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In the Special Education Advocacy Center, advocates share ideas and tips with parents and teachers.

Ask the Advocates. Do you have questions about how to negotiate with the school for special education services? Start here.

Sue Whitney answers questions about reading, research based instruction, advocacy strategies, school improvement, and other issues in Doing Your Homework.

Pat Howey answers questions from parents in Ask the Advocate.

You will find hundreds of articles, cases, newsletters, and resources about special education law and advocacy in the Advocacy Libaries and Law Libraries.

If you have question, please visit our FAQs page. If you are looking for help (or a helper), please check the Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities.

Don't forget to subscribe to The Special Ed Advocate, our free online newsletter. You can read back issues in the Archives.

Get more advocacy tips on the Wrightslaw Way Blog. Join our online community as advocates, parents, and teachers ask and answer questions, provide suggestions, and offer advice on the Community HELPline. You'll also find a database of questions, asked and answered. Don't miss it! 

Tips for Good Advocates

10 Tips About Placement by Pat Howey, Advocate

10 Tips for a Successful School Year by Pat Howey, Advocate

10 Tips for Good Advocates by Pat Howey, Advocate

10 Tips for Ending the School Year by Pat Howey, Advocate

10 Tips for Schools on Avoiding Confrontation with Parents by Pat Howey

10 Tips for Parents: How to Listen to Your Inner Voice by Pat Howey

18 Tips on Filing Complaints by Pat Howey

10 Tips on How to Use IDEA to Improve Education for Children with Disabilities by Wayne Steedman, Esq.

14 Tips for Reviewing Your Child's Educational Records by Pat Howey

10 Tips from a Mom of a Child with ASD. This article includes helpful tips about coping with autism from the mother of a child with autism in a military family.

12 Rules for Writing Great Letters: Letter Writing Tips by Pam Wright. When you write letters to the school, you want to express concerns and educate your reader about your child’s problems.
This article will help you accomplish your objectives.

Starting a New IEP Advocacy Year: Back to School Tips by Lisa Krizman, Esq.

IEP Tips: What To Do at an IEP Meeting by Anne Treimanis, Esq. and Kathleen Whitbread, Ph.D.

IEP Tips: Taping Meetings

Tips for Selecting the Right School. If you plan to move or change schools, you need to get reliable information about the schools you are considering.

Sample of Advocacy Tips

Learning to Negotiate is Part of the Advocacy Process by Brice Palmer. This article includes rules, advocacy tactics and techniques. Read article

How to Use a Parent IEP Attachment by Judy Bonnell. When I had difficulty getting districts to take parent IEP attachments seriously, I turned to Prior Notice specifying that suggestions on the table must be accepted or rejected, and the IEP team must list the reasons for accepting or rejecting the proposal. I devised a simple form... "

Get Wrightslaw Books, Improve Your Local Library, Help Others. A mom gets Wrightslaw books, improves her local libary and helps other parents - with one simple strategy! 

Parents Must Understand the Playing Field by Pat Howey. Parents need to learn about trust, expectations, how to avoid power struggles, the parental role, and how to understand different perspectives. Read article.

How to Prepare for a Due Process Hearing by Brice Palmer. You need to present your case in an organized manner that gives the decision-maker enough good factual information to reach a conclusion in your favor."  Read Brice's advice 

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