Special Needs Advocacy Resource
eBook - ePub

Special Needs Advocacy Resource

Rich Weinfeld, Michelle Davis

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  1. 328 pages
  2. English
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  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Special Needs Advocacy Resource

Rich Weinfeld, Michelle Davis

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About This Book

Special Needs Advocacy Resource Book: What You Can Do Now to Advocate for Your Exceptional Child's Education is a unique handbook that teaches parents how to work with schools to achieve optimal learning situations and accommodations for their child's needs. From IEPs and 504 Plans, to IDEA and NCLB, navigating today's school system can be difficult for even the most up-to-date, education-savvy parent. Special needs advocates Rich Weinfeld and Michelle Davis provide parents and professional advocates with concise, easy-to-understand definitions and descriptions of legal terms and school regulations, along with checklists, tips, questionnaires, and other tools.Topics covered in this handy guide include gathering accurate information about a child's education, navigating school meetings, understanding education law, and best practices in the classroom, working effectively with parents and school systems, discovering educational options beyond the standard, and much more. Parents and advocates not only will feel informed by Weinfeld and Davis' vast knowledge of the inner workings of the school system—they'll be empowered to help their kids succeed in school.Educational Resource

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Information

Publisher
Routledge
Year
2021
ISBN
9781000503418
Topic
Bildung
Edition
1

chapter 1

Why Is It Important That We Advocate for Students?

DOI: 10.4324/9781003238140-2
Each and every child is born with potential. We, the adults in that child’s world, must work to make certain that there are educational opportunities in place that ensure each and every child will reach that potential. Realizing potential is crucial both for the individual child and for our society as a whole. When children’s individual strengths are recognized and developed, they experience a sense of well-being and fulfillment. They are prepared to go on to further academic study and eventually to participate in personally satisfying careers. As we help each child to reach his or her potential, we also are furthering the progress of humanity. We are helping to cultivate and prepare the next generation of leaders, inventors, healers, and artists who will make the difference for our entire civilization.
There are times when parents and school staff are not able, for a variety of reasons, to effectively plan to meet the needs of an individual child. Involving an advocate often can make the difference in ensuring that the child gets the appropriate instruction and services she needs and deserves.
The education of a child is a very complex process. A parent is a child’s first teacher, but once the child enters school, educators become an integral part of the team of personnel responsible for helping a child learn academic concepts and content, organizational skills, social skills, and the life skills essential for functioning in the real world.
As children progress in school, they give clues that indicate how they are doing. They may let us know that the work is too hard or that paying attention is difficult or that they can’t remember their math facts or that they have no friends. They also may let us know that school is boring, and that they are not being appropriately challenged. When parents or teachers become aware of a child’s obstacles to learning, then together they can plan the appropriate interventions, modifications, adaptations, and accommodations necessary so that the child will access the appropriately challenging instruction. If, however, there is a breakdown in the process, what must be done to ensure that the child receives the services he or she needs and deserves?
Usually, there are a suggested series of steps to be followed when the system breaks down. We are advised, for example, that when we perceive there is a problem, the first step is for the parent and child’s teacher to conference. If that does not work, the next step may be to see the principal. While the process continues, the child may be falling farther and farther behind or may be experiencing frustration and exhibiting behaviors that are troubling.
There are many possible roadblocks that can hinder progress within the process of seeking support for a child. For example, laws change. The stakeholders, therefore, need to understand the application of federal and state law to their children’s education, among other things.
Staff members and parents at some schools may have the additional roadblock of seeing home and school as adversaries, not equal partners in decision making. This culture of authority may be a major stumbling block. Although school personnel may talk about the importance of parents as members of the team, it may be very intimidating for parents to question the decisions of the “experts,” especially when they feel outnumbered by a large group of school staff at the table who seem to all agree on what is best. Having an advocate sitting next to the parent to interpret what is being said and voice what the parent may not feel he is able to say can make the meeting experience very different. Unfortunately, special education law and school policies regarding both special education and gifted education contain many concepts and terminology that can be very difficult to understand. One of the roles of the advocate is to empower parents to take an active role in the meeting by interpreting school jargon and legalese and by providing as much information as possible.
One of the stated goals of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA; 2004) is to create a process where parents truly feel that they are an integral part of the decision making for their children. It is hard to be a true partner in this decision making if one does not fully understand the language and process. The confidence of having an advocate by your side to make sure that you understand all that happens ensures that the process is truly parent friendly.
An advocate who knows and understands children’s rights and school system responsibilities under the laws governing the education of children; who can participate with teams to determine whether a disability exists, if so, which disabilities exist, and how to create a school plan to address these disabilities; who can recommend and monitor the implementation of educational strategies based on the student’s strength and need areas; who can navigate the school system procedures to secure school services and placement for children with special needs and/or great potential; who can link parents and teachers with a variety of community resources and supports; and who can monitor legal issues and provide intervention when rights are violated ensures that the child will receive the finest educational experience possible.
Advocates bring a high degree of skill and knowledge, based upon their training and experience, to the entire process of helping students reach their potential, particularly students who face the increased obstacles presented by their learning challenges or disabilities. An advocate can help a school team to plan pro-actively to ensure an individual student’s success before serious problems arise. An advocate also can be a crucial part of helping the school team to identify and choose appropriate alternatives when a school problem does exist.
Advocacy, when done appropriately, can be beneficial for any student. It may be especially crucial in cases where the parents don’t feel that they are an equal part of the process because of their own cultural, language, or socioeconomic differences. In these cases the advocate can help the parents to effectively understand the process and express their opinions, as well as ensure that the parents’ input is treated with the same importance afforded to any other parent.
Advocacy is especially important in situations when the child in question may be the victim, knowingly or unknowingly, of biases on the part of the decision makers in the school. Advocates help to protect the rights of parents whose first language may not be English or who, because of their socioeconomic status or their cultural beliefs, may not feel it is appropriate to challenge the school’s viewpoints. Advocates also can listen for other potential biases. Are we excluding the young girl in question from opportunities just because of assumptions we have made about her as a girl? Are we teaching the young man in ways that research have shown will best meet boys’ educational needs?
Another of the stated purposes of the revisions of IDEA 2004 is to ensure that special education decisions are not promoting biases that will lead toward a disproportionate representation of certain groups of students in special education. Issues of race may be at play in the decision making in school meetings. It is an unfortunate fact, for example, that Black students are overrepresented in special education, particularly in programs for emotionally disturbed students. It also is an unfortunate fact, that even in integrated schools, many classes or programs are predominantly made up of one racial group or another. An advocate will help protect the rights of the individual student and make sure that decisions are made with that student’s best interest in mind, regardless of his or her race.
Many school personnel welcome the presence of an advocate at a school meeting. An advocate can talk about the problems and suggest the solutions that school staff may feel unable to bring up because of the budgetary constraints that they may be aware of and the directions they may have been given by their supervisors. Once the advocate’s ideas are out on the table, school staff may feel free to support what they believe is in the student’s best interest. The advocate also may have a mediating effect on the parents. By helping to interpret what the school staff is saying and by having a deep understanding of the constraints of the school, the advocate may be able to help the parent understand what is possible and attainable for his child. Although an advocate attends the meeting at the parents’ request, the advocate should be there with the purpose of focusing on the needs of the student. He can get the meeting past difficult sticking points by being unbiased and objective and helping the team move toward decisions that are not necessarily the parents’ or the school system’s position, but are in the individual student’s best interests.
The advocate also serves as a truth detector. Sometimes statements are made, particularly about what can and can’t be done, that are not based on the law or research. Instead they may be based on an individual’s belief about what is right or what he or she has heard from others. The advocate can challenge these statements with the facts of what the law or research does say. In this way, the school team may see that there are other choices for how to respond to the individual child.
In conclusion, it is crucial that we advocate for what each and every child needs in order to help him reach his own unique potential. An effective advocate helps parents and school staff to accurately see the problem and to see all of the possible solutions that may solve the problem that the individual child is experiencing. In the next chapters we will talk more specifically about what an advocate needs to do and know in order to effectively stand up for children.

chapter 2

What Do Effective Advocates Do?

DOI: 10.4324/9781003238140-3
Advocates must know how to work with school-aged children and their families as they interact with the school system to pursue necessary educational outcomes for the child. The advocate must understand school law and policies and interpersonal dynamics, and must also understand one’s own self. An individual who chooses to be a professional advocate also must know about the best practices involved in the business of advocacy. In this chapter we will introduce the many responsibilities of advocates. In later chapters, we will discuss many of these responsibilities in greater detail.
Here, we will focus on the responsibilities of the professional advocate. We hope that learning about the role of the professional advocate will guide parents in choosing an effective advocate. A parent also may choose to take on these responsibilities for him- or herself. We believe that to be effective the parent must have the same level of expertise and knowledge as a professional. It is our hope that as you read this chapter, either from the perspective of a parent, a professional advocate, or school system personnel, you will see the complexity of effective advocacy, guiding you to increase your skills in order to work more effectively with the children you are seeking to help.

Definition of an Advocate

Although we have chosen to call them advocates, people who work with children and their families to help them get appropriate educational services may be referred to as advocates, experts, or consultants, defined here as (Farlex, 2007):
  • Advocate: To speak, plead, or argue in favor of. One that argues for a cause; a supporter or defender: an advocate of civil rights. One that pleads in another’s behalf; an intercessor: advocates for abused children and spouses. A lawyer.
  • Expert: A person with a high degree of skill in or knowledge of a certain subject. Having, involving, or demonstrating great skill, dexterity, or knowledge as the result of experience or training.
  • Consultant: A person who gives expert or professional advice.
In this book, we will consider an advocate to be someone who has a high degree of skill and knowledge about education and gives expert advice about this field for the purpose of supporting children. The components of the definition are defined as follows:
  • High degree of skill and knowledge: An advocate often is someone who has studied education, special education, and/or gifted education at the undergraduate and/or graduate level. If he does not have a degree in education, he has taken courses and reviewed the current professional literature to further his knowledge of this field. She also may have developed her skills as a working professional in the field of education, often as a classroom teacher, gifted educator, or special educator. Others have developed their skills as advocates by working under the supervision of other professional advocates.
  • Gives expert advice: An advocate analyzes the situation that the individual child is experiencing by reviewing the child’s records; observing the child in her school environment; and interviewing parents, teachers, other professionals, and the student. The advocate synthesizes this information and based on his own skills and knowledge, gives recommendations to the parents and school team about the child’s best interests. The advocate must give this expert advice in a way that will be heard and utilized by the parents and school team.
  • Support children: An advocate’s single aim is to support the individual child for whom she is working. Supporting the individual child means staying true to the expert opinion that the advocate has developed and believes will be in the best interest of the child. Hopefully, this expert opinion will be the same as what the parent and the school team believe is in the best interest of the child. Even when the opinion is at odds with one or more of the adults in the child’s life, the advocate must keep in mind the primary goal of acting in a way that he believes truly supports the child.

Tasks an Advocate Performs in Order to Be Effective

In order to be effective in his role, an advocate must perform a wide variety of tasks. These tasks may be categorized broadly as gathering information about the child; determining what action steps are necessary for achieving outcomes that are in the child’s best interests; knowing the possible outcomes as they relate to the law, policies, community, and school resources; and participating in a wide variety of meetings in varied settings to ensure that these action steps are accepted and implemented. In accomplishing all of these tasks, the advocate must not only have knowledge and expertise about what needs to be done but also about how it needs to be done.

Gathering Information About the Child

Gathering information about the child often begins with an understanding of the parents’ desired outcomes that have led to her engaging the advocate. Although the advocate will make it clear to the parents that when they commit to working with the advocate they are hiring an “expert” and not a “hired gun,” the advocate will still strive to thoroughly understand the parents’ current opinions and feelings related to the child’s current school situation.
The advocate will then take time to thoroughly review the child’s educational records. This typically includes a review of report cards, other home-school communication, notes of previous meetings, and any assessments or evaluations that may have already been completed. The advocate will look at evidence of strengths and needs, as well as what interventions have been attempted in the past and with what level of effectiveness they have been completed. The advocate will look to see whether the current educational environment is in fact the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) for the child in question and whether or not it may be able to be modified so that it is an appropriate environment. The advocate will look at whether or not the child may have a disability and whether or not there is an educational impact from that disability. The advocate also will look at whether the current environment is providing the right level of challenge. Although we believe that providing appropriately rigorous instruction is important for all students, it is especially critical for our gifted students.
Assessments, a crucia...

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