IEP Advocacy and Dispute Resolution
IEP Advocacy
Special education law includes provisions for advocates to help parents represent their child’s rights. An advocate is someone who knows your child from another setting, and can participate knowledgeably in IEP planning, helping team members better understand your child and parental points of view. An advocate can be a friend, relative, private therapist, private tutor, or volunteer special education advisor. For a list of IEP advocacy agencies, click here.
Dispute Resolution
Sometimes during the course of IEP team meetings and discussions, a dispute arises over a school district's provision of a free and appropriate public education to a student. The National Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE) encourages the use of mediation and other collaborative strategies to resolve disagreements about special education and early intervention programs. Click here for more information.
Oklahoma Special Education Resolution Center
The Oklahoma Special Education Resolution Center (SERC) is located at the Oklahoma State University campus in Tulsa and is funded by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. SERC offers mediation services. Mediation in special education is a free and
effective process to assist parents and schools in resolving disagreements, at the earliest stage
possible, regarding the education program of a student with disabilities. This occurs at a nonadversarial meeting that is more structured than a parent-school conference but less formal than a due process hearing. For more information, click here.
Special education law includes provisions for advocates to help parents represent their child’s rights. An advocate is someone who knows your child from another setting, and can participate knowledgeably in IEP planning, helping team members better understand your child and parental points of view. An advocate can be a friend, relative, private therapist, private tutor, or volunteer special education advisor. For a list of IEP advocacy agencies, click here.
Dispute Resolution
Sometimes during the course of IEP team meetings and discussions, a dispute arises over a school district's provision of a free and appropriate public education to a student. The National Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE) encourages the use of mediation and other collaborative strategies to resolve disagreements about special education and early intervention programs. Click here for more information.
Oklahoma Special Education Resolution Center
The Oklahoma Special Education Resolution Center (SERC) is located at the Oklahoma State University campus in Tulsa and is funded by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. SERC offers mediation services. Mediation in special education is a free and
effective process to assist parents and schools in resolving disagreements, at the earliest stage
possible, regarding the education program of a student with disabilities. This occurs at a nonadversarial meeting that is more structured than a parent-school conference but less formal than a due process hearing. For more information, click here.
