Advocate: you've probably heard
term before. But what does it mean to you?Advocating happens when you speak on behalf of someone else. You say for them what they can't say for themselves.
When you have a child who has been diagnosed with a learning disability, this is exactly what you must do for them. You must speak on their behalf. You know your child best of anybody, and you are best person to speak for them.
It sounds like a tall order, and it is. It is not always an easy thing to do. I know. I've been there. Even with a college degree and a special education classroom of my own, I often felt "less than" other members of PET (Pupil Evaluation Team), group of teachers and administrators that we met with to determine Michele’s program. Sometimes, I felt as if I was being punished for not doing enough for my daughter, since she didn't learn same way as other children. Granted, it wasn't professionals who made me feel that way, it was my own perspective. But, right or wrong, that’s way I felt.
As a teacher of students with LD, I sat through many PET meetings in which parents sat quietly looking down at their hands, feeling painfully inadequate. They didn't feel qualified enough to realize they had anything to add to proceedings. After all, they were sitting with people who had college degrees and years of experience and training in teaching. Many felt that, for some reason, they were to blame because their child had a learning disability. Others felt that because they had little or no college education, they weren't as smart as teachers.
That's not true. Parents can add more to PET meeting than anyone else.
You know your child better than anyone else. You know what works best with them. You are their parent and you know how they think. Those things qualify you to be able to speak on equal footing with anyone else in PET. If PET recommends that your child begin his homework right when he gets home from school, but you know that he needs a break to relax, then speak up. If he is really tired by end of school day, then teachers need to know that. If they recommend that your child do homework in total silence, but you know that listening to music helps your child to shut out rest of world so they can concentrate better, then tell team. All of that information helps them to work with your child in school as well. Don't be shy about letting them know what works.
