective member of the student's team and bring fresh eyes to the table.
Support parents at school meetings by asking questions and explaining things the parents might not understand.
Support the student by analyzing and helping to develop an IEP or 504 plan.
Remind the school system of regulations and student rights when the child's needs are not being met.
“Do not accept legal advice from your child’s special education team. Read the law and regulations for yourself. You may need to consult with a qualified special education attorney so you have a clear sense of what the law says.” Do your legal research and come with the applicable law or regulation in writing and properly cited.
Effective Advocates Know how to Negotiate
“Five Golden Rules for Negotiators”
1. Listen more than you talk
2. Ask 5 Ws + H + E questions to clarify the perspective and position of the other side
3. Storytelling reduces resistance. Make requests by telling the child’s story.
4. Make situations informal. Meet in different places. If things are tense, bring food that smells good.
5. Treat other people with respect.
“Four Deadly Sins for Negotiators”
1. Blaming and shaming
2. Criticizing and finding fault
3. Sarcasm, scorn, and ridicule
4. Judging, patronizing, and bullying
“The [parent] knows the child’s teachers are usually not the problem and supports the teachers’ need for training."
"The educators, aides, psychologists, specialists, and doctors are resources to help him [the student] progress along the path of life. We look to them for expertise in their fields. We do not expect them to answer all the questions and deal with all the problems our [child] faces.”
“Your goal is to build a healthy working relationship with the school. If you build a working relationship with the school, it will be easier to negotiate for special education services and supports.”
Advocates are Organized
To be well-prepared to advocate for your child, you will need to create two 3-ring binders: One with information about your child's disability and statutes and regulations related to your child's needs; the other - your "Master File" will organize all communications, assessments/evaluations, IEP's, 504 plans, report cards, progress reports, meeting notes, specialist recommendations, and more. The key is to document and organize EVERYTHING. "When you present a written document to the school team, you make it more difficult for the team to ignore or overlook your concerns or overlook your comments.”
For your Master File:
Include a vision statement of the parent and student at the beginning of the binder.
Include a calendar of dates of communications, meetings, dates that you sent requests for testing or information, signed for consent to test, when you received information, etc. There are regulations about time between requests and results, so this will help keep the school on track.
Keep a log of all phone calls, emails, and in-person conversations with the school. Include the date, who you spoke with,
and what was discussed. Print email conversations to include in the file.
Take notes during meetings and send a polite thank you letter that summarizes what was discussed.
Create a meeting worksheet with these sections:
Child’s need/parent request; school’s response; resolved?; start date; responsible person. This will help you keep track of which issues have been addressed and which have been missed.
Include copies of ALL the child’s work samples, school assessments, evaluations, IEPs, 504’s, progress reports, report cards; outside evaluation reports and specialist recommendations. Create a summary of data from evaluations:
1. Learn about the types of tests used
2. Make a list of all tests that have been given to your child. Arrange the list in chronological order. Highlight the standard scores and percentile ranks. If you do not have these, request them from the school in writing.
3. List all tests given more than once.
4. Convert the standard scores of the first testing into percentile ranks.
5. Convert the standard scores of the most recent testing into percentile ranks.
6. Make graphs of scores to show any growth (or lack thereof)
7. Consult with an independent expert to help you understand the results
Do not put documents in plastic sleeves - it takes too long to remove and replace the documents.
Write the date of each document in pencil in the lower right-hand corner of the first page.
Do not write in pen on any original documents. Use sticky-notes to make notations.
Do not give out any original documents. Keep a copy of each document in a separate container.
Create a table for your Master Document List: date; author; type; significance; add to the table and binder every time you have a new document. Organize your documents in order by date - oldest to newest.
Wright, Peter W D, and Pamela Darr Wright. Wrightslaw : From Emotions to Advocacy : The Special
Education Survival Guide. Hartfield, Va., Harbor House Law Press, 2017.