Advocate in Your Pocket: Free App to Support Inclusive Education

The thought of an IEP meeting fills many parents we know with dread and anxiety, particularly if they are in a district where inclusive education is not running very smoothly. Jillian, a very passionate and competent mom of a youngster who uses high tech AAC, was pretty blunt about it. “I’d rather have root canal,” she said, and the parents within earshot gave her a round of applause.

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So when we came across an app that provides support to families in this process, we had to check it. Developed at the Syracuse University School of Education, iAdvocate is an app designed to share information

that parents can use to support their request for inclusive education. It lists some of the common roadblocks that families sometimes encounter, such as:

• “Your child needs small group instruction with few distractions and that can only be provided in a separate classroom.”
• “Meeting your chid’s needs is taking away from the education of the other students in the classroom.
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• “We don’t have the resources to meet your child’s needs in the general education classroom.”
• “The general education teacher says he/she is not trained or willing to educate your child in the general education setting.”

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For each item, they provide a legally-grounded response as well as some strategies for addressing those types of sentiments. There are legal references and links to external resources such as articles, videos, and web sites.

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For IEP-seasoned families, this app may be a bit too general but most will find something of value in this free app.

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