Dianna Pharr has been an absolutely amazing advocate for our entire family over the last 3.5 years…read more(and counting). It is no exaggeration to say that her guidance, assistance, & advocacy have been nothing short of life-changing! I would give her advocacy services ten stars if I could!
We are a family with four children, ranging in age from preschool to high school. All four of our children have multiple chronic illnesses or disabilities, from the common to the incredibly rare. Adding to the complexity, three of our children are also gifted, making them "twice exceptional" - and also making the task of attaining help for them exponentially harder.
When Dianna first began to help us, only one of our four children was even receiving Special Education or 504 services. Accommodations for that one child were woefully inadequate, and our attempts to qualify the others for ANY help whatsoever had all hit a brick wall. I'd naively assumed that my diligent efforts to volunteer & to "work within the system" would get our children all the help they needed - & that my own knowledge as a law tutor would keep our family from being taken advantage of. But my efforts were getting us nowhere.
Once Dianna began to review our children's situations, it immediately became clear that our School District was not fulfilling its moral or statutory obligations. She helped me to gather & review records; instructed me in how to create a paper trail of goodwill & good faith efforts; & encouraged me to find my voice. She has patiently led me on an intensive crash course on both the broad strokes & the intricacies of Special Education law. Once-foreign acronyms & concepts like IDEA, FAPE, FERPA, IEE, ESY, FBA, BIP, OCR, Homebound, & Related Services now roll off my tongue.
With Dianna's help, we have navigated the fraught Child Find process. Despite the School District's repeated rejections for services when *I* had sought help on my own, now that Dianna is assisting us, all four children are fully qualified for Special Education services.
No parent wants to "fight" their school district - just as no parent wants to "fight" to prove that their child rightfully requires Special Education services. But sometimes it's our job to take up that fight, because it's what our children desperately need & deserve in order to flourish within the educational setting. It's hard to admit that - however patient & well-intentioned we are in dealing with the schools we love - our children nevertheless cannot get the education they need without these modifications & accommodations. It's hard to admit that we can't always trust that our School Districts will act in our children's best interests. We'd all like to believe that we can navigate these negotiations on our own, using goodwill & persistence. But more often than not, once we've run into delays & denials, we need a knowledgeable & experienced professional to help us.
Dianna has BEEN that expert voice for our family. She has tirelessly participated in countless ARDs, phone conferences, physician consultations, 504 meetings, & informal prep sessions. When we needed an attorney, she connected us with an amazing education lawyer & even came along - all while continuing to monitor our situation & educate us further SO THAT WE CAN HELP OURSELVES. She has loved and fought for our children as though they were her own.
Dianna has ferociously supported our family at every turn. When we have come to her overwhelmed, frustrated, discouraged, or afraid, she has listened carefully - & then doubled her efforts to champion our cause. When our situation within our School District deteriorated, she has helped us weigh whether to request mediation or file due process. She has even guided us in filing formal grievances with the Texas Education Agency and the US Department of Education - and she has offered testimony to support us in those proce.
At every step of the way, Dianna has stood with us, shoulder-to-shoulder, as we have navigated an incredibly difficult journey. Her knowledge is so vast that I still find myself looking to her for advice, even though she has ALWAYS worked her hardest to create self-confidence and the personal knowledge to conduct these meetings on our own.
Dianna has been beyond generous with her time & her passion. She is absolutely brilliant at understanding education law - but her advocacy actually springs from a deep devotion to helping children and families. She most definitely isn't advocating for money or for glory - she's in it because it is her calling to HELP children and families. We honestly can't imagine where our children or our family would be without her.
Update: Since I first wrote this review, Dianna has helped us to achieve full Special Education eligibility & appropriate services for ALL FOUR of our children. We are beyond grateful!
