Bonus Advocacy Post: How To Recruit Educational Support for Your Child with Learning Differences
In Part 1 of our “Advocacy” series, we discussed the many roles parents play in their children’s lives and introduced a new role, parent advocate. We examined our feelings about living with labels while also emphasizing the importance of educating yourself about your child’s diagnosis. Finally, we touched on how and when to disclose personal information.
In Part 2, we talked about the importance of community and helped you find ways to recruit support, including how to deal with naysayers, doubters, and critics by setting boundaries.
In Part 3, we explored the topic of Self-Advocacy. We focused on how to talk with your child about their diagnosis and discussed the importance of helping your child find their voice in speaking up for themselves.
Today in our “bonus post,” we share strategies for recruiting support from the education community for your child.
How to Recruit Educational Support
Even with homeschool families such as ours, there is a high likelihood that your child will learn from someone other than you during the course of their lifetime. This could be sports, music lessons, art classes, tutoring, homeschool co-op, or any other sort of extra-curricular activity. Your child may want to attend higher education, such as a trade school, community college, or university.
Whatever your particular situation, it is important that you learn how to advocate for your child so you can in turn teach your child how to advocate for themselves.
Homeschool or Private School. If you ARE your child’s teacher, CONGRATULATIONS! All you need is a WILLINGNESS to LEARN HOW to support your child at home. To learn more ways to implement accommodations and modifications in your homeschool, please check out some of our latest blog posts or visit our YouTube Channel where you’ll find playlists of videos discussing and demonstrating differentiated teaching techniques.
Here are some useful steps to follow:
Perhaps in your homeschool, you outsource some classes as we do. Or perhaps your child attends a public or private school and you are seeking support from your school? Intimidated? Or maybe you just simply don’t know where or how to begin.
- Reach out to your child’s Occupational and/or Physical Therapist. Ask him or her to provide you with a letter outlining your child’s diagnosis, individual learning challenges, and a list of a few simple interventions that may prove helpful in the classroom.
- Reach out to your child’s teacher(s). I usually prefer to do this before the school year begins. NOT on “Meet-the-Teacher” night, please. Your child’s new teacher has his or her head filled with an endless running log of “to-do” lists before the classroom doors are flung wide open for another fun-filled year. While he or she is genuinely excited to meet you and your child, you want an opportunity to have a brief one-on-one conversation with him or her about your child. Ask for an email address and begin a correspondence.
- Ask for a brief meeting in person. Provided we present ourselves as reasonable and rational adults, people generally warm to us in face-to-face meetings. It personalizes your experience, lets your teacher know you are an attentive parent, and demonstrates that you see yourself as a willing partner in your child’s education. In your email, share some background on your child, offer a brief explanation of your child’s diagnosis or disability, and ask if the teacher would be willing to take a moment and review the attached letter from your child’s OT. Attach the letter. Thank the teacher for his or her time. Be sure to leave a contact number and offer your time to answer any questions the teacher may have.
- Have reasonable expectations. When I tried this approach with our son’s kindergarten teacher, I was comforted by the wisdom and grace she used to reassure me. On our son’s first day of kindergarten, I was NOT a professional with years of counseling and public education experience under my belt. No ma’am. I was just another nervous mama handing over her beautiful little boy to kind strangers and trusting them to care for and nurture him as I would. (Translation: I was a hot mess but at least I waited until I was back in the car to ugly-cry.)
At our prescheduled meeting, this amazing seasoned teacher read through my letter thoroughly, smiled at me warmly, and gently pointed to the list of interventions provided asking, “These are good. Thank you for giving them to me. I think they will be really helpful,” followed quickly by, “Which ONE of these would you like me to implement?”
In that one human moment, my anxiety melted away and I understood what she was trying to say to me. I felt seen. I felt heard. It wasn’t even the first day of kindergarten and I was already trying to set up safety nets. I had no idea if my son would even NEED the list of interventions I had provided.
I exhaled. I had an ally. That was all I needed. I responded, “Honestly, I am not sure if you will need to use ANY of them. I just wanted the opportunity to let you know a little more about my child and provide you with some support should the need arise. For now, let’s just see how it goes WITHOUT the interventions.” This time, it was the teacher’s turn to exhale.
We were very fortunate. Since our son was attending kindergarten at a private school, the teacher was not obligated in any way to adhere to our requests. (The same would be true for a child attending public school without an IEP or 504 Plan on file). Our teacher was welcoming, warm and receptive.
As the kindergarten year progressed, my son did end up needing a few of the interventions on the list from time to time but certainly not daily. By far the greater success was I had an ally in that classroom which meant my son had an ally. The first step in encouraging advocacy is to gain an ally.
However, I must note our approach was key. Teachers are busy. The demands on their time with increasingly limited resources (most of which they pay for out of pocket on an already meager income) astounded me when I worked in public education but resonated more deeply with me as the homeschool mama of a child with learning differences. I feel we were successful in recruiting support with the old-fashioned adage, “You can lure more bees with honey than vinegar” approach. 😘
Public Education. If your child is attending public school, struggling, and currently not receiving services under IDEA (i.e., an IEP) or does not have a 504 Plan, reach out to your child’s teacher to express your concerns and provide information about your child’s diagnosis. In my experience, most teachers chose their profession because they genuinely LOVE children. Most go the “extra mile” to ensure their students’ success without even being asked. When our son was enrolled in kindergarten the year before we decided to homeschool, we asked our OT to provide us with a letter explaining our son’s diagnosis including easy-to-implement suggestions to help him be successful.
For Developmental Coordination Disorder, in particular, there is a useful resource available for free through the canchild.ca website. The M.A.T.C.H. for success flyer offers suggested classroom interventions for children with DCD at each grade level.
Coming Up
Looking for suggestions on how to help your child become a self-advocate? We will explore this topic more in future blog posts, and in interviews with professionals on our YouTube channel.
There is great comfort in community. Join us as we expand on our self-advocacy focus. In the next three-part series, we explore the why with “Ten Reasons Why You Should Teach Your Child to Self-Advocate” The following week we dive into the how with “Ten Ways to Teach Your Child to Self-Advocate”. Finally, we cover the what as we share our “Top Ten Resources for Teaching Self-Advocacy.”
For now, check out some tips given by Understood.com, a valuable resource for educating your child with special needs.
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Blessings,
Kimberly
IOH Mom
This website is not a professional counseling website and nothing here should be construed as professional counseling advice. Although Kimberly Bennett, LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor, she is not your counselor, and no counselor-client relationship is established unless she has signed an agreement with you. All information provided through this website is for informational and educational purposes only.This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure statement. Thanks for visiting!
