Ballou Education is a special education advocate in Scottsdale. Helping Scottsdale families turn strong schools into the right services, in writing, with measurable goals.
Scottsdale has well-resourced schools, and that can make advocacy harder, not easier. When a district has strong test scores, a parent asking for services is often met with the same sentence: “Your child is performing at grade level.” Performance and appropriate progress are not the same thing.
Ballou Education works with families across Scottsdale Unified School District, from elementary campuses in the south of the city through the middle and high schools in the north. We also support families whose children attend charter schools, private schools and specialized placements inside and outside the district.
The pattern we see most often in Scottsdale is a child who is bright enough to mask a disability. They compensate, they get by, and by middle school the gap becomes impossible to hide. By then, years of intervention have been lost. We help families document the gap earlier and ask for the right evaluation instead of waiting for a crisis.
Twice-exceptional students are a particular focus in Scottsdale. A gifted identification does not disqualify a child from special education, and a learning disability does not disqualify a child from gifted services. Both can be true at once.
Whether you are walking into your first IEP meeting or your fifteenth, the work is the same: read the record, identify what is missing, and ask for it precisely.
We review draft IEPs before the meeting, check that goals have baselines and measurable criteria, and attend with you to keep the conversation on services.
Explore IEP advocacyStudents with anxiety, ADHD, medical conditions or recovery needs often need accommodations rather than specialized instruction. We build plans that teachers can follow.
Explore 504 advocacyWhen the district evaluation does not explain what you are seeing at home, an independent evaluation can change the conversation.
Explore evaluationsWe help families ask for acceleration, enrichment and disability support in the same plan, rather than choosing one.
Explore consultingA focused preparation session before the meeting often changes the outcome more than anything else we do.
Prepare for a meetingWe draft the emails, letters and written requests that put your concerns on the record in the right form.
Explore advocacy servicesThe primary district serving Scottsdale, with elementary, middle and high school campuses across the city and a range of special education programs.
Serves the northern and western edges of Scottsdale, including communities near Desert Ridge and Kierland.
Scottsdale has a large concentration of charter, independent and specialized private schools. All public charter schools carry IDEA obligations.
Families in the southern part of the city may attend Tempe, Mesa or Phoenix districts depending on their address.
We read every evaluation, IEP and progress note, then tell you what the documents actually show and where the district is exposed.
We define measurable outcomes, gather data and put your requests in writing so the district has to respond on the record.
We attend the meeting, document decisions, and follow up until the services in the plan are the services your child receives.
You are entitled to bring anyone you choose to an IEP meeting, including an advocate. Arizona law and IDEA both protect your right to have someone at the table who understands the process.
Yes. Gifted identification and special education eligibility are separate. A student can be both gifted and eligible under a disability category, and both sets of needs should appear in the IEP.
An IEP provides specialized instruction and related services under IDEA. A 504 plan provides accommodations that give equal access to the general curriculum. The right choice depends on whether your child needs specialized instruction or accommodations.
Send a written request to the school principal and the special education director, keep a copy, and note the date. The district must respond with prior written notice. We can draft that request for you.
A free consultation is the fastest way to find out whether your child’s plan is as strong as it should be.
