Youth Behavioral Health and Education Advisor
At the Mental Health Association, the Youth Behavioral Health and Education Advisor is available to parents of school-aged children to help them navigate a system that can be very complicated. We understand that all children have unique needs, emotions, behaviors, and issues, and we can help you help them by providing the following:
- Guidance if you are experiencing problems with existing services and/or providers that impact your child’s education
- Attend meetings with you at your child’s school when requesting assistance with IEP’s and other school/education related issues
- Attend interagency team meetings.
- Provide other information and contacts that might be helpful.
- Provide a centralized resource for education, information, referral, and support.
- Provide recommendations for proper evaluations/testing if a child is showing signs of requiring special education/mental health/developmental disability services
- Provide numbers to additional assistance if legal resources are appropriate for the situation***
*** Parent Advisor is not a representative of legal council
| OUR MISSION
To address the unique needs of children and adolescents with emotional, behavioral, and/or mental health/developmental disability issues by providing consultation, information, and parent support as it relates to the child’s educational needs as it relates to the school setting. |
When it comes to the special education process, it is important to put all requests in writing and keep copies of everything. This is helpful if questions arise about decisions made in meetings or dates that requests were made. Below are some sample letters of common requests of parents involved in the special education process. You may use the samples as a guide to make the process a bit easier.
- Sample Letter– Requesting an Initial Special Education Evaluation
- Sample Letter– Requesting an Independent Evaluation
- Sample Letter– Requesting an IEP Meeting
- Sample Letter – Requesting an Re-Evaluation
- Sample Letter – Requesting a Due Process Hearing
These samples are provided courtesy of the Education Law Center, a great resource on education rights and regulations.
We are available to take your calls Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM until 4:00 PM. If you would like to know more about this program, please call us anytime and ask to speak with the Youth Behavioral Health and Education Advisor or send us an email with your contact information, and we’ll contact you.