Anonymous wrote:Here the goals are written by the case carrier or the related services providers, depending on who will be implementing them.

How do they establish present levels when some of these people haven’t even met the child?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We paid $35,000 over 18 months and got no change in placement and nothing positive for our child. Lovely lawyer, but no impact.

I wish we had put that toward private school. Big regrets.

Wow. That is a crazy amount of money

Can you share who you used? That is insane and really that person should be embarrassed to have taken all that money if nothing changed.

If at some point it became obvious it was a losing case, the lawyer should have said so. But lawyers are paid for time and effort, not results. And we don't know if the PP was pushing to keep going.

Let’s be realistic here. If y out ever get into the situation where you are spending a lot of money, your chances of success are minimal. The schools almost always win. So right out of the gate, you already know that there’s a high probability that you will be throwing good money away.

This is not necessarily true at all. To be sure, there are proceedings that are stacked against parents, but that doesn't mean parents cannot get good results using an attorney. Sometimes it can be expensive, depending on how much time is involved.

Here the goals are written by the case carrier or the related services providers, depending on who will be implementing them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need an advocate, a lawyer, and a goal writer to get best results. If you’re missing any of those at the meeting it won’t be ideal.

I've never heard of a dedicated goal writer. Am advocate (and most sped lawyers) can write goals.

Some places I’ve lived these were more of a thing, especially popular for those first IEP meetings at age 3. I’ve almost always seen this in the context of a home based provider being the intended goal writer. They aren’t usually presented that way to the team, but that’s essentially why they’re there. They bring a knowledge of the child’s abilities to the table that an advocate and a lawyer just won’t have.

Anonymous wrote:You need an advocate, a lawyer, and a goal writer to get best results. If you’re missing any of those at the meeting it won’t be ideal.

I've never heard of a dedicated goal writer. Am advocate (and most sped lawyers) can write goals.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We paid $35,000 over 18 months and got no change in placement and nothing positive for our child. Lovely lawyer, but no impact.

I wish we had put that toward private school. Big regrets.

Wow. That is a crazy amount of money

Can you share who you used? That is insane and really that person should be embarrassed to have taken all that money if nothing changed.

If at some point it became obvious it was a losing case, the lawyer should have said so. But lawyers are paid for time and effort, not results. And we don't know if the PP was pushing to keep going.

Let’s be realistic here. If y out ever get into the situation where you are spending a lot of money, your chances of success are minimal. The schools almost always win. So right out of the gate, you already know that there’s a high probability that you will be throwing good money away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We paid $35,000 over 18 months and got no change in placement and nothing positive for our child. Lovely lawyer, but no impact.

I wish we had put that toward private school. Big regrets.

Wow. That is a crazy amount of money

Can you share who you used? That is insane and really that person should be embarrassed to have taken all that money if nothing changed.

If at some point it became obvious it was a losing case, the lawyer should have said so. But lawyers are paid for time and effort, not results. And we don't know if the PP was pushing to keep going.

Also sometimes a lawyer can do everything right, but the result doesn't go your way.

Yes, PP said the lawyer was lovely. Sounds like the money would have been better spent on private school, which sadly is often the case

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We paid $35,000 over 18 months and got no change in placement and nothing positive for our child. Lovely lawyer, but no impact.

I wish we had put that toward private school. Big regrets.

Wow. That is a crazy amount of money

Can you share who you used? That is insane and really that person should be embarrassed to have taken all that money if nothing changed.

If at some point it became obvious it was a losing case, the lawyer should have said so. But lawyers are paid for time and effort, not results. And we don't know if the PP was pushing to keep going.

Also sometimes a lawyer can do everything right, but the result doesn't go your way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We paid $35,000 over 18 months and got no change in placement and nothing positive for our child. Lovely lawyer, but no impact.

I wish we had put that toward private school. Big regrets.

Wow. That is a crazy amount of money

Can you share who you used? That is insane and really that person should be embarrassed to have taken all that money if nothing changed.

I wish.

You need an advocate, a lawyer, and a goal writer to get best results. If you’re missing any of those at the meeting it won’t be ideal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We paid $35,000 over 18 months and got no change in placement and nothing positive for our child. Lovely lawyer, but no impact.

I wish we had put that toward private school. Big regrets.

Wow. That is a crazy amount of money

Can you share who you used? That is insane and really that person should be embarrassed to have taken all that money if nothing changed.

If at some point it became obvious it was a losing case, the lawyer should have said so. But lawyers are paid for time and effort, not results. And we don't know if the PP was pushing to keep going.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI

https://www.riseeducationaladvocacy.com/blog/iep-special-education-attorney-advocate-coach

this is not accurate

signed,

a special ed attorney

This is OP
I've created a throw-away email account, "dcurbanThrowAWAY" at Gmail dot com. If you practice in Maryland, I would be grateful if you could reach out and let me know how to contact your office this week to setup a consultation.
Thank you!

I don't practice in Maryland, sorry. I post here occasionally to try to correct misinformation, not to get clients.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you want a lawyer or an advocate or an advocate that’s also a lawyer?

Probably need someone who is both

That’s going to be high end then, but the option I’d choose as well if you’re serious about getting things moving. They run $500-1000 per hour and usually have a 3-5k retainer. I’d avoid telling the school you’re hiring anyone for now, sometimes advocate/lawyers prefer to present themselves as advocates. Some don’t. So best to talk to them first and plan your strategy.

An attorney should always present themselves as an attorney.

There is no definition for an "advocate" so be very, very careful with hiring someone in this category. Anyone can call themselves an advocate.

Anonymous wrote:We paid $35,000 over 18 months and got no change in placement and nothing positive for our child. Lovely lawyer, but no impact.

I wish we had put that toward private school. Big regrets.

There is never any guarantee about results, unfortunately. I hope your attorney told you that upfront.

signed,

a special ed attorney

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We paid $35,000 over 18 months and got no change in placement and nothing positive for our child. Lovely lawyer, but no impact.

I wish we had put that toward private school. Big regrets.

Wow. That is a crazy amount of money

Can you share who you used? That is insane and really that person should be embarrassed to have taken all that money if nothing changed.