Special education and Section 504 advocates for Miami-Dade County Public Schools families in Key Biscayne.
3 based in Florida · 3 virtual advocates who work with Florida schools
Advocates get hired after a meeting goes badly, rarely before the first one, which is why most of them start by reading a file that already carries a year of history in it.
Key Biscayne parents tend to call at one of two moments. The first is before an initial evaluation and the second is after a service quietly disappears from the plan.
The meeting itself is the smallest part of the job. Nearly all the hours go into records and email before the Key Biscayne team ever sits down.
Read the evaluation report twice. The second read is where the missing service usually shows up.
No advocate in this directory lists Key Biscayne as their home base. These advocates work from other parts of Florida, and each card names the city.
Based in Wesley Chapel, FL
Special Education Advocate
With 24 years of experience in the K-12 sector, I serves as a Student Support Specialist specializing in academic and behavioral ESE services.
Based in Leesburg, FL
CEO IEP Advocate Espanol
Evelyn Roman-Santos is a bilingual Special Education Advocate with 30 years of experience as a School Social Worker.
Based in Hialeah, FL
Advocate
Hello! I look forward to helping families and their students get the crucial support they need. I have varied experience working with families and educators at the state and local levels.
These advocates are not based in Florida. They join IEP meetings by video or phone, which IDEA allows when you and the school agree.
Virtual · based in New York, NY · works with Florida schools
Special Education Advocate
Clara Liriano, M.S., is a Special Education Advocate and New York State Certified Special Education Teacher with more than 20 years of experience supporting children and individuals with…
Virtual · based in Leonardtown, MD · works with Florida schools
Special Education Advocate
Douglas Hubscher is the Founder and President of Kids Are First, LLC, a special education advocacy firm dedicated to helping families navigate the IEP and 504 process with confidence, clarity, and…
Virtual · based in Philadelphia, PA · works with Florida schools
Educational Consultant
I began this journey because my own daughter was issued an IEP in 3rd grade. I didn't understand special education.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools met 41 of 64 state special education indicators in the most recent Florida report.
Families who move between Brooksville and here change districts, and the new team is not required to keep the old plan word for word.
Confirm your child's district by address before you send a letter or name a district-specific process.
Federal law lets a state write its own evaluation deadline instead of using the national one. What Florida actually requires is 60 calendar days.
If the Key Biscayne team says no, ask for the refusal in writing.
Florida gives a school district 60 calendar days to finish an initial special education evaluation. A written request for an evaluation has to be answered inside 30 days. Missed deadlines are handled by the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services, which takes written state complaints from parents.
Training varies, and so does what it proves. A parent who asks how many Key Biscayne IEP meetings an advocate sat in last year learns more than a certificate would show.
Check the references and not the letters after the name. Two calls to past clients settle it faster than any credential list.
No advocate can promise a placement or an outcome in Key Biscayne. Anyone who does is selling you something.
Advocates who have never seen the file cannot tell you what is missing from it. Send the records first and book the call second.
Being listed for Florida is not the same as taking Key Biscayne cases, so read the service area on each of the 3 in-state profiles before you write to anyone.
Advocates who take Brooksville cases usually take these too. Say where you are in the first email so nobody wastes a week finding out.
Answers about hiring a special education advocate in Key Biscayne, Florida, including cost, timing, virtual support, and Section 504 help.
What do special education advocates charge in Key Biscayne, Florida?
Most advocates on this directory charge $75 to $150 per hour. A standard cycle with two hours of prep and two hours in the meeting runs about $400. Travel and extra meetings cost more.
Can we work with an advocate who lives outside Florida?
Video is normal now. A remote advocate reads the file, drafts your concerns and joins the meeting by phone. What a remote advocate cannot do is walk the building or read the room.
Who runs special education for Key Biscayne schools?
Miami-Dade County Public Schools runs the IEP meetings for most Key Biscayne students. District lines and city lines are not the same, so confirm yours by address before you send a letter.
Do I have to use an advocate from my own town?
Every card on this page names the city the advocate works from. Advocates listed under the virtual heading live somewhere else and work with families here by video or phone.
What documents does an advocate need from me?
Start with a one-page timeline of what happened and when. Every advocate you talk to will build the same thing, so writing it yourself saves an hour of billed time.
Official Florida links for parents in Key Biscayne.
Last reviewed 2026-08-11.
The same Florida rules apply in Brooksville, St. Augustine, Dade City, Opa-locka and the other cities listed here, or see every Florida advocate.
Send the same two questions to every advocate you contact in Key Biscayne and Brooksville. Ask for the rate and for the first date they can meet.
Keep a one-page timeline of what happened and when. Every advocate you talk to will start by building the same thing.
