Reply to Am I naive to question if we need an educational advocate?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]No. The vast majority of families whose kids have IEPs do not hire anyone. My son is a senior in MCPS. He had an IEP from K-11th and then a 504 for this year. We never had to fight for any service or accommodation. 3 reasons:
1. His needs are obvious, and made more so by well written neurospychological reports from the reputable psychology group Stixrud, whose psychologists know how to write in MCPS-speak.
2. We asked for entirely reasonable accommodations, never for something outlandish.
3. We carefully targeted which MCPS schools: moved inbounds for Bethesda ES at first, then requested special placement in a program in the neighboring cluster for middle and high school. 
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Dying laughing over here.

It's much cheaper to hire a good advocate ($3K-$10K) than to MOVE INBOUNDS FOR BETHESDA ES!!!!

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PP you are laughing at. Money is not exactly the issue here, PP. It was more that we wanted the right schools for our child. We did not need to hire an advocate. But we are really happy with Bethesda-area schools. It was entirely worth it. And again, coming from Silver Spring, we would never have thought of moving were it not for the research we did with this kid, who is our eldest. But we're happy our younger children also benefit from these schools, even though having no special needs, they could have been successful anywhere.

I've been on DCUM for more than 10 years and I've always noticed the vocal minority that hates MCPS and insists everyone needs an advocate. I'm sorry you had such terrible experiences with this school system, but the reality is that very few families hire advocates. My friends with kids who have IEPs or 504s never hired any and still got what their kids needed. So please don't scare people into paying for things they might not need- otherwise you sound like you're the educational advocate looking for clients!
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Your unbelievable class privilege is showing here. Money is not the issue? Not if you can afford to buy inbounds in the best schools in the county! And are your friends with kids inbound at this school as well?

Look, I'm thrilled for you that it all worked out. I don't hate MCPS. My older two kids (NT) sailed through MCPS schools without a hitch and are in HS doing great.

My youngest needed help -- and the help offered was a weak 504. To get the IEP he needed we had to hire an EC b/c we didn't know what we didn't know! Because of the EC, my kid is in a special program that [b]I never knew existed [/b]and is thriving. I am watching one of my friend's kid struggle and fail at a Bethesda HS and the administration doing virtually nothing. The kid clearly needs an IEP, but mom doesn't want to spend the money and is trying to do it herself. The administration can be very good at stonewalling.

Again, happy for your good experience, but have the humility to see that is not the case for a lot of people.

For some of us, with more complex cases, we feel the school district would like us to quietly drop out and go private.

But I can't afford that. I could afford the $5k that got me a great IEP and into a good program.
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