Advocacy

An advocate attends IEP/504 meetings with you as your ally, to ensure you understand the information being disseminated and offers advice and support as you work with the school and broader team to make critical decisions about your child’s education.

Testing is often recommended for students when there is a question of learning issues, attention challenges, or social or developmental delays. A formal report will detail the student’s strengths and weaknesses across cognitive skills, attention, executive functioning, memory, academics, and social-emotion.

In our opinion, this is one of the most important steps since nothing happens from an evaluation unless you act on it. Understanding what to advocate for at the school and how to ensure accommodations are put in place, both at school and home, is critical to success. This is a team-based approach and evolves as the student progresses.

What schools will provide to students once they are diagnosed with a challenge and have either a 504 or IEP varies by the public or private school. In general, schools will need to provide certain accommodations and modifications for students. There should also be a regular cadence of meetings to ensure that students are meeting the goals outlined in their learning plans.

Grades on report cards will not tell the whole story. It is important to know the right questions to ask your child’s teachers to get an accurate picture of progress. Critical to this is also using terminology that shows your understanding of your child’s rights and the education process.