In 2011 I wrote a pair of articles for the Newsline of the Federation for Children with Special Needs describing the legal framework and offering some practical guidelines for public school teachers who wish to advocate for children with disabilities within their districts.  Teachers in that role must wrestle with several sources of resistance and limitation, including their own natural reluctance to engage in potentially adversarial interactions with colleagues and/or administrators; the possibility of subtle or not-so-subtle disciplinary repercussions; and the inevitable extra time and energy it requires to advocate effectively – becoming familiar and comfortable with the applicable rights and procedures, educating oneself about alternative solutions, learning to work with diplomacy amid one’s peers, and so forth – none of which extra time and energy is likely to be compensated in one’s paycheck. Continue reading →