If your child has an IEP or a 504 plan and you leave meetings feeling outnumbered, unheard, or unsure what you just agreed to — that is the problem I solve. I read the whole file, tell you plainly what it says, and help you ask for what your child actually needs, in writing.
Every price is published on this page. No retainers, no hourly surprises.
For twenty years I was the person on the other side of that table — writing the goals, running the case conference, sitting in the room where decisions were made before the parents arrived. I know which requests a district can genuinely refuse and which ones it cannot. That is what I bring with me now.
“Reading support” is not a program, and a goal that says a child “will improve fluency” cannot be enforced. I am Orton–Gillingham trained, so I can look at what is actually being taught, tell you whether it matches the need, and get a real program and measurable goals written into the plan.
The transition page is usually one page of boilerplate that could belong to any child in the building. It is supposed to be the map to what happens after high school. I have spent years building those pathways — with schools, agencies, and universities — and this is the work I care most about.
Most advocates ask you to call for a quote. I would rather you know the number now and decide whether it is worth it.
Where I work: in person throughout Hamilton and Boone County, Indiana, with travel included — and by video with families anywhere in the country, at the same price. IDEA is federal law, and the meeting works the same way on a screen.
Twenty minutes. You tell me what is happening, I tell you whether I am the right person and what it would cost. No documents reviewed, no obligation.
Up to three years of records and evaluations read closely, a written roadmap — what the file says, the three things that matter most, every goal tested, and what to send in what order with your state’s deadlines beside it — and a 30-minute call to walk through it. The $500 comes off any package you start within 60 days. The right starting point for most families, and the only way I quote a full case honestly.
For families who want to walk into the meeting prepared and run it themselves — or whose district will not admit an outside participant. Records reviewed, two preparation sessions, your parent concerns statement and every request letter drafted for you to send, the questions to ask in the order to ask them, and a same-day debrief with a follow-up letter afterwards. I do not attend the meeting; you do, and you are ready.
The full case package, delivered entirely by video: records reviewed, evaluation strategy, every letter drafted, a preparation session, and me with you at up to two meetings by video, with a written summary and follow-up letter and 90 days of email support. Video attendance depends on your district admitting me to the call, or on you connecting me from your own device — if neither is possible, the engagement becomes preparation, a written statement for the record and a same-day debrief, at the same fee.
Up to three years of records reviewed · evaluation strategy, including whether to request an independent evaluation at district expense · your parent concerns statement and every written request drafted for you to send · a preparation session before the meeting · me beside you at up to two case conferences (six meeting hours) · a written summary and follow-up letter afterwards · 90 days of email support · travel included anywhere in Hamilton and Boone County.
Records skim, one preparation call, and me at one case conference in person, with a short written summary. For families who need one meeting handled well, not a campaign.
For families I have already worked with: your annual review attended, one additional meeting, quarterly review of progress reports, and unlimited email through the school year.
If a case needs more than the package covers, additional hours are $175, billed in 15-minute increments — always against a written estimate you approve first. An additional case conference beyond the two included is $650. You will never receive an invoice you did not see coming.
What is not included: due process hearings, filing complaints on your behalf, negotiating or signing settlement agreements, legal advice of any kind, testing or diagnosis, and tutoring or instruction. I am not an attorney and I do not provide legal advice or legal representation in any state. If your situation needs a lawyer, I will say so early and help you find one licensed where you live.
Payment: half at signing, half before the first meeting. Payment plans available — ask. For comparison: a special education attorney in central Indiana generally starts at $250–$400 an hour on a retainer of $5,000 or more, and will usually not attend a routine annual review. My job is to make that unnecessary.
Twenty free minutes to hear what is happening and decide together whether I can help.
You sign a records release; I read everything and come back with a written roadmap.
We draft your concerns and requests, send them in your name, and rehearse the meeting.
I sit beside you, ask the questions, and follow up in writing so the promises are on record.
You attend every meeting and you make every decision. I never sign anything on your behalf, and I never speak for you without you in the room.
Three to five business days before the meeting, you send one email naming me as a person with knowledge and special expertise about your child, and asking that I be admitted to the meeting link. Federal law gives you the right to invite me; the format is up to the district, so we plan for both answers.
If the district hosts a video meeting, I join it. If the meeting is in person, you bring a phone or laptop and connect me from your own device. If neither is possible, the work converts to full preparation, a written statement filed into the record, and a same-day debrief and follow-up letter — at the same fee, and that is written into our agreement before you pay.
Districts often hand the proposed plan across the table at the end of the meeting. In Indiana you have ten instructional days to respond to a proposed IEP after the initial one, and it takes effect on the eleventh day unless you agree sooner. Other states have their own window — I will tell you yours before your meeting.
Take it home. Read it with me. Then decide.
I am a licensed special education teacher with more than twenty years in education — general education classrooms, special education classrooms, program design, and years of work helping students plan what comes after school. I have written the goals, run the case conferences, and sat in the meetings before the meeting.
I have also watched too many parents leave that room agreeing to something they did not understand, because everyone else at the table had read the file and they had not. Nobody explained the acronyms, nobody told them they could take the document home, and nobody was there whose only job was their child.
That is the job I do now. I live in Fishers with my family, I sit at tables across Hamilton and Boone County, and I work by video with families in the states where I taught and built programs — New Mexico, Texas, Utah — and anywhere else a parent needs someone who has read the whole file.
I would rather you use the free help and never need me.
“What none of the free options can be is yours. A facilitator and a mediator are neutral by design. That is the honest difference, and it is the only reason to pay anyone.”
The free routes will explain your rights. They will not read three years of records with you, draft the letter that puts a request on the record, or sit beside you as the person whose only loyalty is to your child.
No. I am an education professional and advocate, not a lawyer, and nothing I do is legal advice or legal representation. I cannot file a due process complaint for you, represent you at a hearing, or negotiate a settlement on your behalf. Federal and Indiana law let you bring a person with knowledge or special expertise about your child to a case conference — that is the role I fill. When a situation needs a lawyer, I say so early and help you find one.
Almost never, in my experience. Most meetings get calmer when someone in the room understands the process, because the conversation moves from feelings to data. I am not there to fight; I am there to make sure what your child needs ends up written down in an enforceable way.
In person: Fishers, Carmel, Westfield, Noblesville and Zionsville — Hamilton and Boone County, with travel included. Elsewhere in Indiana and anywhere else in the country, I work by video.
Yes. IDEA is a federal law, so the framework is the same in every state, and I have worked in schools in New Mexico, Texas and Indiana. Out-of-state families are served by video at the same prices, and I learn that state’s specific timelines and procedures before we start — Texas ARD committees, for example, work differently from Indiana case conferences. For anything that requires a lawyer, I will point you to counsel licensed in your own state.
Both, whichever helps most, and the price is the same either way. In person throughout Hamilton and Boone County with no travel charge; by video anywhere in the country. Federal law lets you invite anyone with knowledge or special expertise about your child, and the district cannot overrule your judgment about that — but it does control its own video link. So we ask in writing in advance, and if the meeting is in person you can simply connect me from your own phone or laptop.
A signed records release, the last two to three years of evaluations, plans and progress reports, and any emails that matter. If you do not have the records, I will help you request them — the school has to provide them.
No, and anyone who does is not being honest with you. What I can promise is that you will understand your child’s file, you will know what you are asking for and why, the requests will be in writing, and you will not be the least prepared person in the room.
Yes. Your family’s information is kept confidential and stored securely, and I never discuss or post about identifiable families. The one exception, which the law requires of every adult in Indiana, is that if I ever suspect a child is being abused or neglected I have to report it.
Tell me what is happening with your child and I will tell you honestly whether I can help, what I would do first, and what it would cost. If the answer is that you do not need me, I will tell you that too.