TEACHER.
PARENT.
ADVOCATE.
For more than 20 years, I helped shape and implement IEPs as an educator. I also navigated the IEP process for 15 years as a parent. Now I sit beside you as your advocate.
Special Education & IEP Advocacy • Will County • DuPage County • Greater Chicago • Virtual Throughout Illinois
SOMETHING ISN’T
WORKING.
Your child is struggling, but the plan doesn’t seem to be changing.
The goals feel weak. Progress is unclear. Services or accommodations may not be meeting your child’s needs. And the evaluations, data and terminology can make it difficult to know what should happen next.
You know your child.
You shouldn’t also have to become a special education expert.
HOW I CAN HELP.
Every family’s situation is different. The goal is the same: understand what your child needs, know what the plan actually provides, and walk into the next conversation prepared.
IEP & 504 REVIEW
Know what you’re looking at.
A careful review of your child’s IEP or 504 Plan to identify concerns, questions and areas that may need closer attention.
MEETING ADVOCACY
Don’t sit at the table alone.
Support before and during your IEP or 504 meeting to help keep the conversation focused, ask the right questions and advocate for your child’s needs.
MEETING PREPARATION
Walk in prepared.
Understand the issues, organize your concerns and develop the questions and priorities that matter before the meeting begins.
ONGOING ADVOCACY
Some situations don’t end with one meeting.
Ongoing guidance for families navigating evaluations, eligibility, services, accommodations, progress concerns and other special education issues.
TWO SIDES OF
THE TABLE.
Nicole knows the IEP process from both sides of the table.
For more than 20 years as a special education teacher, she helped develop and implement IEPs, write goals, monitor progress and participate in the meetings where decisions about students were made.
For 15 years, she also experienced that process as a parent. Her son entered early intervention at age three and had an IEP throughout his school years until graduating from high school at 18.
Those experiences give Nicole a perspective that is difficult to learn from a textbook. She understands how schools approach the process. She also understands what it feels like to be the parent sitting across the table.
She knows when collaboration can solve the problem. And she knows when it’s time to push.
That perspective is at the heart of Ascend Student Advocacy.
HOW IT WORKS.
01
TELL US WHAT’S HAPPENING
Share what’s concerning you and where things seem to be getting stuck.
03
BUILD A PLAN
Clarify your priorities, develop the right questions and decide what needs to happen next.
02
UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION
Nicole reviews the information, identifies the important issues and helps make sense of what the school is proposing.
04
TAKE YOUR SEAT WITH CONFIDENCE
Walk into the conversation prepared, informed and ready to advocate for your child.
YOU KNOW
YOUR CHILD.
Nicole knows the system.
Effective advocacy doesn’t mean turning every disagreement into a battle. It means understanding the plan, understanding the process, asking the right questions and knowing when to push for something different.
Nicole’s approach is collaborative whenever possible, direct when necessary and always focused on what the student needs.
Collaborative when possible. Firm when necessary. Always focused on the student.
SERVING FAMILIES
ACROSS ILLINOIS.
Local experience. Statewide availability.
Ascend Student Advocacy works with families throughout Will County, DuPage County and the greater Chicago area, with virtual advocacy and consultation available throughout Illinois.
Will County • DuPage County • Greater Chicago • Virtual Throughout Illinois
READY TO TAKE
THE NEXT STEP?
You don’t have to figure this out alone. Start by telling Nicole what’s happening.
630.286.9589 • nikki@ascendstudentadvocacy.com