As parents, we want what is best for our children. Unfortunately, fighting for your child's best interests can be challenging. For instance, parents can feel outnumbered by school staff who know -or think they know -the rules better than others on the IEP Team. Regional Center services are being cut every year. Young adults whose mental states are impacted by depression or mental illness are as likely to be seen in juvenile court as a doctors office. All of these situations require resourceful advocates on the side of our children, adolescents, and young adults.
Parent Education: We offer workshops that can give you the confidence you need, and an understanding of the law and community resources, in order to be an effective advocate for a child or adolescent with a disability. Click on Workshops and Resources for information on our education offerings, such as, Find Your Voice: Understand how Public Schools Can, Should and are Required by Law to Meet the Special Needs of your Child; Where Do We Go From Here? Community, College and Transition for the Young Adult with Special Needs, and; Do You Suspect Your Child Might Have a Developmental Disability? Learn the basics of getting an assessment and early intervention services.
Getting and Staying Organized: Do you need some incentive to get organized? Our office has a system for organizing and presenting information at an IEP meeting. We are happy to share the system (and a snack) with parents during this low-key class. This is a great alternative to preparing the night before for an IEP meeting. Check the calendar for the next time this informal but productive class if offered.
Resource Library: Our clients are always welcome to the office in order to preview a book they are interested in... or even read it here! We have quite a few. We also offer a list of books that we have used and personnally reccomend.
Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy: The Special Education Survival Guide
How Does Your Engine Run? Leader's Guide to the Alert Program for Self Regulation
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
(If you purchase a book through one of our links, Amazon "pays" in gift cards to our office. Those cards are donated to school psychologists who I work with on several pro-bono cases. The schools use the cards with clients as part of a behavior plan.)
Connecting With the Community:
In general, this is a great website for keeping up to speed on disability issues: http://www.disabilityscoop.com/
In Orange County, the way to get in the loop on community resources is to send Kathleen McFarlin kmcfarlin@ucp-oc.org an e-mail and ask that she include you on her e-mail list. United Cerbral Palsy does a great job of distributing information.
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