#166: What Does An Advocate Do? A Conversation with April Rehrig

Do you hear the word parent advocate and immediately anticipate a contentious IEP meeting with an US vs THEM mentality? It doesn’t have to be that way. April Rehrig is an advocate with over 20 years of experience as a school psychologist, teacher, and parent in the public school system.

In our conversations, April explains how her philosophy is about reaching across the table to work together and resolve concerns. She is a virtual advocate working with clients across the country and offering an embedded coaching model with on-demand online courses, letter templates, and parent training. This model goes beyond advocacy and helps parents learn and understand how they can themselves advocate for their child.

Not everyone can afford an advocate, April affirms, which is one reason she provides coaching and training to empower parents for future IEP meetings. Most advocates are fee-based, but you can also find low-cost and sliding-scale options too. She shares some great insight when it comes to looking for an advocate, like understanding the difference between advocates, attorneys, and coaches. It’s important to know what you need and want with this support. April provides examples of questions to be sure to ask when finding the right fit.

There is a lot of value for parents and families as well as provider teams when it comes to providing advocacy support, especially when the goal for all is positivity and collaboration. If you like this episode and want to see more of this type of content, be sure to rate and review on Apple Podcasts.

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What’s Inside:

• The value an advocate can bring to an IEP meeting.
• How to resolve core concerns of the parents.
• What’s the difference between an advocate, attorney, or coach?
• How to find an advocate near you.

Mentioned In This Episode:
ABA SPEECH Connection Membership
Rise Educational Advocacy
Join the bootcamp here