You will advocate for your children and students in many ways throughout your time with them. In my experience, grounding your approach in “presuming competence” will grant you the best footing on which to base your perspective. One of the key issues surrounding disability and education is the concept of Equity. Equity is slightly different than equality. Merriam-Webster defines equity a number of ways, but for our purposes we want to consider the first definition. That definition is “Justicea ccording to natural law or right” and “specifically: free from bias or favoritism”.
     Why is equity important? I could go on all day about this, but we will start with how bias and favoritism impact every disabled child in school around the world. School was not designed for people with disabilities. Like many of our institutions, education was not constructed with the needs of the disabled in mind. That is why we have laws like Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Those laws were passed as an attempt to provide access to education for children with disabilities. That access is a form of equity.

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    Remember, the evaluation is the start point for your child’s learning path success, not the finish line! When you receive a report with a long list of recommendations, divide them in 2 or 3 phases, starting with the area/s or skill/s that your child is struggling with the most at that time.
     For example, if your child was diagnosed with ADHD, and recommendations include counseling, tutoring, parent training, pharmacological treatment, social skills training, occupational therapy; ask yourself how those symptoms of ADHD are affecting the most to your child. Is your child having a hard time interacting with peers, completing his homework, is at risk of repeating a grade, and/or struggling with familial relationships?

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    Beginning when the child is age 14 (or younger, if appropriate), the IEP must address (within the applicable parts of the IEP) what the child needs to take to reach his or her post-secondary goals. A statement of transition services needs must also be included in each of the child’s subsequent IEPs.
     No later than the child’s 16th birthday a transition plan must be included in the IEP outlining post-secondary goals, independent living skills goals, and transition services needed in order for the goals to be accomplished. Transition services are services needed to help the child prepare for leaving school. IDEA 2004 requires that transition services be a coordinated set of activities designed in a results-oriented process that is connected to the child’s measurable post-secondary goal.

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Self-contained students may never leave their classroom. In my son’s middle school, they moved in the halls while the general education students were in class to avoid crowded halls. The special education students (ESE students) ate in the cafeteria 30 minutes before the general education students to avoid the “loud environment” of a full cafeteria. At the end of the school day, they were let out a side door 10 minutes before the official end of school to avoid the crowds of other general education students trying to exit at the same time.

IDEA says regarding LRE:
Sec. 300.114 LRE requirements

www.sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/b/300.114

(2) Each public agency must ensure that—
    (i) To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are nondisabled; and
    (ii) Special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.

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What is the purpose of evaluating a child that is struggling? Why do we do it and what are the pros and cons of going down this road? Should parents be fearful of their child being “labelled” or other negative outcomes.

     There are two main reasons for evaluating a child. The first reason is for treatment planning. If a child is struggling, we want to find out what is causing the struggles. There are lots of conditions with overlapping systems. If we can identify and pinpoint the cause of the issue, we will be able to make the best possible plan to help that child. Knowing what’s going on allows us to make a plan that will help that child to succeed.
     The second main reason for evaluating a child is access to services and programs. In the school system, as well as in other settings an evaluation is needed to determine if a student meets criteria for the program. Some people are hesitant to have their child evaluated because they are worried about them being “labeled.” However, identifying the problem and giving it a name allows access to services to help the child.

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What is Communication?
The definition of communication can be found in the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) website. “Communication is the active process of exchanging information and ideas. Communication involves both understanding and expression. Forms of expression may include personalized movements, gestures, objects, vocalization, verbalizations, signs, pictures, symbols, printed words, and output from augmentative and alternative (AAC) devices (asha.org).”
     It is a common misconception that the only way to communicate is by using speech. While speech is a form of communication, oral speech should not be the only form of communication thought of when working with students with and without communication barriers. Also, it is important to note that if there is a breakdown at any point in communication, then communication is truly not occurring. Below is The Osgood-Schramm model of communication, this communication loop must remain intact for communication to be considered effective.

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State Complaints vs. Due Process — What’s the Difference?
A state complaint considers whether a school district has violated any state or federal law or regulation. A due process complaint is like a lawsuit, but at the state agency level. It is a hearing like one would expect in court.
What is the difference between a state complaint and due process?
State Complaints and Due Process Complaints are often referred to by parents and even district staff interchangeably. Both State Complaints and Due Process Complaints are procedures intended to resolve disputes between parents of students with disabilities and school districts. Although many of the motivators that could drive a parent to decide to file are similar, the two processes are very different.

There is no absence of human behavior in any environment that involves humans and this is true for our public schools. Many of the calls we receive where parents are needing our help have a behavioral concern/component to them. Crisis special education situations involving suspension and expulsion are the height of urgency for both parents and advocates that call for our help. The best approach to behavior is to understand it as it exists in the school environment, identify the behavior’s function and create a plan based upon the function that is implemented across personnel with consistency. Common sense tells us that if we implement a plan with fidelity that isn’t working in six to eight weeks’ time, we need to revisit the plan and make some changes.

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Parental participation is one of the most important parts of the IEP process. No one knows your child like you do, and this is an opportunity for you to help steer the ship of your child's education. But to be part of the team, you have to let the team know you are ready and, on the field, so to speak.

Steps on How Parents Can Become Meaningful IEP Participants
1. Learn the lingo. There are a lot of special terms used in Speacial Education - IEP, FAPE, LRE. A lot of times our state will have a list of them on your Department of Education website.

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Individualization is the KEY in IEP’s and a cornerstone of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. To meet the unique needs of every child in question here are some of the most important “I’s” to account for;
Individual
The I is the individual, he or she is the reason we are here today.
Have you and all team members considered;
• The student’s feelings about school?
• The student’s interests?
• How the student views his or her difficulties/strengths

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At this point in our time together, hopefully you are well aware that an IEP is the abbreviation for an Individualized Education Plan.
     This legally binding document guarantees disabled students at any publicly funded school a Free and Appropriate public Education (IDEA 2004). With that said, when it comes to the topic of educational relevance, and topics are explored such as what is the responsibility of the parents or the school system,you can count on a hot topic discussion and a higher potential for disagreement.
     A parent may consider a goal or service educationally relevant and the school team might take the position that it’s not.

The Big “E”
If you plan to be a successful parent/professional advocate at your next IEP/504 meeting, you need to prepare for and attend meetings with the intent of putting your ego to the side.

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Presuming Competence Is the Prerequisite
It is all too common for us to make assumptions that disabled people are limited in what they can do. Even the word disabled with the prefix of dis (not), meaning not abled, is enough to program our brains that way. Depending on how and where you grew up, and your age, it’s likely that you have been exposed to a level of conditioning about the disabled population.
     However, it’s essential that we deconstruct and face our own biases, as years of research has proved that low expectations of children/adults with disabilities consistently leads to dismal academic and life outcomes. When it comes to IEP’s, limited belief in a student’s abilities, will lead to watered down, low stakes goals and less time with the general population. It’s important for us to remember that our perception about what a person can/cannot do, and even norm referenced evaluation results, cannot and do not reveal any facts in regards to a persons capabilities. We cannot read anyones mind to see accurately what understandings and information is stored therein. Consequently, we rely solely on output, which at best is only a part of the story, as evidenced most clearly with communication disorders.

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