IEP | Autism PDD
Is there someone you can hire to help you with the IEP process and hopfully help you get more service for your child?
An advocate...they should be free. thanks..do you have one? How do you find them in the srea you live.I can get one if I need to through our CARD services coordinator. actually I just emailed the CARD center to see if they can help me. Thank you
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Paynes Mom,
I wish we could get the boys together too. Not many people from this board live in Florida...Lucky for them
Where do you live again?
I thought you were in California -- sorry. I'll come back and post the Fla. listPort St Lucie - about 45 minutes north of West Palm Beach.There are fewer posted from Fla., but you can call one and ask for a reference to someone nearer to you. These people all belong to the PRIMIERE spec. ed. lawyer and advocacy professional association.
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The advocate we have is recommened. I have seen her name posted in the COPAA site.
I'm new to this so could you explain what CARD is and is there the equivalent in the Phoenix area?
Thanks!
We have an advocate, and have been through one meeting with her. Sadly, I found that an advocate is not a cure-all. With an extra person there, the distraction level was a bit higher, and also she was being very cautious in her advice. Presumably since she has to deal with the SD again with other children, and so being too obviously helpful might be bad for her future prospects.So, if you do get an advocate you need to get your objectives for the meeting sorted out before the meeting starts. It might be helpful to have some sort of agreed understanding if "What do you think about this?" really means "Something nasty is about to happen to you."
However, I believe that things would have been worse without one. I saw what the same SD staffers did to my elder son.
For ANY state, you can find an advocate from two resources:
www.copaa.org and click on Find an ATTY/ADV
www.wrigthslaw.com and click on Yellow Pages for Kids
Both of these have resources by state.
There is NO licensing or certification for advocates in any state. The best way to find a good one is by word of mouth. A skilled advocate should NEVER be a distraction in a meeting. I think of the difference between a lawyer and an advocate as this. Lawyer have been trained to be excellent adversaries, so their approach is adversarial. Advocates are supposed to be the ones who bring sanity to the process and act as a bridge between the parents and the school, helping both sides understand what works for THE CHILD. There's a time for a good lawyer and there's a time for a good advocate. There is NEVER a time for either of these types if they stand in the way.
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