Special Ed frustrations for parents in Missouri school; Child Advocate Autism

Paraprofessionals:
Is a paraprofessional assisting your child in any way during the school day? Many times the para is the second adult in a classroom and not necessarily “assigned” to your child exclusively.
Many school districts instruct paraprofessionals to avoid conversation with parents, and, do not share with the paraprofessionals the relevant information on the IEP that would assist the paraprofessional from understanding goals for the child. Many districts do not allow paras to attend IEP meetings on school time.


What can a parent do?  Parents can directly share an IEP with the paras, set up email communications with teachers that cc: the para(s), and directly invite paras to IEP meetings. 
Paras often know more about our kids than the teachers who are often overwhelmed. 
Paras and teachers are greatly appreciated!

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Contact an advocate below; please include child’s age, disability, state where child attends public school, and your name and phone numbers:

Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC dba The IEP Center™ provides information to parents regarding the problems of children with disabilities.  We are not attorneys and do not give advice.  Consult an attorney.  SEPAL advocates have special knowledge about the problems of children with disabilities.

We help parents at low-cost.  We help parents prepare for school meetings and also go to mediation and IEP meetings with parents.  Thankfully, we are not affiliated with any government agency.

©2023 Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC dba The IEP Center

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Child advocate for student rights in IEP school meetings

The special ed law (IDEA) regulations allows for a parent to take to IEP meetings whomever the parent may invite.

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Parents may have more control

Some parents take family members, some parents take case managers from other agencies.  Taking someone is better than taking nobody.

However, who you take with you makes a difference.  In my experience, parents who took case managers from other agencies (systems) experienced the status quo from school district personnel. Parent’s don’t have to take a “fake” advocate.   After all, most case managers knowledge and experience with school districts is similar to how parents are treated regardless, and the school may routinely bamboozle them.  You and your case manager walk away from the IEP meeting assuming the meeting was productive which may not be reality.  School systems are very different from other public assistance/mental health systems.

The public education system in many states  is often filled with internal politics, hidden agendas, clicks and demagoguery.  Although Congress expects parents to pursue “individualizing” a program for our child, it may become one individual taking on an institution.  There are alternatives, allowed by Congress,  to multiple school meetings.

Our advocates are familiar with the tactics school districts use to keep parents at bay which  results in the child receiving a minimal “schooling” of our child.  Over the years many parents expressed to our advocates the parent was treated with respect and much differently than before.  Some of the most effective “buttons” a parent can “push” can occur outside or before an upcoming IEP meeting.

The IEP Center.com advocates are aware of strategies parents can trigger to work the system and avoid getting bamboozled.  We are available to participate online or telephone with parents in  iep meetings, suspension hearings, manifestation-determination meetings and mediation*. 

Don’t be bamboozled!   Parents who are serious about their child’s schooling and tired of being bamboozled use advocates at The IEP Center.com.  Parents who are serious about their child’s education use our advocates.

Contact our office for details, limitations and requirements.

To have an advocate contact you complete this form:

Read our blog (click below) commentary to learn how IEP meetings may not always the most efficient method to pursue correction of a public school problem.

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Kansas blog             Missouri blog                 OK blog

Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC dba The IEP Center.com™ are not attorneys and do not give legal advice. We are civil rights advocates.   We do not give advice; we give information about the problems of children with special needs. We do not represent anyone. We are not licensed to practice law in any state. Consult an attorney.

©2017, 2019, 2022, 2023 Copyright Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC

Your child is worth it; this is a low-cost service.  Thankfully, we are not affiliated with any government agency.

**Participation in IEP meeting with the school contingent on factors including availability, applicability, prepayment, scope, locale, jurisdictional restrictions, other. Participation may be via telephone, virtual, or in person.

IEP meeting deception in Missouri, Kansas schools

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Parents go to IEP meetings trusting the public school staff to do right by their child. However, many school districts often operate on the premise of providing services to a child that fits what already exists at the district, and disregard the unique needs’ of the child that the IDEA indicates a child with special needs’ is entitled. steeringmomhead-1 This hidden agenda may exist the entirety of the student’s educational experience.

Within the last ten years this advocate sees a decrease in the amount of support staff available to our children with IEPs who need it.  Paraprofessionals, especially, are often available to groups of children rather than for an individual child.  The overburdened paraprofessional quickly suffers burnout and our child’s needs go unaddressed.  A parent might hear in an IEP meeting that their child will have a paraprofessional; however, unknown to the parent is that the para serves four or five student simultaneously. Teachers are overwhelmed.

Some public schools continue to deceive parents that everything is fine at the school.  Those schools continue to do this because no one has called them to the carpet on it, or, parents don’t know how to  stop it. Parents have more control than we realize; many mechanisms outside of the school district are waiting to receive reports from parents of inappropriate public education scenarios of children with disabilities. the-iep-center

Advocates at the IEP Center give parents the information to help them acquire the services a child needs.  We recognize  tactics schools use to bamboozle parents.  We are available to participate in IEP meeting when invited by the parent*.

Don’t be bamboozled!  Parents who are serious about their child’s education use advocates at The IEP Center.com

Parents who are serious about their child’s education use The IEP Center™

Call 913-210-1200 from MO/KS/OK.

To have an advocate contact you complete this form:

Sign up for The IEP Center Advocator ezine:  bit.ly/IEPezine

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Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC dba The IEP Center™ are civil rights advocates with special knowledge about the problems of children with disabilities.  We are not attorneys and do not give legal advice.  We do not give advice; we give information about the problems of children with special needs. We do not represent anyone. Consult an attorney.  We are not a government agency and we are not affiliated with any government agency.

*Participation in IEP meeting with the school contingent on factors including availability, applicability, prepayment, scope, locale, jurisdictional restrictions, other. Participation may be via telephone, virtual, or in person.

© Copyright Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC 2014-2022

 

student sent home since no behavior program at public school Missouri

100_0691Student with behaviors that the public school doesn’t appropriately address is sent home. The parent has no idea that the school has a duty to provide programming for this student to the same extent that typical student benefit from schooling (such as a full day). In some instances the public school completes paperwork called “homebound“.

Public school staff often don’t understand the importance of proactively implementing positive behavior supports.   Advocates at TheIEPCenter.com™ help parents solve IEP problems by providing information so they can advocate for the child with special needs.    Schools often don’t put plans into place legitimately unless a parent pursues action.  Educational “systems” move slowly.  It’s what a parent doesn’t know that can deprive children of needed services.

Don’t be bamboozled!  Waiting and hoping for problems to go away allows our children to regress.  Hoping the problem will go away will only delay getting the problem addressed.  Waiting too long to address concerns eliminates opportunities for correction.

FYI:  The Missouri legislature is currently considering Senator Eigels’s bill titled Empowering Missouri Parents Act. It would potentially assist in streamlining information parents could acquire from the public school.

We help parents at low-cost.  We help parents prepare for school meetings and also go to school meetings with parents.

Contact an advocate here:

Sign up for our ezine: bit.ly/IEPezine

Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC dba The IEP Center provide information to parents regarding the problems of children with special needs. We are civil rights advocates.

Thankfully, we are not affiliated with any government agency. This website is for information only.  We do not give legal advice.  We do not represent anyone. Consult an attorney.

Restrictions apply.  ©2016,  2023 Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC dba The IEP Center.com