Advocating for Your Child and Family

This collection of short vignettes describe families’ experiences in Illinois early intervention. Readers can learn about the EI team, advocating for your child, and the importance of connecting with the right resources.

Describes important factors to consider when your child is participating in a childcare setting.

Describes the importance of working collaboratively with professionals while educating yourself and sharing your expertise on your child.

Describes the importance of taking care of yourself while being the best advocate for your child.

Describes four ways to advocate for your child during home-school interactions.

This book describes early intervention techniques and effective support strategies for professionals and Families. 

This book traces the advocacy journeys of 12 caregivers across a range of racial, ethnic, social, disability, economic, and family identities. The stories reflect the unique lives, histories, and needs of each family, as well as the different approaches they employ to meet the needs of their children.

This straightforward guide provides the essential information for parents and advocates to understand US law and get the right educational entitlements for a child with dyslexia. Using case studies and examples, this book demonstrates clearly how to apply the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to the unique requirements of a dyslexic child.

Written by a parent and special education attorney, this book provides information on eligibility, IEPs, 504 plans, documentation, mediation, due process, and advocacy.

This book is written for people with disabilities who want to develop advocacy skills for themselves and their peers or partners. With a minimum of jargon, this gives readers basic theories and practices of different types of advocacy, including campaign and citizen advocacy, crisis or intervention advocacy, volunteer and non-directed advocacy as well as tips on planning circles, health complaints advocacy and self-advocacy.

This book provides a framework for understanding and implementing the law as it applies to students with disabilities and their families.

Getting services for a child with behavioral health needs-from ADHD to autism to psychiatric and developmental problems-can be overwhelming. This is a step-by-step guide to working smarter with medical, behavioral health, and educational professionals.

This book shares how to be a more effective advocate for your own child.

This book includes eligibility rules and assessments; working with outside experts; developing your child’s ideal educational program; preparing for and attending IEP meetings, resolving disputes with school districts, and more.

A nationally recognized autism advocate provides step-by-step instructions to parents raising and advocating for a child with autism, and explains how to safeguard the rights of their special-needs children both in and out of school.

Children with special needs who succeed in school have one thing in common– their parents are passionate and effective advocates. Morin helps you learn how to evaluate, prepare, organize, and get quality services, no matter what your child’s disability.

This video discusses the importance of knowing your rights as a family in early intervention and beyond in order to advocate for your child & family. This is video 2 of a 5-part series co-sponsored by Early CHOICES, Family Matters, and the Illinois Early Intervention Clearinghouse.

Established in 1985, Equip for Equality is a nationally recognized, private, not-for-profit organization that serves as a legal advocate for people with disabilities and supports families in their efforts to advocate for their children with disabilities. Their Project LEAP (Launching Equity in Access to Preschool) provides families of children under age three with information about early intervention and advocacy services to help get started with EI.

Family Matters provides disability-related information, referrals, telephone consultation, parent trainings, a lending library, and more for families of students and adults with disabilities. Live and online conferences, workshops, and other events are available. Family Matters serves all Illinois counties except Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will.

Created by parents, professionals, and volunteers, FRCD seeks to improve services for all children with disabilities through parent training, special education rights seminars, and information assistance and support through telephone and mail requests. They also maintain an extensive list of Parent Support Groups

This parent-driven, non-profit organization supports families with children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing without a bias around communication modes or methodologies.

Our policy and advocacy work is deeply rooted in our home state of Illinois, where we seek to shape the state’s early childhood system through legislative, administrative and grassroots advocacy.

This article describes a study that explored the meaning and advocacy experiences of caregivers of infants and toddlers with delays or disabilities by interviewing family members who participate in early intervention.

This article demonstrates how the Early Intervention / Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE) Standards could help families know what to expect in EI/ECSE and support families as informed partners and advocates for their children.

This article provides information on both proactive and reactive advocacy, along with ways to advocate in an educational setting, a medical setting, and in general.

This short article describes different types of advocates and the role of advocates in supporting children with disabilities.

Educational Rights & Responsibilities is a guide to help understand Special Education in Illinois and the rights of families and children receiving services.