Special education advocates are professionals with experience in special education and advocacy who represent the best interest of a student in the educational process.

In some ways advocates and attorneys can have similar roles. The main difference is that a special education advocate cannot practice law. In New Jersey, an advocate can represent a family in a due process hearing but Lauren recommends hiring an attorney with legal experience if a case ends up going to trial. Advocates do charge fees but usually much less than what an attorney would charge.

Before seeking out an advocate, ask yourself why you need one. Ask yourself what are the specific problems I am having with my child’s educational experience? How can an advocate help me solve these problems? Maybe your child has an IEP but is not getting the right services or the IEP is not being implemented or followed correctly. Maybe your school is telling you that your child is not eligible for special education services and you disagree but are unsure how to move forward with your concerns. You may also just be confused by the special education process and need help in general- that’s ok! The process is complex! That’s why you would want to consult with an advocate.

Advocacy is an unlicensed and relatively unregulated/unmonitored field. Do not forget that the IDEA is only 45+ years old so this is a new and developing career path. There are no established standards of practice and there are no training requirements. A parent must carefully interview and thoroughly investigate the background of an advocate they are considering. While there is no official certificate or training on a federal or state level, there are training programs that are considered “legit” for advocates. Training through Wrightslaw and COPAA are considered the “best” in the industry.

• What training do you have?

• How long have you been doing this/why did you decide to become an advocate?

• Are there any districts they wont work with and why?

• What is their success rate and how do they define success?

• After hearing your story, what is their plan or strategy for moving forward?

• What are their fees and what does that cover?

• Have they had cases similar to yours?

• How long do they expect this to take before it is likely resolved?

• As this moves forward what does the advocate expect from you?

• Do they have involvement in the special needs community?

• Do they have a history with your school district?

​We want to believe that people who say they are special education advocates are genuine and want to help families in the special education process without any other motives. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Here are some red flags to look for when interviewing a potential advocate.

• Tries to impress you too much by using jargon and legalese that you do not understand

• Generally talks way above your head instead of making you feel comfortable

• Talks about “getting” school personnel as some kind of revenge instead of talking about how they are going to make sure your child is getting what they need in school.

• Does not present themselves professionally

• Avoids questions or does not respond to what kind of training they have

• Repeatedly reminds you of how experienced they are

• No community involvement or ties to the special needs community

• Guarantees a win- no one can guarantee results! No one has never not lost a case!

Keep in mind that no two special education cases are the same, no two districts are the same. What is true for one case, may not be true for another. After you hire an advocate, let them tell you what comes next.

• Ask them what they want you to do

• Respect boundaries, only contact them during regular business hours

• Do not communicate with the school unless you have run it by your advocate first. You do not want there to be any lines of communication crossed. Advocates need to be kept in the loop

• Collect your data, reports, evaluations etc. and have them ready to send to the advocate to look over and analyze

This is a loaded question unfortunately. There are so many factors and specifics of a case that it is difficult to know how long the case will take. A well trained advocate will try to make changes or work with your school district to come up with solutions before any formal actions need to be taken. If a case needs to go to a mediation or due process filing then things can get more complex. Once you have reached that point, the trust between the family and the district is broken. After you file for mediation usually you would get a date for a mediation session with a neutral party mediator within two weeks to discuss your case and try to come to an agreement with the district. If an agreement cannot be reached in mediation then sometimes a district will request a local resolution meeting. If that is unsuccessful then a case can go to the Office of Administrative Law and you would then go in front of an Administrative Law Judge and discuss your case and try to come to an agreement. Only after that does a case go to an actual trial. There are safeguards in place that allow a district and a family to come to an agreement without spending a horrendous amount of money in legal fees etc. Once a case goes to trial you need to hire an attorney that is a litigator and this can be very costly and time consuming. In an ideal world, you would be able to come to an agreement with your school district through an IEP meeting or mediation which shouldn’t take more than a few months. Obviously, if agreements cannot be reached during those interactions then you are looking at a longer timeframe for resolution.