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FOR ALL OF NEW JERSEY
Are you ready to get your child the help they need?
We help you navigate through the special education maze.
Get us on your team!
Contact us to determine suitability.
Find our more: Your Child
YOUR CHILD
YOUR CHILD
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I’ve been there.
As a parent, parent group leader, and advocate.
I’ve been there.
As a parent, parent group leader, and advocate.
I’ve seen otherwise happy kids come home from school frustrated or upset (see warning signs).
Avoiding reading or homework. Getting into trouble. Leaving class. Acting “sick”.
I’ve seen otherwise happy kids come home from school frustrated or upset (see warning signs).
Avoiding reading or homework. Getting into trouble. Leaving class. Acting “sick”.
At first my wife handled it. She grew exasperated.
She begged me to come to a school meeting.
We requested a formal evaluation, but were denied.
At first my wife handled it. She grew exasperated.
She begged me to come to a school meeting.
We requested a formal evaluation, but were denied.
Like you, I did the research. On the internet. Talked to other parents.
The terminology was confusing. The process – exhausting.
Once we got the evals (Difficulty/Diagnosis), they were difficult to understand.
The more I learned, the more I need to know.
Like you, I did the research. On the internet. Talked to other parents.
The terminology was confusing. The process – exhausting.
Once we got the evals (Difficulty/Diagnosis), they were difficult to understand.
The more I learned, the more I need to know.
We heard lots of explanations why everything was fine – but it wasn’t.
“Every child is different”. “They’ll catch up”. “They’ll grow out of it”. “We’re providing lots of support”.
Unfortunately, my kids were not getting what they needed.
We heard lots of explanations why everything was fine – but it wasn’t.
“Every child is different”. “They’ll catch up”. “They’ll grow out of it”. “We’re providing lots of support”.
Unfortunately, my kids were not getting what they needed.
When they actually got what they needed, it was magic.
With the right interventions, my frustrated kids closed the gap, built skills and gained confidence.
I sought help from a professional advocate so I could help my kids.
Now, I’ll help you and your kids.
When they actually got what they needed, it was magic.
With the right interventions, my frustrated kids closed the gap, built skills and gained confidence.
I sought help from a professional advocate so I could help my kids.
Now, I’ll help you and your kids.
WARNING SIGNS
WARNING SIGNS
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The most common reasons parents (we’re including guardians including grandparents) seek help for their child, by age:
Items in italics require urgent attention. Contact us immediately.
Any Age
You don’t trust what the School/District is telling you.
You are concerned with accuracy, credibility or completeness of what you are being told or provided by District administration, teachers, Child Study Team.
Teacher(s) and/or private tutors, evaluators and/or therapiss have expressed concern about your child’s progress, e.g. grades have fallen significantly; test scores are down; challenging behavior has started or increased, social skills are poor, or your child has limited or no friends.
Your child has been referred for evaluation, had been referred to or is in an intervention program, including I&RS (Intervention and Referral Services), BSI/ASP/RTI (Basic Skills, Academic Support or Response to Intervention programs), 504 Plan, IHP (individual Health Plan), or IEP (Individualized Education Plan).
You've requested an evaluation, BSI/I&RS plan, IEP or 504 plan and no meeting has been scheduled or the request was denied (including a denial ("evaluation not warranted", or "not eligible for special education").
You don't feel your child has made meaningful progress in one or more areas, including academic, social or emotional learning, small or gross motor skills, speech and language.
Your child is being unfairly excluded from classes or events including assemblies, school sports or clubs, .
Your child is or has been suspended, received many detentions, or is being expelled, or a manifestation meeting has been scheduled or is engaging in challenging behavior at school that you don't feel is being properly addressed.
Your child has been denied a program or services that you feel you are entitled to or you feel the placement is too restrictive.
You want to file or have filed a complaint or lawsuit against the school staff or District.
The school has filed a complaint (including CP&P, formerly DYFS) or a due process petition against you.
You or your child has been discriminated against, bullying/harassed, intimidated or retaliated against by other students or District personnel. Bullying or harassment can include verbal and/or physical abuse.
You removed your child from school, or your child has been removed from school, or told not to return to school, no clear path for return, or your child is on home instruction at your request or District request.
You have been required to get a mental health (psychiatric) clearance for your child, you've been forced to pay for the mental health clearance, your child has been refused to allow to return to school after being cleared.
Home Instruction was not provided or refused, not provided for all subjects and related services in a IEP, is being provided less than 10 hours/week, does not include related services in their IEP like speech/O-T/P-T/counseling/ABA, does not include a proper Home Instruction Plan (IPP), is not being provided by special education teachers for areas designated by the IEP, or didn't start within 5 days of the school receiving a home instruction request signed by an MD or an IEP designating home instruction, or you were issued an IEP changing the placement to Home Instruction.
Your child has had unexcused absences for 10 or more days in a school year, not including vacation.
You have had truancy threatened or filed by the school against you or your child.
Your child is being excessively restrained, secluded, or is coming home with bruises or unexplained physical injuries.
You disagree with an IEP recently issued that contains, e.g. a reduction in services or move to a more restrictive environment (e.g. home instruction, out of district school, self-contained classes) than you feel is necessary.
Your child is unable to pay attention (especially during remote or hybrid learning e.g. won't login or tunes out).
The District is materially not complying with the child's 504 or IEP plan.
Your child is not able to walk to school themselves due to age, behavior or maturity and you are unable to drive them and you are not being provided with transportation by the school.
Age 0-3
Your child is not developing per standard milestones, e.g. delayed speech
Your child has been diagnosed with one or disabilities, e.g. by a M.D., learning consultant or psychologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, or speech pathologist.
Your child is in or recently exited an Early Intervention Program (EIP) or a transition meeting is scheduled.
Age 3-5 (Pre-school and Kindergarten)
Your child is displaying unusual behavior in or around school, e.g. anxious/crying, withdrawn, eloping (leaving class), doing poorly, lacks friends, inattentive, hyperactive, aggressive/acting out.
Age 6-21 (Grade School, Middle School and High School, Grades 1-12)
Any of the items above
Your child is clinically depressed, is in or recently been admitted to a psychiatric facliity (Hospital, PHP, IOP), or has threatened or engaged in self-harm (including "cutting") or harm towards others.
Your child is not keeping up with peers, e.g. poor class or standardized (e.g. PARCC/NJSLA, Linkit, STAR) test scores, below average reading levels, unusual behavior with homework or home (e.g. many missing, late or incomplete assignments in one or more classes), a drop of at least one letter grade over two or more semesters in one or more subjects.
In-class or other interventions, e.g. Tutoring, I&RS (Intervention & Referral Services), BSI (Basic Skills Instruction), IHP (Individual Health Plan), IEP (Individual Education Plan) do not seem to be effective.
Your child has been diagnosed with one or more disabilities or is “classified”.
Your child is being graduated despite lack of skills to continue into post-secondary education, get a job, live independently, or your child needs an age 18-21 transition or life skills program.
Your Age 14+ child has an inappropriate or meaningless transition plan.
DIFFICULTY/ DIAGNOSIS
DIFFICULTY/ DIAGNOSIS
More than 20% of children are estimated to have some sort of difficulty or learning difference that interferes with their academic, social or emotional progress in school. Sometimes the difficulty is not diagnosed or may be minimized (e.g. “every child is different”, “your child will grow out of it”).
Some difficulties qualify as a “disability” due to their nature or severity. While many parents don’t like the term, if your child has a disability, he/she may be eligible for extra assistance from the school that can help them academically, emotionally or socially.
We’ll help you understand how to get a correct diagnosis, understand the criteria for assistance and figure out how they apply to your child. While your child will not “grow out “ of a true disability, effective accommodations and services help the child access the school’s program.
The most common difficulties are “hidden,” meaning they not obvious by looking at the child for a short time. Often children exhibit one or more of these (“co-morbid”):
ADHD: Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (includes ADD). Child has difficulty focusing or concentrating especially on more demanding tasks (inattentive type), has signs of being “Hyper” (can’t sit still, excessive motion, impulsive) or both (combined type). Often accompanies by Executive Function or "Frontal Lobe Disorder".
Autism Spectrum Disorder: (ASD, includes high functioning (formerly "Asperger’s Syndrome"): Child has ongoing social weaknesses, including difficulty interacting with others including maintaining eye contact; repetitive behaviors, limited and often intense interests; sensory issues (unusual reaction to stimuli), safety awareness, elopment, and often one or more of the other difficulties on this page.
Emotional: Child exhibits emotional or behavioral symptoms e.g. of anxiety (including general anxiety, school refusal, social anxiety, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)), oppositional or defiant (ODD), obsessive or compulsive (OCD)., depression including withdrawal, suicidal ideation or attempts; or trouble regulating emotions These can include: calling out, inappropriate language (rudeness or swearing), non-compliant, verbal (including threats) or physical aggression, tantrums, property destruction/throwing objects, threats to self-harm or self-injurious behavior (SIB).
Executive Function. Child has difficulty with initiating tasks, organization (desk, binder is a mess), time management, planning, metacognition. Occurs often with children with ADHD.
Speech and Language: Child may separately have articulation or other speech difficulties; delayed or limited expressive language (talking), receptive language (understanding spoken language) or pragmatic language (use of language in social situations, e.g. “getting the joke”, body language and tone).
Learning Disability: Child has difficulty with reading, writing or arithmetic/math, including dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia. In New Jersey, schools often use a severe discrepancy (between intelligence as measured by IQ and academic achievement) for the child to be made eligible for special education (“classified”) for this condition.
Speech: Speech is sometimes used interchangeability with language (see above), because they are both usually treated with speech/language therapy. Child may not be speaking or has limited or delayed speech (including apraxia), is not fluent, does not produce speech sounds correctly/hard to understand (articulation), talks too loud or too softly, or stutters.
Social Skills: Child has difficulty interacting or communicating with others, e.g. relating to other children, playing or working in groups, lacks friends.
Twice Exceptional (or 2E). A child that has one or more of the difficulties on this page but is also gifted in one or more areas, and may have an above average or even genius IQ.
Some difficulties are more “physical” and therefore sometimes more apparent:
Hearing/Auditory Processing: Child could be hard of hearing in one or both ears, deaf, or may have difficulty distinguishing voices in a noisy environment (including decoding audio processing disorder-DAPD).
Small or Gross Motor Skills: Child may have difficulty in drawing, writing or other small motor skills (or receiving Occupational Therapy) or gross motor skills (e.g. walking, sitting, standing, balancing, climbing stairs) that inhabit participation in school activities including gym and extra-curricular activities like sports.
Other difficulties: include limited vision (including partial or complete blindness); difficulties with eye converge and visual tracking, genetic or development disabilities (e.g. Fragile X Syndrome, Down syndrome, Trisotomy 13), Pervasive Development disorders (PDD)), Fetal Alcohol syndrome, Cerebral Palsy (CP), Intellectual Disability; Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI); Tourette’s Syndrome, Body Disymorphic Disorder (BDD), Gender Dysphoria, Hearing Loss, Decoding Audio Processing Disorder (DAPD); Medical (e.g. peanut and other allergies, diabetic).
YOU
YOU
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Raising a typical child is hard enough; you are probably spending extra time, money and effort helping a child who has more than typical difficulties. Sometimes the child needs so much extra time that it becomes stressful, and may affect your health, earnings, job, or relationship with your spouse and other children.
Parents frequently are concerned with one or more of the following:
Parents frequently are concerned with one or more of the following:
Lost wages or jobs. One or both parents often spend an inordinate amount of time and money on resolving their children's educational concerns. often parents lost paid hours of work, are under pressure from their employers to spend less time on their child's education, have to downgrade their jobs to part-time or quit their jobs in order to care for their child. We can help you reduce the time you spend on ensuring your child receives an appropriate education.
Lost wages or jobs. One or both parents often spend an inordinate amount of time and money on resolving their children's educational concerns. often parents lost paid hours of work, are under pressure from their employers to spend less time on their child's education, have to downgrade their jobs to part-time or quit their jobs in order to care for their child. We can help you reduce the time you spend on ensuring your child receives an appropriate education.
Cost of private services. Parents often spend signifiant, sometimes enormous expense to handle what the school should be providing. This includes evaluations, tutoring or private schools, related services (speech services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, counseling) . We can help you reduce and sometimes recover these expenses and get the school to pay for some or all of these going forward.
Cost of private services. Parents often spend signifiant, sometimes enormous expense to handle what the school should be providing. This includes evaluations, tutoring or private schools, related services (speech services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, counseling) . We can help you reduce and sometimes recover these expenses and get the school to pay for some or all of these going forward.
Expense of Advocacy. Parents are concerned about spending money on education advocacy without proportional results.
We help you prioritize and take effective action within your means and capacity. We help you economically get your child the accommodations & services they need to become more confident, keep up with their peers, interact with adults and other children more effectively, stay or become willing to go to participate and go school.
We strive to do this in the most economical way consistent with a reasonable probability of getting the results you want. We would love to educate you on how to properly advocate for your child so you can reduce and/or eliminate our services.
Stigma. Parents and their children are often concerned with the emotional and social effect on their cihld of being pulled from classes with their friends and peers.
We help you learn to how to deal with your (and for older children, their child’s) concern that your child will be identified, teased, etc. if they get extra help.
Getting Along. Parents are concerned that the presence of an advocate will cause conflict with the school, often believing that they have a "good relationship" even though their child is not getting the programs, services, accommoations that they need. Sometimes they are told that advocates will hurt their relatinship with the school, that the school will be forced to bring their attorney to meetings and other nonsenset.
We help you assertively advocate for your and your child’s rights and collaborate to improve your relationship with your school and District while getting what's needed for your child.
Guilt. Parents often are lead to believe, or feel guilty that they are not being good Moms or Dad's or have failed their children.
We help you overcome doubts in order to effectively advocate for your child.
Confusion, Intimidation and Frustration: Parents are often overwhelmed with the process and terminology for 504, IEP, IHP, Disciplinary Action and feel like the learning curve is steep and endless.
We patiently educate you with the process and terminology for handling a child with a disability, the 504 and special education process including how to deal with meetings with ½ dozen or more school personnel.
Expense of Advocacy. Parents are concerned about spending money on education advocacy without proportional results.
We help you prioritize and take effective action within your means and capacity. We help you economically get your child the accommodations & services they need to become more confident, keep up with their peers, interact with adults and other children more effectively, stay or become willing to go to participate and go school.
We strive to do this in the most economical way consistent with a reasonable probability of getting the results you want. We would love to educate you on how to properly advocate for your child so you can reduce and/or eliminate our services.
Stigma. Parents and their children are often concerned with the emotional and social effect on their cihld of being pulled from classes with their friends and peers.
We help you learn to how to deal with your (and for older children, their child’s) concern that your child will be identified, teased, etc. if they get extra help.
Getting Along. Parents are concerned that the presence of an advocate will cause conflict with the school, often believing that they have a "good relationship" even though their child is not getting the programs, services, accommoations that they need. Sometimes they are told that advocates will hurt their relatinship with the school, that the school will be forced to bring their attorney to meetings and other nonsenset.
We help you assertively advocate for your and your child’s rights and collaborate to improve your relationship with your school and District while getting what's needed for your child.
Guilt. Parents often are lead to believe, or feel guilty that they are not being good Moms or Dad's or have failed their children.
We help you overcome doubts in order to effectively advocate for your child.
Confusion, Intimidation and Frustration: Parents are often overwhelmed with the process and terminology for 504, IEP, IHP, Disciplinary Action and feel like the learning curve is steep and endless.
We patiently educate you with the process and terminology for handling a child with a disability, the 504 and special education process including how to deal with meetings with ½ dozen or more school personnel.
US
US
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Michael Flom
Your Child is Exceptional. So are we.
Michael Flom is an award-winning special education advocate, quoted in local, regional and national publications.
Compassionate. We understand what you’re going through because we’ve been there. We help you make the special education process more understandable and productive to reduce anxiety.
Responsive. We know that your child’s welfare is critical to you. We listen carefully to your needs and preferences, and respond rapidly. We can work in the background advising you or by attending meetings with your school. You and your child are important to us.
Economical. We know you may have limited time and funds.
We are a professional (paid) advocates. However, if you qualify, we will discuss suitability in a brief communication with you at no charge.
If you can't afford paid services, fill out the Contact Us form and based on your resposes, we will let you know what alternatives are available.
We offer competitive rates, and when possible will adjust our recommendations based on your cash flow when possible. We’ll recommend and help you choose free or lower cost strategies and resources if appropriate. We work with you to minimize our labor and charges.
We recommend attorneys and other experts where needed and cost-effective. We cannot offer certain kinds of legal advice but generally can perform certain tasks more economically than an attorney, and will refer you when appropriate.
Educated. We invest in extensive, continuing education – Wrightslaw, NJPA, NAMI, LDANJ, College of William and Mary Law School Special Education Institute, VLJ Student Discipline Guidance, Council of Parent Advocates and Attorneys (COPAA) to keep our skills sharp and up to date.
Experienced. We have more than 10 years successful experience in dealing with hundreds of students and Districts.
Effective. We continue to get results in a wide variety of challenging, situations, disabilities and school Districts. If your case needs more specialized expertise than we can offer, we’ll refer you. We’ve headed or participated in parent support and advocacy groups at the District, State and National levels.
Click Customer Feedback to see some typical statements from parents we've helped.
Contact us to determine suitability.
Click or press to learn more about our services or process or results.
RESULTS
RESULTS
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Below is a small sampling of what we’ve accomplished for parents, grandparents and their children.
As a parent of children with disabilities, we recognize the emotional stress, worry and sometimes heartbreak that comes from the extra demands of raising such children.
You don’t need the stress of dealing with a district that may be blaming you, using indecipherable jargon and red tape, being unresponsive, or difficult as you attempt to address your child’s needs.
We also understand that you probably have limited funds to make things right.
Our goal is to provide your child with an appropriate education as fast as possible with the least cost and stress to you.
We are Out of District/Private School placement specialists.
We have secured numerous commitments, mediation and settlement agreements from Districts to place students with Anxiety, Auditory Impairments, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Depression, Down Syndrome, Emotional regulation Impairments, Language & Learning Disability (LLD), school refusal and other conditions in specialty private (therapeutic, autism, multiply disabled, hearing impairment) schools in as little as one IEP meeting.
These placements and related transportation are costly for Districts. The effort required will vary based on your District.
Normally, mediations, settlements and/or Court Orders are valid for only one year. However, we've secured placements up to three years that would have cost the parents about $500,000 (with transportation/bussing).
Some schools ignore or minimize the difficulties of children with common but so called “hidden” disabilities like ADHD, Dyslexia or Anxiety, refusing to identify or evaluate them, holding them back in grade, providing minimal interventions or refusing to make them eligible for special education when required.
We routinely ensure that these students are properly identified, evaluated, and receive appropriate services.
We frequently get students full individualized education programs (IEP’s) with in-class support/resource with special education teachers, small resource room classes and/or small group or 1:1 pull-outs for specialized instruction, e.g. reading.
Many parents come to us with complaints about minimal support for students, especially those with common conditions like ADHD, dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities, speech articulation or language issues.
Sometimes schools don’t provide effective or sufficiently intense interventions, or provide inadequately trained instructors who have the skills to help students progress meaningfully according to ambitious goals in light of their child’s circumstances.
We’ve secured I&RS plans, 504 plans and IEP’s for these students with in-class (collaborative) support, aides, small group instruction, and pullouts by certified instructors, related services like counseling, OT, PT, Speech, nursing, transportation as appropriate, or secured reimbursement for parents for services provided at home.
Schools sometimes use "blame the student" or "blame the parent" including imposing frequent calls/emails/pickups from school, disciplinary action, home instruction, removal from school, psychiatric or mental health clearance requirements, ignoring clearances to return to school, threats of or actual truancy complaints, CP&P (formerly DYFS) referrals and other frustrating tactics.
Parents are told their children "aren't trying", there's an implication of "bad kid" or "bad parenting" or the parent must medicate their child, or the parent is responsible to deal with challenging behavior (including non-compliance/opposition, inattention, verbal or physical aggression, property destruction, elopement from class or school buildings). Sometimes this behavior is minimal or does not occur a thome or only occurs on schol days.
This is often a factor with students with diagnosed or sometimes undiagnosed and unmanaged or under-managed ADHD, Anxiety, Autism, ODD, Sensory Integration Pragmatic Speech Language challenges.
We have helped parents get their children back into school, keep them children in school and/or find an appropriate placement, school and private services, and supports including treatment coordination.
A common problem from remote learning/COVID in 2020-21 is that young children and children with Autism, ADHD or undiagnosed difficulties couldn't pay attention to fully remote learning and the distance part of hybrid learning could not access or fully benefit the instruction. These students didn't progress or regressed in behavior or learning.
We got these students in-person instruction and related services like Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Speech and Language Services, Occupational Therapy (O/T).
We help get an appropriate education to mitigate lingering academic, social or emotoinal learning challenges.
Schools sometimes place students in programs they have or want, rather than what's appropriate for the student/your child.
We’ve secured a child's return to school in general education classes with just an aide and an IEP when the school removed him for months and insisted that he be placed in an out of District school.
We've secured in-District placements with an appropriate IEPs when the school wanted the student moved to an out of District school.
IEP’s often have inadequate transition programs (required for students starting in the school year where they reach 14 years old) from high school to adult life, including further education like college, employment, or independent living. Districts have an obligation to provide services, where appropriate, to age 21.
We’ve secured proper transition plans and private out of District transition placements for such students.
We've secured additional years in public and private school transition programs.
We’ve helped get Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) charges, out of school suspensions and in-school suspensions (detentions) against students and truancy charges are minimized, terminated or reversed.
We’ve also dealt effectively with students and parents who have been harassed, retaliated, intimidated or discriminated against by teachers and administration, including getting their children transferred to a different school.
Contact us to determine suitability.
Click or press to learn more about our process.
OUR SERVICES
OUR SERVICES
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Our services include:
Securing student records (e.g. under NJ Regulations, FERPA, OPRA).
Review and interpretation of student records including evaluations and plans (e.g. I&RS, BSI, 504, IHP, IEP report cards, disciplinary reports, standardized tests, medical, psychological assessments, transition plans)
Securing District and District-paid and/or parent-supplied Independent Evaluations (IEE’s) and other third party evaluations.
Getting your child eligible for special education ("classified"/eligible for an IEP), I&RS/RTI services, 504 accommodation, Home Instruction, or Section 192 (academic) /Section 193 (related) services in non-public schools.
Once eligible. getting your child an appropriate plan, e.g. 504, IEP, Intervention (I&RS/RTI/ASP), Transition, Safety, Health (IHP e.g. for medication and allergies), Behavior Intervention Programs (BIP), Section 192/193 service plans, ESY (Summer/Extended School Year) with:
In and Out of District public and private programs, including vocational schools
Placement in the least restrictive environment (LRE),
Special education including (e.g. general education, in-class resource (ICR), pull-out resource, supplemental, self-contained);
Related services (including aides/paraprofessionals, behaviorists/BCBAs, speech/occupational/physical therapy, transportation/bussing, parent training, nursing, consultations with private therapists and parents,
Specific, Meaningful, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Based (S.M.A.R.T.) Goals and Objectives,
Accommodations and Modifications including augmentative and assistive communication/ technology (AAC/AT)
Parent Communications including communication books, behavior data reviews.
Reviewing progress (or lack thereof) and determining the need for updates to one or more of the above plans.
Preparing or helping prepare, requesting or filing or participating in observations, formal requests, resolution meetings, mediations, due process, board of ed (including HIB), state (complaint investigations, Commissioner Complaints), US DOE or US DOJ OCR, ADA, Federal District Court, NJ LAD and OPRA complaints as required. *
Resolving truancy* and due process complaints against parents/guardians filed by the District to deny Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) requests, or refusing consent to evaluate.
Referrals to evaluators, teachers, agencies, tutors & attorneys where required.
Getting disciplinary actions including removals, suspensions or HIB (as perpetrator) charges shortened, reduced or reversed and/or the need for future disciplinary actions reduced.
Managing discrimination, harassment, intimidation and retaliation incuding HIB complaints under various laws
Developing and advocating common (systemic) parents concerns or issues through Superintendent’s and Boards of Education or helping with the formation or operation of parents groups (support, PTA/PTO, Special Education Parent Advisory Committees/Parent Teacher Groups (SEPAC’s, SEPTA’s, SEPTO’s).
* Some activities may require that we work with or refer you to an attorney or other experts.
Contact us to determine suitability.
Click or press to learn more about our process.
OUR PROCESS
OUR PROCESS
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Our Process
Our process is customized for your and your child’s situation. Key elements of a typical process are shown below.
We can do almost everything an special education attorney can do at a fraction of the price. However, we are non-attorney advocates. We advise and can represent you on most special education and related matters as permitted under NJ regulations. If needed will recommend attorneys for particular situations.
Introductory Meeting. This brief telephone or video meeting for parents/guardians helps us understand your child’s situation, explain and answer your questions about the process, fees, terms and our qualifications.
We both determine whether we are a mutual fit and we ask questions to start the intake.
There is no charge for brief introductory meetings with qualified parent(s)/guardians. If you are not qualified, we will generally refer you to others resources..
An introductory meeting is different from a consultation or an intake. WIthout an intake, no advocate can provide adequately informed advice except about certain matters like immediate deadlines, risks, and whether you need our services or another resource would be more appropriate. Services after introductory meeting, including intakes or consults, are available for a reasonable hourly fee.
We are professional advocates. If you cannot afford a professional, do not have agreement from the other parent about hiring and paying for a professional, or if you are looking for free advice, we understand. Please fully fill out the Contact Us form; based on this information, we will refer you to suitable resources.
Intake. In this phase, we request and review key documentation including your statement of your and your child issues, concerns, priorities and history. We analyze and share with you our recommendations on prioritized objetives, a strategy and high level approach to achieve the priorities. Once you agree with the above, we can move on to execution.
Depending on the complexity of your child's case, issues we find during the intake, records you provide, and other information that needs to be gathered from your school District, private providers, we may need to break the intake into phases. If so, we generally providepreliminary recommendations based on the initial intake and recommend an extended analysis.
Action Plans. Assuming you agree to use our services to execute the recommendations from the intake, we typically prepare a detailed action plan and estimate (for up to the next 30 days) for your review. The action plan might include drafting requests for the school district for records, gathering additional data, consulting with other providers, meeting with the school/District.
Action plans and estimates are typically updated at each phase of work, e.g. after an extended intake, meeting with a school, or response from the District to requests is received; the period cover by the prior action plan has passed, a significant change in the plan is required, or the balance on your account is or will be exhausted.
Requests and Responses. We draft or help you write requests and responses to the school or other providers, as appropriate, e.g. for records, evaluations, accommodations, services, goals and objectives, or placement, I&RS, 504 or IEP plans or updates, complaints (including due process and mediation), meeting requests or other actions.
Meetings: We prepare, brief you before and after, and assist or lead and represent you at all school/CST/District meetings, including I&RS, 504, IEP, evaluation, disciplinary, re-entry, transition, resolution, mediation, and settlement meetings. To eliminate travel time and save you money, we generally participate via audio or video conference.
The records gathering, analysis in the intake and preparation for a meeting is almost always required to increase the odds of success. We generally do NOT recommend our participation in a school meeting without this preparation. Meetings or drafting requests without adequate preparation is usually not good use of our time or your money.
Follow-up. Follow-up is critical to help ensure continued progress for your child. We check with you as needed, e.g. every semester or annually, to make sure your child is getting the services he or she needs to succeed.
DISTRICTS
DISTRICTS
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We serve students in all New Jersey K-12 and public pre-schools, including Private, Parochial and Charter Schools.
Remote audio and video conferencing is available to eliminate travel costs.
Your child may be eligible for accommodations and certain services even in private general education and/or parochial (e.g. religious/catholic) schools.
Zoom in (e.g. reverse pinch) to see your town/District or scoll down to the spreadsheet below to find your Public District by County, Town or Name.
List of Public School Districts Served
List of Public School Districts Served
NJ School Districts.xlsx CONTACT US NOW
CONTACT US NOW
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Customers seeking a paid professional can call or text (201) 374-0930.
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