Doctors told Alexis Smith there was nothing wrong with her son Jacob, but maternal instinct told her otherwise.
“I started going to all these doctors, and they all told me, ‘There’s nothing wrong. He’s just developing slower,’” the Liverpool mom said. “But I knew in my heart that something wasn’t right. So I started researching what it was like to raise a kid with special needs.”
Eventually, the boy was diagnosed with ADHD and learning disabilities. But Smith realized that navigating the special education system would be tougher than she thought.
“My God, this stuff was confusing,” Smith said. “I had never imagined in my life that it was going to be that confusing. As I started reading over my rights and what they were going to do, I kind of reached out to the community to look for help. What I found was that I could take these advocacy classes – brief, one-day classes – or I could hire an attorney.”
Smith, who had once been enrolled in Le Moyne College’s master’s in education program, opted to take the advocacy classes, which are offered at the Syracuse University Parent Advocacy Center, as well as through groups like Advocate Academy, Rights Law and the Counsel on Parent Advocates and Attorneys.
“I started going and taking these classes, and I really liked it,” Smith said. “I thought to myself, I can’t possibly be the only parent in this situation. It was kind of like an aha moment for me. I realized, this is what I want to do when I grow up. So I started helping other parents on the side, and I really liked it. But I was still working part-time. I decided to turn this into a business, charging fees.”
Smith decided to take the skills she’d developed and the connections she’d made to create CNY Special Needs Advocacy LLC. The business allows her to provide her services as a special needs advocate to families; she will speak on behalf of parents in Committee on Special Education (CSE) meetings, whether they are for the initial setup of an individualized education plan (IEP), annual review or another issue with the school district.
“What I generally do is review all of the records for kids,” Smith said. “Some parents contact me before they even start the process, so I’ll guide them through that – writing the letter, addressing every concern, asking for the evaluation to take place. Generally, it’s people who already have an [individualized education plan] or a 504 plan in place. A lot of times, it’s an annual review, and they’re calling me and saying, ‘You know what? The school is not keeping up with this IEP. Or these goals, we can’t measure them, or they’re not making sense to us.’”
Smith’s website, cnyspecialneedsadvocacy.com, features a full list of services and pricing packages available.
Smith said she wanted to make hers a for-profit business because she didn’t want any strings attached to her by possible grants or funding sources.
“I didn’t want to start a not-for-profit,” she said. “Oftentimes, you apply for grants, and the grants limit you in what you can do, and I didn’t want that. I wanted to be able to go with parents to meetings to advocate. I didn’t want to have any limitations where I could only help certain people, or I had to give so many group presentations, which I do. So I decided I’m going to start this LLC.”
Smith said her primary focus is educational advocacy, but she will stretch into other areas.
“I’m primarily interested in educational advocacy, but there will be times when parents will ask me, ‘Where can I go to get support for this or that?’” she said. “I’m familiar with other systems because I’ve been there. I can kind of direct them in other areas.”
Smith also pointed out that CNY Special Needs Advocacy will fill an important niche come 2012.
“Effective Jan. 1, a lot of the agencies that were providing free educational advocacy services are not going to be there because that funding has gotten cut,” she said. “Where people used to be able to go to Educational Family Resources, they won’t be able to anymore. I’ll be able to provide that service to fill that gap.”
For more information, call Smith at 715-4000, email her at [email protected] or visitcnyspecialneedsadvocacy.com.
