The Journey to Become an Advocate

The journey to become an advocate for your child is daunting but you're not alone. In the last month I've been to a couple of events aimed at networking and spreading information about local resources for parents and teachers. This is a whole new world for me and I want to share some lessons I'm learning as I navigate the various support systems of this exciting grassroots movement of parents, and slowly learn to speak up for my son in a more assertive way. I know some parents are already in that zone but I've always been shy about advocating at school in addition to being discouraged by the former principal and teachers from pursuing an IEP or a 504 due to my son's ADHD. Now that he's officially diagnosed with ASD and his academic performance is at a low point, I've mustered up the courage to pursue an IEP at school, and I also want to know the available resources for my son.

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