When he [my son] was 7 I looked at his educational and developmental assessments and asked why he could not be in a typical 1st grade class since he needed to work on so many of the same things as other 6 and 7 year olds. It was at that point that I had my first taste of advocacy—bringing in my own information, asking pertinent questions and pulling in higher-level school officials. After 3 IEP meetings with up to 15 people at each one, my son began spending most of his day in a typical 1st grade class with some support. He then spent good portions of his elementary years in general education classes, with specialized instruction in his special ed class at certain times during the day.

-Story from a parent advocate