I was the mom that thought IDEA was a thought that popped into your head, Article 7 was on page three of the newspaper, and all school systems always did what was best for every student. I trusted the system 100%.  By the time my child reached the 2nd grade, I had regularly been communicating with teachers about my concerns and had always been reassured, I heard all the things. “It’s too early to determine”, “let’s wait and see”, “your child is making progress”, “your child isn’t that far behind’. And you know what? Every time I heard these things, I did feel reassured! After all, they are the professionals, what do I know about teaching an elementary aged child? So, I would let a few months go by waiting to see that promised progress. Guess What? It never came. At “Meet the teacher” night during the first week of my child’s 2nd grade year, I told the teacher I wanted some testing done. We had a great chat about my concerns and I walked away feeling proud and hopeful. I had been heard and I just knew this was the year that help was on the way.  What I didn’t know (and what many parents don’t know) is that there is a process to requesting and receiving an Educational Evaluation. I didn’t even know it was called an Educational Evaluation. And I didn’t for three more months! After, I finally figured out that part of the process, the school took every single one of their 50 days to get it done and sent me a letter scheduling and meeting to discuss the results - which were that my child was a “global underachiever” and did not qualify for services. I was devastated! 3 years now I had been trying to get help and I finally got them to listen and they were flat out turning me down. And I only had 5 days to figure out how to change their minds. That began one of the most stressful and important weeks of my entire life. I slept a total of maybe 6 hours that week. Thanks to about 4 cases of Mt. Dew, noise canceling headphones, my husband taking the week off work to care for our 4 children, my mother and best friend fielding 3am distraught phone calls calming me down and offering encouragement, I was able to completely immerse myself in Special Education law, the evaluations the school used to determine eligibility, and how to “speak their language”. I went to the Initial Case Conference terrified that it wasn’t going to be enough, but pretty certain that I could at least “make a case” for eligibility. After 3.5 hours in that initial case conference going over every line of the Educational Evaluation Report the team finally decided that she DID qualify for services. Another week of research and a 2 hour meeting later we had put together a pretty amazing IEP for my child that both me and the rest of the team were excited to put into motion.  I walked away from that experience grateful, proud, exhausted, and disheartened. It shouldn’t have been so hard. It shouldn’t have been so stressful. No parent should feel like they are failing their child because the school is refusing to help a struggling student.  Over the next two years, I took Advocate training courses, attended webinars, and volunteered as an advocate for other parents soaking up all I could about everything Special Education. I was determined to be the help I couldn't find.