Child Advocacy
Child Advocacy
[alert type=”danger” close=”false” heading=””]We serve the needs of children, families and professionals while addressing mental health, medical, educational, legal and legislative issues.[/alert]
We work with parents to help them make sound educational decisions for their children.
- Assist parents through the often-complicated issues regarding their child’s academic, social-emotional, and behavioral development
- Help parents become informed participants and advocates in their child’s educational team
- Serve as a member of a collaboration team with parents, school, and support personnel
- Design effective strategies and interventions based on the student’s learning style and temperament
Who needs us?
- Parents who have questions about their child’s learning and achievement
- Parents who are concerned about their child’s development and/or a possible disability
- Parents whose children are changing schools or educational programs
- Parents who need information about appropriate school placements
- Parents who need help interpreting existing data and reports
- Parents who want independent observations of their child in a school setting
- Parents who want an understanding of how to match the instructional program to their child’s learning profiles
- Parents who need help communicating with their child’s school
- Parents who need help deciding if educational, psychoeducational, psychological and/or other evaluations would be useful in understanding their child
How we proceed
- Listen carefully to understand parental concerns
- Review and interpret existing data (e.g., report cards, previous evaluations, standardized test scores, IEP’s, etc.)
- Observe the child in school
- Consult with the child’s teacher
- Review curriculum
- Design an action plan
- Share the findings and action plan with the parents
The action plan
Through this information-gathering process parents will have a plan of action that may include:
- Creation of a well integrated support team for the student and family
- Recommendations for instructional strategies based on the child’s learning strengths and weaknesses
- Establishing a system to coordinate, facilitate, and monitor the student’s progress
- Explanations of school processes and procedures and how to work within them
- Requests for additional information, if needed
- Parent preparation for school meetings
- Attendance at school meetings with parents
- Referrals to other professionals