Special Education Advocacy

Beacon's approach to advocate work is one of navigation and coaching, rather than confrontation and catching a district in mistakes. In Beacon's ideal world, special education is a system where staff and families work together to adjust the environment, the teaching strategies, and the supports needed for a child to have their needs met and continue learning among their peers in the way that makes the most sense for that child.

Working together means meetings. At times, your family may wish to have an advocate attend meetings with you to support your understanding of the process and to help you communicate your expectations and wishes about your child's education. Your advocate will be by your side to keep you informed about what a legally compliant process looks like, and to empower you to have equitable input when decisions arise. With Beacon's Advocacy and Representation services, an advocate will join a family in attending meetings virtually or in person to develop REEDs (evaluation plans), IFSPs (individual family service plans for Birth to Three), IEPs (individual education plans), 504s (accommodation plans), behavior plans, manifestation determination reviews (related to discipline/suspensions for children with disabilities) and more. Often, it is helpful for families to request a Document Review and/or an Empowerment and Navigation session in preparation for their special education meeting. Sometimes, a family feels confident after a Document Review and/or Empowerment and Navigation session and decides to attend the special education meeting without direct representation from the advocate.

Do you have questions about placement, services, accommodations or discipline? Are you new to the special education process or confused about changes being proposed to your child's supports? Beacon will empower you with knowledge about your rights throughout the education process, and model ways to confidently express your expectations to your child's school team.

Parenting a child with a disability can often be an isolating experience. Allowing Beacon to provide guidance and the opportunity for reflection during difficult and confusing decisions can lead to better outcomes for your child. Often families reach out to advocates when they feel their child is not making progress, or when there are disagreements about the best setting for their child to receive their education. There may be decisions pending about discipline, and not all families know that children with disabilities have different rights than children who are not receiving special education. Families may feel confused about the resources and options available to their child; they may not know who to ask or what questions to ask to move their child forward.

An Empowerment and Navigation session may be the best service for your family if:

• You do not have an upcoming special education meeting but have questions or concerns about your child's education plan
• You are seeking preparation for an upcoming special education meeting, but you prefer to attend that meeting without direct representation
• You are looking for help drafting written requests to your school district (e.g., to request an evaluation, a new IEP, etc.)

At times, your family may choose to participate in an Empowerment and Navigation session and also have an advocate attend the special education meeting with the family.

As a family walking the road of special education, you know that one thing you can always count on is paperwork, paperwork, paperwork! By nature of special education law, documentation of the school's process is required and can be lengthy and technical. Document Review services are available to help your family interpret evaluation reports, functional behavior assessments, behavior intervention plans, transition plans, REEDS (evaluation plans), drafts of 504s, IFSPs, IEPs and more.

Families can nearly always identify if the school's descriptions of their child are true to what they know of their child. Sometimes a family may not know if a document is complete, compliant, or aligned with their child's needs. Beacon can help with this! After helping to interpret the documents, Beacon will guide your family in drafting questions and reflecting on how best to communicate your expectations for what will happen with your child moving forward.

Your work with Beacon starts with a free 20 minute phone consultation. During this consultation, we will share our expectations for our work together and talk about upcoming dates and timelines. We will begin a discussion of your child's interests, strengths, and needs, as well as your dreams, expectations, and questions about your child's education. Most importantly, you will get a feel for Joanna's communication style and her approach to problem solving. After all, you are potentially granting your advocate access to confidential information, as well as access to your family, perhaps during some of your most vulnerable moments. Some families have questions that can be quickly addressed during this initial consultation and do not need to go forward with other services.

Service	Rate
Initial consultation (20 minutes by phone)	Free
All other services (Document Review, Empowerment and Navigation Session, Advocacy and Representation)	$100/hour

You will be asked to pay a deposit of $100 when you book services. At the completion of services, you will be invoiced for any time over one hour, and will be refunded for time less than an hour. Payments will be made by debit or credit card, sent through a direct emailed link.

If fees are an obstacle for your family, please let us know during your initial consultation that you would like to discuss a sliding payment scale.