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The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) vests children with disabilities with the right to a free appropriate public education. These disabilities include communications disorders and learning disorders and range from dyslexia to ADHD to sensory processing disorders to mental illness to Autism.
Parents are highly motivated to advocate for the most appropriate education possible for their child with disabilities. They realize that their child's future depends upon obtaining appropriate services.
“…[P]arents and guardians will not lack ardor in seeking to ensure that handicapped children receive all the benefits to which they are entitled…”
Board of Ed. of Hendrick Hudson Central School Dist. v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176 (1982).
Parents are natural advocates and often have an intuitive sense as to what is appropriate for their child. However, many parents become overwhelmed by the amount of information 
they must learn. One way that parents can improve their advocacy skills is to network through joining local chapters of parent groups that offer information about your child’s specific disability. Attending trainings and support groups that help you understand ways to use your rights under IDEA will also benefit your children.
When parents and school personnel can work together, this is always in the child's best interests. However, special education services are intensive and expensive, while resources are limited. Parents should educate themselves on how to exercise their legal rights to advocate on behalf of their children.
In most cases, parents and school officials are able to collaborate in the child's best interests. Unfortunately, interacting with school officials can become adversarial. Sometimes school officials are as committed to maintaining the status quo as parents are to changing the status quo. When this occurs, the parental advocate role can become very stressful. Although the majority of disputes can be resolved without resorting to due process hearings, it is necessary in some cases to use a special eduction advocate. In some cases parents need to retain legal counsel.
Accommodations are adjustments in the presentation of information or tasks that enable children with disabilities to complete the same work as their peers. Examples include sitting near the teacher or extra testing time.
Fortunately for students with disabilities, the field of assistive technology is booming. Having access to text that can be readily converted into spoken words can be a critical part of becoming a proficient reader, a student who is meaningfully included in school, and employable in the world outside of school.
Did you know?
Just as children are continually changing and maturing, their educational services must likewise accomodate those changes.
Parent Resources:
Additional organizations that many parents find helpful are:
The National Association of Parents with Children in Special Education is a national membership organization dedicated to rendering all possible support and assistance to parents whose children receive special education services
Parents Educating Parents & Professionals (PEPP) provides services, training, & information to families of children with disabilties.
