Does Your Child Need Help In School?

Keith Wisner, Boulder, CO said:

"My wife and I would like to express our thanks and appreciation for the work Ailsa Wonnacott has done on behalf of our 16 year old son. Our son is both bipolar and severely ADHD. Both conditions have created big social and academic challenges for him in high school. But, in consultation with Ailsa at our home and on the phone, and with her participation in our latest meeting at the school, we are very happy with the direction we are going.

Ailsa is knowledgeable in mental health issues, school district matters, and the rights and needs of people with disabilities. She is a great advocate for our son. She is professional and is empathetic to the challenges he faces. I wish we had met her a long time ago, but now that we have, we are happy to have her in our support network.

I couldn't recommend Ailsa more highly."

Brandi Creason, Los Angeles, CA said:

"When you finally do get the confirmation that your 3 year old son is having a difficult time communicating and being understood, it is heartbreaking. Then you have to deal with the school.

I was overwhelmed and searched locally for help, but had little success. I called a friend 1000 miles away, and she gave me an advocate’s phone number. The advocate, Bev Jones, shared a ton of information, plus gave me a step-by-step plan of things to do to get the school district to listen, provide evaluations, and then give my son help. I decided to go to the meeting by myself to get the testing results. But I felt lost and outnumbered, and walked out crying. I called Bev again, and she suggested that I request another meeting; she would join by phone.

The next meeting was better, mostly because Bev was so helpful. She knew all the terminology and explained everything in detail. Suddenly, the team decided they needed an administrator to approve or deny the services we requested.

At the third meeting, which Bev attended by videoconference, we requested Extended School Year (ESY) therapy services. The district administrator stated that ESY was not a service that was provided in California. Bev politely read from the federal rulings regarding ESY and mentioned that any public school district nationwide that receives federal funds is subject to these rules. The administrator grew quite upset and stopped the meeting, saying that I would be notified of their decision later on. Bev told me not to worry and a week later, I received a call ― all the services were granted for the school year and the extended school year!

Since that time, I have learned much about being a good advocate for my child. Nonetheless, I have always had Bev attend the annual IEP meetings, either via teleconference or video conference.

My son is now in second grade and is doing grade level work with lots of help and services…thanks to an advocate!"

Susan Williams, Boulder, CO said:

"The difference between our son's first and second initial special education eligibility meetings was like night and day. At the first meeting, it was as if we walked into a time warp and had no idea what was going to happen. My gut feeling was that what they were saying about our child didn't totally make sense. We had no idea what the testing meant or what had to be done to help him. They kept telling us what we should do and insisting that we sign even though we had no idea what we were signing, and we didn't understand about his ability and his disability. I did some research on the internet, but I just couldn't learn it fast enough. It was a whole new field of study!

The advocate we found between the meetings, explained everything to us in language we could understand, analyzed the actual testing and the IEP (Individual Education Plan) document, asked questions, and offered solutions. We knew nothing about reading programs, but she convinced the school (we're still not sure quite how she did this) to use one of the major research-based reading programs to teach him. She gave us a plan to follow, got us accountability from the school, and got our son the instruction he needed. She also encouraged us to find a dyslexia specialist to help him outside of school. She is a walking encyclopedia and has given us so many resources!

We still bring her with us to meetings although we now feel like valued members of our son’s team; she can talk that same language the school folks do and gets things we (and sometimes the staff) hadn't even thought of into place. She helps to make sure everyone - teachers, tutors, therapists - and everything is coordinated. If snags occur, she knows who to call and gets a plan into action. Had we not found this wonderful advocate, no doubt our son would still not be able to read or do math. She is truly a godsend.”