ABC Educational Advocacy Services
A Better Chance
for your child's educational success.
If your child has either an identified, or unidentified learning difficulty, navigating access to educational support services is a complicated process. I am dedicated to assisting you in being your child's strongest advocate and cheerleader, in order to give your child A Better Chance for Optimal Educational Success.
About
Loretta has previously worked in the Public Education system for over 16 years. With a background in Occupational Therapy, she has a strong sense of commitment and passion for helping children with either identified, or unidentified learning difficulties, achieve optimal success in their educational environment. Loretta specializes in working with parents to ensure that their child is receiving a free and appropriate education, that is individualized to meet the unique educational needs of their child.
Services
With an initial 30 minute free consultation, Loretta is able to quickly assess what your needs may be, and how she can support you, as a parent, in navigating the path of ensuring that your child is receiving the appropriate level of support in his/her educational setting.
After this initial consultation, services are provided at an hourly rate, and the scope of services are individually designed to meet your specific needs.
FAQs
What Does an Educational Advocate Do?
An Educational Advocate provides services by reviewing the student's records, observing in the classroom, and consulting with your Child's Educators, to determine the child's areas of need. In working closely with you, as the child's parent, the Educational Advocate then works in cooperation with the appropriate School District staff, and other private agencies that may be involved, to ensure that your child has the appropriate program and services in place to have access to a Free and Appropriate Public Education. (FAPE).
Testimonials
"I have had the tremendous pleasure of working with Loretta as our Educational Advocate. In short, she is a powerhouse. Loretta has compassion, system insight and learning disability knowledge that makes her incredibly effective when making recommendations for better learning strategies within our school system. I will continue to partner with Loretta for as long as we feel the need for an advocate and I have already referred her to several other parents in our district."
"After struggling through a very difficult fourth-grade year for my son, and having a complete turnover in his IEP team, we turned to Loretta Shannon for help. She helped us navigate through the tumultuous sea of public school processes, of which I would have never been privy to. Loretta has vast experience in the district, first as an Occupational Therapist, and now, as an Educational Advocate. She approaches her work with kindess and compassion, making space for the roller-coaster of emotions that can go hand-in-hand with a struggling child, and, in-turn, a struggling parent. I felt very comfortable communicating with her regarding my goals and fears at every step along the way. Loretta makes herself very available, she is easy to communicate with, punctual, and extremely detail oriented and resourceful. I am so greatful that we now have better accommodations and goals in place for my son, which would never have transpired without her guidance. I only wish we found her sooner, and couldn't recommend a better advocate!"
"Loretta is outstanding in her field as a Child Educational Advocate. She knows how the school district systems work, and has an undeniable tenacity to get the job done. Because my husband and I both work full-time, we needed the necessary help to have Loretta do the leg work in order to get our son re-evaluated and a more effective/appropriate IEP put in place. As parents, we juggle many things for our kids, and I felt relief knowing that Loretta was working as an advocate for our son. There was a turnover of Educational Specialists at our school. Loretta focused in, and held the school accountable for staying on top of my son's needs. Loretta's timely requests and demands for assessments and meetings parlayed into having an IEP meeting within weeks, with all IEP members gathered together to work more cooperatively to address my son's educational needs. Loretta was able to translate the language from previous IEP reports. Sometimes, reading the IEP reports is not as transparent as you may think. With this understanding, we were able to go into our son's IEP meeting, ask the right questions, and attain the appropriate goals and services for our son. Overall, I highly recommend Loretta as an Educational Advocate. She is very professional, and has the perfect characteristic traits for advocacy, to make sure a child with specialized educational needs does not fall through the cracks."