By: Emerson Dickman, J.D.
Too often, advocacy is seen as a contest — parents versus the system. The primary goal of an advocate should be to develop an atmosphere of collaboration and open communication between the family and the school district. The purpose of an advocate is to inform and educate rather than to intimidate and litigate. Educational professionals should be treated with the courtesy and given the deference that their assumed dedication to the welfare of their students deserves. If one is treated with respect, one seeks to justify such respect.
Due process claims should be considered only as a last resort. Once a due process claim is initiated, additional issues are introduced, including the possibility of significant legal costs and an unfortunate battle of egos among the participants. The cause of the dispute, providing an appropriate education for the child, may become diluted when battle lines are drawn and the focus changes to winning instead doing what is right. The initiation of a due process claim concedes substantial if not total failure of the efforts of the advocate to communicate effectively.
The Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey has held that “the adversary nature of [due process] should yield to obtaining the right result for the child.” This perspective makes special education advocacy unique. The party with the greatest understanding of what will help the child is supposed to prevail; in other words, knowing the child is more important than knowing the law.
The best way to approach the development of an appropriate educational plan is to adhere to the three “P’s” of advocacy: profile, program, and placement. First, the learning profile of the child must be developed through evaluations, interviews, and observations. Each child’s learning profile is unique. Next, the program developed for the child through the Individualized Education Program (IEP) must conform to the strengths and weaknesses of this profile. Finally, an educational placement based on the least restrictive environment capable of implementing the program must be determined by the profile. In a broad sense, the three P’s of advocacy provides a scaffold for advocates to apply their knowledge and to formulate a strategy for obtaining appropriate special education services.
IDEA is based on a very basic premise: every child has the right to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE). However, what is educationally appropriate for one child may not be appropriate for another child. The courts have determined that “appropriate” means that the child must be able to benefit from the educational opportunities provided.
The debate often centers on what is meant by the word “benefit.” It is the intent of the IDEA that the benefit must be achieved within the area of the child’s deficit. For example, a child with dyslexia may not be receiving a benefit if he is provided access to content knowledge and not taught to read. Such benefit must not be trivial and must provide opportunities for more than minimal growth; educational benefit in the child’s area of deficit must be “meaningful.” Yet another subjective term has simply been added to the long chain of subjective terms (“appropriate,” “benefit,” and “meaningful”). To avoid getting lost in these terms, an advocate must provide a logical and cohesive rationale to support the goal being sought for the child; therefore, the efforts of the advocate must first and foremost focus on understanding the child.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Emerson Dickman is a past president of the International Dyslexia Association and a member of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities. For five years, he served as the Chairman of Disability Rights New Jersey, the Protection and Advocacy Agency for the State of New Jersey. The recipient of numerous honors, he has been an invited speaker at conferences in 23 states, Hong Kong, England, Brazil, India, and the Czech Republic. His legal practice has specialized in advocating for individuals with disabilities for more than 35 years (http://www.dickmanalliance.com/).
