{"id":892,"date":"2009-08-10T09:32:04","date_gmt":"2009-08-10T14:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=892"},"modified":"2009-08-10T09:33:31","modified_gmt":"2009-08-10T14:33:31","slug":"parent-advocate-youre-a-natural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/parent-advocate-youre-a-natural\/","title":{"rendered":"Parent Advocate? You&#8217;re a Natural!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Parent%20Advocate%3F%20You%27re%20a%20Natural%21\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"border: 1px solid black; margin: 5px;float:right\" title=\"Dad and son\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/nltr\/img\/families\/dad.young.son.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"126\" \/>Who is your child\u2019s first teacher? <strong>You are<\/strong>. Who is your child\u2019s most important role model? <strong>You are<\/strong>. Who is responsible for your child\u2019s welfare? <strong>You are<\/strong>. Who has your child\u2019s best interests at heart? <strong>You do<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>You know your child better than anyone else. The school is involved with your child for a few years. You are involved with your child for life. You should play an active role in planning your child\u2019s education.<\/p>\n<p>The law gives you the power to make educational decisions for your child. Do not be afraid to use your power. Use it wisely. A good education is the most important gift you can give to your child.<\/p>\n<p><strong>As the parent of a child with a disability, you have two goals:<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>1.<\/strong> To ensure that the school provides your child with a \u201cfree appropriate public education\u201d that includes \u201cspecially designed instruction . . . to meet the [child\u2019s] unique needs . . .\u201d (20 U.S.C. \u00a71401)<br \/>\n<strong>2. <\/strong>To build a healthy working relationship with the school.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Advocates Do.<\/strong> Special education advocates work to improve the lives of children with disabilities and their families.<\/p>\n<p>Are you ready to advocate?<\/p>\n<p>Here is a list of supplies that will help you get started:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Two 3-ring notebooks (one for your child\u2019s file; one for information about your child\u2019s disability and educational information)<\/li>\n<li> 3-hole punch<\/li>\n<li> Highlighters<\/li>\n<li> Package of sticky notes<\/li>\n<li> #10 Envelopes<\/li>\n<li> Stamps<\/li>\n<li> Calendar<\/li>\n<li> Journal<\/li>\n<li> Contact log<\/li>\n<li> Small tape recorder<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To learn more about what advocates do,  how to get started, and parents as experts check out the<span style=\"color: #000080;\"> <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fetaweb.com\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Fetaweb<\/span><\/a> at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fetaweb.com\/get_started.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">http:\/\/www.fetaweb.com.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who is your child\u2019s first teacher? You are. Who is your child\u2019s most important role model? You are. Who is responsible for your child\u2019s welfare? You are. Who has your <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/parent-advocate-youre-a-natural\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,150,136],"tags":[1291,1319],"class_list":["post-892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-letters","category-strategies","tag-advocacy","tag-strategies"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1082,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions\/1082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}