The Insiders Guide to Special Education Advocacy: Taking Control of Your Child's IEP or 504 Plan

With your child's education at stake, the Insider's Guide will provide a step by step process as you embrace your role as advocate in IEP or 504 meetings. ADD/ADHD, Autism, neurological disorders, and other learning disabilities and disabling conditions, in general, significantly impact your child's success at school. As a result, developing the best educational plan in support of your child's learning will require parent advocacy beyond what you are comfortable with or prepared for. For this reason, the Insider's Guide is written for you! For the first-time parent, the advocacy path may be one of the most trying and difficult paths of your life as it can be an emotionally draining and potentially frustrating process. This handbook offers assistance whether you are navigating the systems with little or no experience or a veteran parent familiar with special needs and the school system. These strategies will streamline your efforts toward successful advocacy and minimize your level of frustration. The Insider's Guide will increase your ability to take control of your child's educational planning through an easy to follow, step by step process through an "outsider looking in" perspective. The strategies prescribed within the Insider's Guide will help with your focus, direction and most important your purpose, in contrast to the emotional roller coaster often associated with the special needs path. The primary responsibility of an effective parent advocate is to move the process from emotion to fact, or shifting from subjective reasoning to objective understanding. This book will be your "go to" guide for years to come.