Blog Post 7B Jennifer Cika - In response to Kristin Morgione

Your paper was interesting and very helpful. Where I work now we have several students that have court appointed advocates. These individuals are invaluable members of the IEP team. They help families with many aspects of the law and teach them how to work their way through meeting, documents and even doctor diagnoses. Advocates can also be a great deal of help to special educators. For instance, there is one student at my school with an advocate and it is hard to get a hold of his family for behavior/academic issues. Most of the time if we get in touch with the child’s advocate, they will in turn get a hold of the family and we usually get a phone call back pretty quickly.

1.      What roles do advocates have within the field of special education?  

Advocates are the voice of the family. They support and assist the family in making educational decisions for the child. Advocates also provide emotional support to the families at meetings and will argue for services that the student should be provided. The role of an advocate can wear many hats and is not limited to the responsibilities that I have listed. They are trained to document discussions and events and ask questions that are vital to the educations and well-being of the child.

2.      What training did this person receive or should be given to receive this title of an   advocate?

A special education advocate goes through 115 hours of classroom instruction as well as 115 hours of field experience. There is also a volunteer advocacy position, this advocate goes through 40 hours of in class training and can advocate at no charge for up to four families with disabilities. There is also the National special education advocacy institute, there are three specific programs of certification, they are consultant, diplomat and fellow. It is a 12 course training program with a passage of six hours of exams with a score at least 70% and certification gets reassessed every five years. There are many more programs of varying degrees.

3.      How can parents become an advocate for their child in the school setting?

Parents can go to parent training and information centers, protection and advocacy agencies, parents to parent opportunities and community parent resource centers. These agencies provide parents with tons of information so that they can advocate for their own child.

4.      How can professionals in the school system advocate for their student with exceptional needs?

Professionals can advocate for their students with special needs by collaborating with other professionals within the school system, such as therapists, general education teachers, administrators, counselors, school psychologists, support staff and other special education teachers.

5.      How can we, as educators, empower our students to become self-advocates?

There are self-advocacy programs and strategies that teachers can use with their students such as the S.H.A.R.E strategy. Students can also have self-directed IEP’s and IEP meetings.