i am in the same position as u right now my son school are just ignoring it until hes therapist called and talked to the school conserler and she denyed saying that she wasent awhere of hes condition when she had talked to my husband about my son haveing to go to hes terapist cuz she wanted us to change him to there terapist but we said no thankyou cuz we were almost finish with hes sessions and she wanted to start all over with hes treatment but thanks to the therapist were almost going to our first iep meeting im sad to say that the schools just dont want to pay alittle more for there education

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My son is the same way. He is in 8th grade. His grades are not good and it is mainly because he doesn't get his homework done in time. Where did you find an avocate? I really want to get something together for him before he gets into High School next September. He is going to be in a Tech program that our High School provides. I know he is so smart but just doesn't think he is.

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My advocate just happens to be a family member who is a teacher. She worked at an 'alternative' program through our BOCES program in NY State. All her 'kids' were considered 'special ed' (said with a little laughter as well!) and had IEPs, special provisions, etc.

She knows the teacher side of it and what teachers can do to help students. I personally feel she is one heck of a teacher. Adjusts to the student and works with them. She has been tutoring my son with math for the past 4 months (integrated algebra - new math for 9th graders in NYS). His grade jumped 30-50 point spread mostly because of her tutoring and helping w/homework. The school could care less in my opinion.

Anyway, to the question of where to get an advocate. Seek out other parents (if you are involved with school and stuff), check local listings (even if you live in a town, go to the largest-closest city) for a Learning Disabled Center, see if there is a local ADD/ADHD meeting group nearby, and if you know a teacher that has had experience with being on the 'other' side of the table (teacher's side), get their help too. There are many things teachers can suggest that work wonders for these kids and they never do because of the school districts/systems, etc. Or they just don't know you or how much you want this! Teachers can be a big advantage.

Although when we went for CSE, my advocate didn't realize how hard it is for parents (across the table from district people) and how hard getting some basic items (like testing in a quiet room! and extended test time!) were. She was shocked that they made and treated parents with so much disdain and disrespect!

Stay strong, fight for what you want. Ask for Resource Room, extended test time, tutoring, Keep your son in classrooms, and not out of them. One of the things these kids need is to know how to interact with others, and if they are separated for instruction, they lose that.

A lot of the stuff I have added this year has been suggestions and infromation from my advocate. She's my step-mom by the way. Good luck. Get it done ASAP, your son will be considered too old and if NCLB goes away, so does some of the laws that can help our kids. Sections $300.000-end are some areas to find the laws that can help. Get to the actual information, not just the first 200 pages of suggested changes, etc. though. It can be quite confusing. Also, make sure you have major paper trails for your child. Keep what worked, what didn't, who helped, who didn't, what you want, dr. reports, meds check reports (I do one for every dr. visit.). Get your child's dr. on your side too. They can be a big help too.

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