Schools
From Emotions to Advocacy Class for Parents
Advocating for your special needs child(ren) in school
From Emotions To Advocacy
(based on the book Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy: The Special Education Survival Guide )
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Helping parent’s to successfully advocate child’s IEP
Starts
Find out what's happening in Wiltonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Monday, September 24th
7:00pm - 9:30pm for 6 weeks
Wilton YMCA
Please note:
This is for parents who advocate for their children only, not professional advocates
Runs for 6 weeks
Session 1: Meet & Greet
Session 2: Getting Started
In "Getting Started," you will learn:
- Basic advocacy skills
- Supplies you need to get started
- How to develop a master plan for your child's education
Session 3: Advocacy 101
In "Advocacy 101," you will learn about:
- Schools as bureaucracies and the rules of the game
- Obstacles to success - school culture, myths, gatekeepers, and emotions
- Common causes of conflict
- Steps you can take to prevent or resolve problems
- Events that trigger parent-school crises
Session 4: The Parent as Expert
In "The Parent as Expert," you will learn:
- Why you must become an expert about your child's disability and educational needs
- How to organize your child's file, step by step
- How to use information from evaluations to understand your child's disability
- How to use test scores to monitor and measure your child's progress
- How to write SMART IEP goals and objectives
Session 5: Special Education Law
In "Special Education Law," you will learn about:
- The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004)
- Findings and purposes of the IDEA
- Definitions in the IDEA
- Extended school year (ESY), child find, least restrictive environment (LRE), private placements, statewide assessments
- Requirements for identifying children with specific learning disabilities - Discrepancy Formulas and Response to Intervention (RTI)
- Evaluations, eligibility, IEPs, and placement
- Prior written notice, procedural safeguards, mediation, due process hearings, appeals, discipline, and age of majority
- Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
- The No Child Left Behind Act and implications for children with disabilities
Session 6: Tactics and Strategies
In "Tactics and Strategies," you will learn about:
- "The Rules of Adverse Assumptions"; first impressions; image and presentation
- How to use logs, calendars, and journals to create paper trails
- How to write effective letters (includes sample letters)
- How to write a persuasive "Letter to the Stranger" (includes sample letters)
- How to use IEP worksheets, parent agendas, visual aids & graphs of progress or lack of progress (includes sample worksheets and agendas)
- Roles of experts; how to use an expert to help develop an appropriate educational program
- Pros and cons of recording meetings; strategies