Ballou Education’s special education consulting services are built for parents who want expert guidance and clear, honest recommendations — but prefer to attend school meetings themselves. Our consultants bring more than 32 years of experience with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504, and the special education practices of school districts in Arizona and California, from Scottsdale and the Phoenix metro to Beverly Hills and greater Los Angeles.

We begin with a comprehensive review of your child’s educational records, including IEPs, 504 plans, evaluations, report cards, correspondence, and behavior or attendance data. Then we meet with you to walk through what we found: what is working, what is missing, and what your child is legally entitled to receive — under IDEA, the California Education Code, or Arizona’s special education rules — in plain language you can actually use.

Next we help you determine the best school placement for your child and provide a carefully curated list of appropriate placements — public programs, private schools, charters, and specialized options — tailored to your child’s needs, your values, and your budget. When it is useful, we conduct school observations so our recommendations reflect the day-to-day reality of each campus, and we help you communicate effectively with your child’s teachers, psychologists, and administrators.

Consulting also includes monitoring your child’s progress throughout the school year and providing ongoing recommendations as goals are met or new challenges appear. If we identify a need for specialists, tutors, or other professionals, we make referrals through our own intense referral-selection process, so you are never handed a name at random.

What Our Consulting Services Include

• Comprehensive review of your child’s educational records

• A dedicated feedback meeting to review findings and answer your questions

• Determination of the best school placement for your child

• A curated list of appropriate school placements and programs

• School observations when they add value to our recommendations

• Guidance on communicating effectively with school professionals

• Monitoring of progress and ongoing recommendations throughout the year

• Referrals to trusted specialists through our careful referral-selection process

Consulting is the right choice when you want to stay in the driver’s seat while a seasoned advocate works behind the scenes. Many families begin with consulting and add direct advocacy or meeting representation later — we will help you decide what your child actually needs.