Child Advocate for My At-risk Son

Hi S. I been throught all of that , first did you have copieds of all your paperwork,that important always keep copies.I don't know where your from, but I'm Phila go to the school Dist. Special Education unit.Demand Action. There also a
book the Special Education Law center will send you showing your rights.They advocate that can help you.I also had to threaten to get a lawyer.Also see if there is a website for school dist. look into it. Also when you make any kind of request make sure you make copies one for you one for the school and also mail one to the special ed dept to the person in charge.Take charge don't let them push you around because they think people will just do as they say when you go in there
and know what your talking about and your rights, they start to listen. please don't give up it took me three years of fighting for my child and they finally had to pay for private school since they couldn't give my child the education she needn't, and I'm happy to say she graduated with honor last years, so please fight for your child rights while it is early in school,please feel free to contact me ____@____.com

I don't know if this will help, but have you ever thought of just putting him in private kindergarten at a childcare center and just paying for it. I'm sure that if you are paying for it, they wouldn't give you too hard of a time.

There is a Support Center for Child Advocates that works out of Center City, Philadelphia. Attorneys and other professionals voluteer their time for issues like yours.

S.- I hate to pry, but what did you mean by "at risk"? I ask b/c my son is entering Kindergarten in the Upper Darby School District. If you are in Lansdowne, is this your district as well? My son is going in for full-day Social/Emotional Resource Kindergarten. He will have some 1st graders in the classroom too. The way UDSD works it (at least for social/emotional support) is K-1, 2-3, 4-5 at Hillcrest Elementary (which, fortunately for us, is also our "home" Elementary School). I am not sure what your son's "needs" are, so not sure if this situation is similar to yours or not...

Instead of "getting into it" here, why don't you email me? I would be glad to assist. If your son already has an IEP in place, I'm surprised that DCIU and/or the district didn't recommend the placement level right on the IEP. My son's did.

My email address is ____@____.com can always call my cell at ###-###-####. My son is 5.5 and has had an IEP since 2. I am very familiar with alot of the lingo/paperwork/etc. Again, if I can help, I will :)

Take care, good luck and please touch base...

Jen