Episode 26: When is it time to Hire A Special Education Lawyer? With Julie Carter from Julie Carter Law
Join me in my conversation with Julie Carter from www.JulieCarterLaw.com to discuss what attorneys provide, when it's time to get one, and how it can help you in your advocacy role! Shownotes: www.parentfriendlyot.com/podcast Free 4-part Training on Intro to the Eligibility, 504, and IEP Process: join the group Elevate Your Advocacy Insiders
***Nothing Julie or Beth states here is considered legal advice and is presented here for general information only. If you need legal advice, please consult your attorney directly.***
How to Contact Julie Carter:
Instagram: instagram.com/JulieCarterLaw
Website: www.JulieCarterLaw.com
Resources Julie Mentions:
Pro-bono and disability rights advocacy for each state: www.NDRN.org
Directory of attorneys by state: COPAA.org
Wrights Law’s directory of services: YellowpagesforKids.org
Episode 26- When is it time to hire a special education lawyer? With Julie Carter - 2:2:22, 12.43 PM.mp3
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:00:00] If you have ever had questions about special education lawyers, like if it’s time for you to ask for one or what services they actually provide, you do not want to miss this episode because I have Julie Carter from Julie Carter Law on the podcast today, and I am so excited to bring you our conversation. It’s so incredibly helpful. You are going to love it. Stick with me.
Beth (intro) [00:00:26] Hey there, and welcome to the Elevate Your Advocacy Podcast. I’m Beth Liesenfeld, an occupational therapist who has participated in over 400 IEP and 504 meetings, and I’m on a mission to demystify everything about the IEP process at ParentFriendlyOT, We are passionate about bringing parents factual information so they can make the best decision for their children in their family. Expect to actionable strategies to build understanding, communication and advocacy skills so you can get the best for your child from your IEP team. We strive to help create the ideal situation for your child, but also keep it real that you got to work with the school system and the school team that you have right now. Find show notes with transcripts of interviews, links to freebie resources and more information about our online course at www.parentfriendlyot.com/podcast . Just a reminder that while I occasionally have lawyers on the show, I am not a lawyer myself and I don’t give legal advice on the podcast. Now let’s get into today’s episode.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:01:29] Hey, there I am so excited to introduce you to Julie Carter from Julie Carter Law and Julie Carter. I actually found on Instagram I’ve been following her for a while and she is amazingly parent friendly, so I definitely want you guys to go over to Instagram if you’re an Instagrammer and to follow her at Julie Carter Law and you will see why after you listen to this conversation now. Julie Carter is an attorney in Alabama, but her information is so relevant to anybody all over the U.S. She’s talking about some basic information about how attorneys work and what that payment for them looks like and all of the different levels of services. I’m so excited to introduce you to Julie Carter. I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:02:22] Hello, Julie. Welcome to the podcast, I’m so excited that you’re here.
Julie Carter [00:02:27] Hi, thank you. I’m excited to be here.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:02:29] So why don’t you just fair? Share a little bit about what you do and how you got into what you specialize in.
Julie Carter [00:02:40] OK. I am an attorney. I mainly practice special education law, education, rights law, disability rights law. That’s where my focus is. I got into the world of education. When I was getting my master’s degree, I taught at the college level and taught middle and high school for a brief stint before I went to law school and then in law school I worked for a disability rights organization. Then it sort of took a left turn. And for a while I practiced real estate law, primarily at a big firm for big clients, big companies building big hours and in the middle of that process, I became a parent through kinship and family foster, and through my role as a parent, I got reintroduced to the world of education and education rights. So the first time one of my children was evaluated, he got denied. And off we go. So I got back into this world and dove headfirst. Eventually, I’m practicing real estate law by day and friends are reaching out to me and then friends of friends. And that wasn’t my area of practice, so I decided to make it so. And here we are now. That’s just what I do. I started my own firm, and that’s where I focus.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:04:11] And I feel like, how long have you had your own practice specializing in this then?
Julie Carter [00:04:16] So having to think back, I spent maybe a year and a half that I’ve been out of my own. With my current firm, yeah, yeah.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:04:27] Because I think I I think when I started my business, you came up on Instagram as like a recommended person to follow and I was like, Yeah, sure, I’ll follow her and I have learned so much from just your Instagram page and what you’ve shared there, and you’ve had a couple really cool posts about kind of reframing some disability stuff. So I highly recommend following you on Instagram because I love seeing what you post. It’s amazing.
Julie Carter [00:04:54] Well, ditto. Thank you so much.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:04:56] Now what are the different ways that you serve your clients? Because I think I didn’t realize until I started being in the schools that it’s not just about kind of failing due process and like the big, contentious things that you can have, like consults with a lawyer without kind of going all in with the lawyer, and you can benefit from that. So kind of explain the different ways that you help parents.
Julie Carter [00:05:23] Definitely. So consults and not showing up in my lawyer suit is a huge chunk of what I do. Now, I throw on the lawyers suit when it’s time to file for due process, when a child has been restrained or secluded, when there is high tensions. The lawyer, Sue comes on when we’re going to manifestation, determination, something like that. But before all of that happens. An attorney is super helpful to guide parents, so I do IEP reviews. I do consultations over Zoom, in person. I do parent coaching, informing parents of what their rights are. Parents and caregivers. Here’s what you can expect. Yeah, you’re correct here. You’re not you’re being gaslighted a little, you know, when a parent feels confused, gaslighted, misled when they’re not sure what their child needs, but they know they need something different. And they’re not sure where to go from there. That’s when an attorney can really be helpful and say yes, here’s what your rights are, but also. You’re correct, what they’re saying here is not necessarily it doesn’t have to be the case, you know, and inform and guide along the way.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:06:52] I think that’s awesome to know that you can kind of be behind the scenes because they do, and I think we’re going to talk about this in a little bit. Once a lawyer kind of comes into the picture and the school team knows that there’s a lawyer involved that can be an awesome thing, but it can also kind of disrupt a relationship between the parents in the school, too. So we’ll talk about that in a little bit, but it’s nice to know that like parents can go and get a consult and kind of get a behind the scenes person on their side to look at their stuff and hear their story and kind of get some advice that way from somebody who definitely knows the law and their rights.
Julie Carter [00:07:30] Definitely. That’s a huge part of what I do. One of my services is sort of an initial consultation and document review together, and it can take, you know, a few hours of document review and a meeting generally fairly affordable. And it’s sort of where you stand what? Issues, I see what might help your child better, how that IEP can be revised. What questions do you have? You know, where do you feel misled or confused and where to go from there? What to ask for and how to ask for it?
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:08:10] Yes, that’s such an important thing, too
Julie Carter [00:08:16] That’s what parents need help with.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:08:16] Mm-Hmm. Absolutely.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:08:19] Now what you’re saying with this lake console kind of piece, I see a lot of advocates doing so maybe you can tell us.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:08:27] What is the difference between hiring a lawyer and hiring an advocate?
Julie Carter [00:08:35] So that’s a great question. The advocate can sometimes feel less contentious, I think, to the school. But it also depends on what role of the attorney is and how they’re involved and advocate what can do a consultation like I discussed that I do and advocate cannot give legal advice and cannot represent you in a legal proceeding. And there’s no training required necessarily there’s no credential to be an advocate. So when hiring an advocate? You don’t have. You know, advocate degree or something like that when you have an attorney, you know, they have a law degree. Now that’s not to say you should go hire a construction lawyer to to represent you in due process hearing. Don’t do that. But a construction lawyer wouldn’t do that. The difference is. Whether it’s whether they’re allowed to provide legal advice or not. And a lot of education rights attorneys got into this through their role as parents. So they’re going to they’re going to get it. They’re going to have ideas and information about how to get your child what they need, but also about what they might need. Some education advocates have an education background, so there are. As someone local near me who has a master’s degree in education, is a former special education teacher and who has a lot of experience with a particular disability. And so. When it comes to consulting on how what that IEP might need to get that student, what they need. There may be a specialist who would be, you know, really particularly helpful if you don’t have a legal issue, really what you need is what does my child need here? Like what? Does you know what, this diagnosis, how do we help them make progress? We don’t know how to do that yet. So when the school doesn’t have answers for that, then there may be an educational specialist who would be a really great fit.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:11:07] Yeah, I agree, I think, you know, as I see a ton of advocates like popping up on my Instagram and, you know, all of the over the place, I think there’s probably a bigger process for picking an advocate like you said, like if somebody is specializing in a specific diagnosis or I’ve seen that even people kind of specialize in one district or that kind of thing because I just don’t think they necessarily have like the breadth of knowledge that a lawyer does. And like you said, like, sometimes it’ll be a parent turn to advocate, which is really cool because they get that perspective of being a parent. But then sometimes they don’t necessarily understand the school or like that process as much as well. So I think there’s a bigger interview process that happens with the advocate versus the lawyer, right?
Julie Carter [00:11:59] I agree. And I think to some extent, hiring an attorney, if it’s time to get contentious a little bit or to maybe like get somebody to sit up and pay attention, an attorney comes with the potential through due process or something like that of an award of attorneys fees that then the district would need to pay. Now, some districts have funds and things to set up set up for that. But. Though we may have to pay attorney’s fees or this is a lawyer and I need to pay better attention factor. Can play well for a parent at times when somebody does need to setup, sit up and pay attention and no one’s listening. Sometimes I’ve seen where an advocate gets say, OK, here’s an advocate, and they’re telling us, we want X, Y and Z. OK, we’re going to come and you show up at an IEP meeting with an advocate. They’re not. They’re probably not going to be there, or they’re less likely to bring their target to school, show up with an attorney on an IP meeting. They’re going to bring their attorney.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:13:02] So I see a lot of kind of posts on Facebook groups and kind of what I’m hearing is that a lot of times parents can be frustrated with their team or with the process or what’s happening? And from my experience of just being on a school team, you know, I can help sometimes and say, OK, like in general about this, this is the process. And then sometimes there’s a post that I’m like, Oh my gosh, you need an advocate or a lawyer. Like right now, like nobody, you shouldn’t be asking other parents for this advice. You shouldn’t be asking, like, I’m not even qualified to answer those questions for you. And there’s definitely a fine line. So can you tell us a little bit about when it when is it time to get a lawyer consult? Like when does it cross that line and to you? You need some expert help. Like, what are the common things that you see coming up in your sessions with parents? Things like that.
Julie Carter [00:14:02] So. Multiple questions. Let me see if I can pick one. Some of the main issues that come up are. I’m hearing this from the school. It doesn’t sound right based on my Google, can you help me figure out what my kid needs, you know? Something just as basic as that. Issues come up like. Students are not being given what’s actually in the IEP or that what’s in the IEP is not really working, so. A lot of the time I see maybe a student who’s disability eligibility category is OHI, other health impairments, though, based on maybe ADHD and a lot of the time, the accommodations for that look exactly the same every single time, but ADHD looks different in each child or any student. Or in each adult! And so not every accommodation fits each kid, everything needs to be individualized for an individualized education plan, and a lot of the time it’s not, and the parents are wondering where do we go from here? How else? What else can we do? This is all that’s been offered, and I don’t know how else to ask for something better, more, different. You know, it goes from questions like that to OK, my child’s been denied services, my child has been denied an IEP, but they got it a 504 and I believe they need specialized instruction. Everything from that to restraint and seclusion to procedural issues. It all comes to my desk.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:16:01] I mean, that’s that’s really good, and I feel like ADHD, especially is probably one that comes through your desk a lot because it’s it kind of walks that line of specialized instruction, like if they need help because in my opinion, the school setting isn’t set up for neurodivergent learners, especially for ADHDers. And so yes, they need some help, but everybody is kind of confused on what kind of help to give them for sure, right?
Julie Carter [00:16:35] I get a lot as well of questions about autistic students who need assistance or students who have a disability, and there’s behaviors involved and maybe the child is getting punishments, suspension, that kind of thing, and that’s coming up. And the parents need help navigating that. What are our next steps, what are our rights? Where do we go from here? Is. A very common question. And one of the most common refrains is. “I wish we would have called about this earlier.” So once it gets that serious, you know, I put on the lawsuit, but the business casual side of things is also one of my favorite parts of what I do.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:17:26] And then hopefully you can head it off before it gets to be this big lawyer’s suit situation.
Julie Carter [00:17:32] Right, exactly.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:17:34] So do you have any advice or like guidelines on? When is it time to seek out a lawyer?
Julie Carter [00:17:43] I think my advice would be when you feel lost, when you feel confused when he feel gaslighted, when you think you might be being misled when your child’s not making progress, when they’re not making a progress that you think they should be making when you’re not getting any data that shows whether they’re making progress or not, when the IEP is not a good fit, when they’ve been denied services. All of that. Is a good reason to call an attorney. An attorney can do a lot for you in a short amount of time to provide information about where you are. Where you could be and how to get there.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:18:26] I love that an empowered parent.
Julie Carter [00:18:30] As a parent that’s more confident at the IEP table, a parent who doesn’t feel that I’m hot inside and I’m nervous and I feel like I might cry at the IEP table. Once you’re empowered with the information that you need to advocate for your child. You can go into that meeting as the full member of the team that you have every right to be. And so my favorite part of my job is getting a parent to that point where they get to show up at that IEP table and collaborate and know what to ask for and feel empowered to do that.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:19:06] Oh, I love that you said a couple of things that I love. I love that the lawyer can help you out in a short amount of time because I think parents, you know, when you’re in it and you’re a parent as well, like when you’re in it and you’re in the day to day and your life is sometimes just full of craziness and running around. I think you lose sight that eventually those school services are going to stop. They’re eventually going to age out of the system. And so taking advantage of the services that you have while they are in school, I think is just such a good reminder to take the long view. And gosh, if you have an expert coming in to help you when they’re younger, you’re just going to get that much further by the end of school, whether that means, you know, accommodations or assistive technology help or whatever that means. I think it’s so helpful to get there as quick as you can and understand the process as quick as you can. And the other thing that I love is that you said confident parents coming to the meeting, and I love that because I try to focus my business on, you know, before things get contentious. What can you do to understand the process and the IEP sections and how are they all supposed to relate together? But I’m definitely not a lawyer. And so when those things get more complicated, I love that you’re into just educating the parent and not just necessarily fixing what is happening right now. I mean, that’s what you’re here for, but educating that parent along the way to make them more confident. So in the future, if something comes up, they will have those skills to advocate. It’s awesome. I love it. So what is the best way for parents to find a lawyer that’s going to suit their needs?
Julie Carter [00:20:56] So there are a couple of directories. There’s some organizations online. One is Copa. It’s COPAA.org . It’s the council of parent advocates and attorneys, and they have a directory that lists attorneys for each state. And a lot of helpful information can be found there. Not just attorneys, but lots of helpful information. And then there’s rights law that has a directory. I’m trying to think what it’s called Yellow Pages for Kids, I think yellowpagesforkids.com I believe, is that what is what their directory is, and it also lists attorneys along with a lot of other service providers for children with disabilities.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:21:49] Cool. I will link to those in the show notes. I think I’ve heard of Wrights Law because they have a lot of really good articles that I think I’ve seen those articles come out, but I didn’t know that they had a directory. That’s awesome.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:22:01] So I know that you can’t speak to lawyers rates. We actually had a discussion about this before we hit record. And gosh, there’s so many different components to lawyers rates and the cost of having a lawyer. But I wonder if you could give us just a really big ballpark estimate of what parents are looking at if they’re looking at having help from an attorney?
Julie Carter [00:22:25] Right. So, yeah, it varies widely based on where you are, what the market is. So from state to state, it’ll vary from city to city, town or country at all will play into how much it costs. I will say most most attorneys feel pretty comfortable saying that charge by the hour. So it’s an hourly rate broken down and bits of an hour, but they charge by the hour. It will vary by attorney how much they charge by the hour. Some attorneys offer a free consultation, some charge for the initial consultation. That will generally depend on what type of service you need. Or, you know, are you going to go to due process? All of those things play into what the fees are going to be. If you are looking at an IEP review and document review, you don’t expect to spend thousands for, you know, that sort of initial guidance, coaching, looking through documents, that sort of thing is not going to. Break most people’s banks or everybody’s bank now. That’s not to say that once you get to due process, it’s not going to cost more. It will because more hours. But when a phone call to an attorney to ask about their rates doesn’t cost anything. Or an email. So it’s always worth reaching out when you’re feeling that confusion and that what do I do for my child? It’s worth reaching out because that email? Doesn’t cost anything.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:24:08] That’s awesome to know, are there anything? Gosh, is there anything else that parents should ask in that same email or phone call where they’re asking about rates?
Julie Carter [00:24:21] I get emails with tons of information and with very little information. It’s important to know that you haven’t formed an attorney client relationship until you’ve actually hired that attorney, so there’s no need to info dump necessarily. OK. When you do an initial contact, they’ll need a bit of information. You may speak with an assistant, a paralegal, something like that. They’ll have usually an intake form with a few basic introductory questions. So just say I need help with my child’s education because they’ve been denied or because, you know, just a very basic information is about all. The initial email would need to cover.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:25:07] And then is there certain things that they should look for in hiring a lawyer in particular, like I’m thinking about, you know, if somebody charges more per hour than somebody else? Is there some kind of qualification or experience that allows them to charge more? Or is it really just that random?
Julie Carter [00:25:26] I mean, it doesn’t vary by the thousands or hundreds of dollars in one, you know, market area.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:25:33] I think that gives parents at least an idea that, you know, I definitely had that perception of like, Oh, if you’re getting a lawyer involved, you’re going to be in it thousands. So it’s good to know that there’s some gradient there and that you can ask those questions before you even get into the actual consult and you can know what you’re in for, which is really important.
Julie Carter [00:25:59] It’s definitely OK to ask, how much do you charge? How does your rate work and get an idea ahead of time. Now it depends what you need. Whether you need to go to due process and the attorney might not know that until after the initial document review and consultation. But that in and of itself should cost an affordable amount for lots of people or, well, that in and of itself, the initial consultation should. Be. Not in the thousands, like you said.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:26:39] Yes, for sure. So I want to transition a little bit and just talking about that relationship with the team a little bit. And like I said before, I really love encouraging parents to have a really good relationship with the case manager and with the administration to just have as much communication as possible and as much respect in that relationship both ways. Are there things that you see like? It can definitely be a good thing to bring a lawyer into the situation, especially when you feel gaslighted or misled like you’re talking about. But is there a way to kind of preserve that relationship even when you have a lawyer involved? Are there, you know, different things that you coach your parents on after you’re kind of done with the situation that you were helping with?
Julie Carter [00:27:31] I mean, yes, when an attorney gets involved, it does maybe raise that little bit more adversarial flag. But when I say more adversarial, sometimes the role of an attorney can be to cool things down when it gets really heated and things are at a standstill. And that relationship is already struggling having that third party in there that has an objective of view can be really helpful and actually help maintain that relationship? Now it takes some skill on the part of the attorney to do that. Yeah, and some may be more oppositional than others. So in selecting an attorney, if that if your goal is, you know. Fire and and furniture throwing, well, then you know, your personality you’re looking for, and then if it’s I have these issues and I need to try to maintain this relationship. Attorneys are not. We’re not just fighters, we’re not just arguers. Our skills include, you know, mediation negotiation advocacy. That’s part of what we learn. That’s part of what we’re great at. And so when what you need is that objective perspective. Then the attorney can be exactly what you need.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:29:01] I really like how you’re talking about the mediation part, and I do think so. I’ve been involved in just one kind of like state complaint where we had the lawyers in for an evaluation report in eligibility determination. And it was really interesting. Like now that you say, like your skills in advocacy and mediation, it was really interesting because we presented all of our information and we had parent input. And then it just became kind of these two lawyers talking with each other back and forth, and they weren’t contentious with each other. Like it wasn’t like they were mad at each other, but they knew each other really well and we knew that going in. And so it kind of gave space to the rest of us to just kind of listen and almost like, have time to think. And if we needed to step in and share something, then we did. So it’s really interesting because. It wasn’t that they were emotional when they were arguing they were just going back to the line like stating these different aspects of the law to each other, which is a really interesting thing for me to see, for sure.
[00:30:10] So do you ever and I’m thinking about this situation like when we went back to just kind of normal school after this happened? And do you coach parents in anything in returning to that relationship or in trying to help that relationship be better after you’ve had this kind of contentious situation that’s now hopefully over?
Julie Carter [00:30:34] So it can depend on the case and how contentious it was before the attorney got involved. How much work it takes to rebuild but in. I an ideal world going through this process and coming to an agreement either through settlement or from a hearing officer’s determination or a state complaint determination. You have and you have an answer and you have a way forward. And you’ve been in the presence of an attorney, you’ve gotten coaching about how to communicate, how to advocate, you know what your rights are and the school knows, you know what your rights are, and you’re at a point now where everyone is informed. Everyone in theory is working from the same information, which is exactly what you want. I tell parents all the time, you’re the expert on your child when you go and you sit at that table. It can feel very intimidating. There’s a lot of people there and you’re just there going, What does that word mean? Yes. Once you are through a process like this? At least one positive is, you know what those words mean now because your attorney has told you and you have learned a lot and you’ve been through this. Kind of all together through this storm and going forward. Yes, you have this the skills through your relationship with your attorney and what you’ve learned. It’s sort of part of what I do throughout the process is coaching and guidance about how to navigate going forward.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:32:19] Yeah, that’s amazing. I love it. So do you have any advice for parents about, gosh, just anything that’s in your expertize that we didn’t cover already?
Julie Carter [00:32:31] All right. Some top advice for parents might pick some things. Like I said, already, you are the expert on your child. You’re the expert on that student. And you can go in with confidence knowing that you have an equal right to be an equal member of that IEP team. Use it. Ask questions when you don’t understand. What they’re offering, what they’re suggesting, what they’re denying. Asked if you don’t understand why I still ask again. Keep asking questions. Get comfortable making people uncomfortable. It’s OK to make people uncomfortable if you’re being direct. You’re not being rude. You’re doing what your child, your student needs you to do. And the relationship will be OK with that teacher, with that school, with that district. If you show up and you advocate for your child, that’s what you’re supposed to be doing. That’s OK. It’s kind of get uncomfortable. That’s how you get. Somewhere, sometimes that’s what’s required. The process can be. Ugly, it’s not like. It’s not Mr. Rogers, it’s not what you want it to be, but that’s part of that’s part of what advocacy is, knowing what you’re asking for and knowing it’s going to make people uncomfortable and asking for it anyway. And when things come up being comfortable saying, I don’t know what that means, can you please explain being comfortable saying, I don’t agree with that? What are the other options? Finding comfort and when they say, does that make sense responding? No, that does not make sense. That’s OK. Practice in the mirror. Practicewith a friend, sit beside somebody that you get to bring to the IEP, don’t go alone, you can bring someone with you. You have the right to do that. Bring a note taker. Bring a grandma. Bring a friend. Bring your co-parent. Bring someone to be there beside you. And to bounce things off of if you need a second, say, I need a second. All of these things are OK. Remember that the people on the other side of the table there are humans too. Just like you and you can build that relationship, even if there’s disagreement. This agreement doesn’t have to mean discord. That’s part of how this process works. Sometimes it’s dirty, but at the end, hopefully you get a clean IEP that’s going to help your kid.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:35:23] Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on. Do you want to share where parents can find you?
Julie Carter [00:35:30] Sure. Where you and I initially found one another. I’m on Instagram at Julie Carter Law. Same on Facebook. I also have a website. Julie Carter log dot com. Most of my content shows up on Instagram.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:35:46] Yes. And I love your Instagram content for sure. Everybody should follow you.
Julie Carter [00:35:51] Thank you. I appreciate it.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:35:54] Thank you so much for coming on. I so appreciate your time. Thank you.
Julie Carter [00:35:58] Definitely.
Beth (ParentFriendlyOT) [00:36:00] Isn’t Julie so knowledgeable and so helpful? I just loved my conversation with her now. After we stopped the recording, she forgot to mention a resource. Then I’m going to tell you about it right now. So she said that there is some pro-bono or free options to get representation. And she said that every state has a disability rights organization that’s mandated by federal law, and parents can find their state’s organization by searching. NDRN.org. And I will also have this linked up in the show notes. And if you’re new, the podcast and you don’t know where the show notes are, they are at parentfriendlyot.com/podcast and this particular episode will be at the top. Or if you’re listening to this and leader, it’s episode number 26 and you can find the show notes, which is a transcript of our conversation. It has all of the links and resources that Julie mentioned. And then there’s also an additional link that I want to tell you about, and that is the link to my new Facebook group. It’s called Elevate your advocacy insiders, and the important thing that you need to know about this group is that the free resource for a February 2022 is going to start within this Facebook group. So I’m going to do a series of lives where we go through the process of eligibility and the IEP process so that we are on the same page. So if you have any questions about the process of IEP is and you want to learn more about the IEP sections, you definitely want to happen that groups the link is waiting for you on the podcast show notes. Again, that’s www.parentfriendlyot.com/podcast and this is episode number 26, and you can find the link to that Elevate your Advocacy Insiders Facebook group. There’s going to be a ton of resources in there and a ton of networking with each other. It’s going to be so much fun, so please don’t miss out on that and I will see you. Same time. Same place next week. Thank you so much for listening. Have a good week.
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