Special education and Section 504 advocates for Miami-Dade County Public Schools families in Miami.
3 based in Florida · 3 virtual advocates who work with Florida schools
Advocates work for you, not for the school. That is the whole difference.
Miami 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.
After the meeting the work is dull. The advocate reads the draft against the notes and sends a correction back the same week.
Read the evaluation report twice. The second read is where the missing service usually shows up.
No advocate in this directory lists Miami 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 Harrisburg, PA · works with Florida schools
Special Education Advocate
I’m a special education teacher with experience supporting students with behavioral, intellectual, and learning needs.
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 Atlanta, GA · works with Florida schools
Special Education Advocate
My name is Jalani Traxler and I have loved teaching sense I myself was a student with an IEP receiving my own accommodations in elementary school.
187 public schools inside Miami belong to Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Each one has its own case manager and its own backlog, and the answer you get about scheduling depends on which building your child attends.
Parents in Jacksonville face the same paperwork. Rules do not change from one town to the next inside a state.
Confirm your child's district by address before you send a letter or name a district-specific process.
Once you sign consent for testing, a Florida district has 60 calendar days to finish an initial evaluation, and that clock does not stop because a case manager is out or the file went to the wrong building.
Write down what you want the school to add, in one page, before you walk into the Miami meeting, because a team that reads your list in advance cannot pretend it never came up.
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.
The Florida Department of Education oversees special education in Florida. It does not license the advocates parents hire.
Ask what training the advocate actually finished and who ran it. A one-day webinar and a two-year program both end in a certificate.
Advocates charge for this. At $75 to $150 per hour, a standard IEP cycle with two hours of prep and two hours in the meeting runs about $400, and that money does not come back if the answer is still no.
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 Miami cases, so read the service area on each of the 3 in-state profiles before you write to anyone.
Experience with Miami-Dade County Public Schools matters more than the number of years printed on a profile page.
Answers about hiring a special education advocate in Miami, Florida, including cost, timing, virtual support, and Section 504 help.
What do special education advocates charge in Miami, Florida?
Rates run $75 to $250 per hour. What moves the number is experience, the type of case, and whether anyone has to drive to the meeting. Profiles here show the rate when the advocate publishes one.
Who runs special education for Miami schools?
Most Miami families work with Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Charter and magnet enrollment can change which agency owes the service, so ask that question before the first meeting.
What is the evaluation deadline in Florida?
Florida sets its own deadline and it is 60 calendar days. Federal law lets a state do that, so a timeline a parent reads on a national site may not be the one running here.
What is the difference between an IEP and a 504 plan?
An IEP provides specialized instruction and related services under IDEA. A 504 plan provides accommodations under a civil rights law and does not require specialized instruction. Eligibility rules differ, so a child can qualify for one and not the other.
Where does a written special education complaint go?
Written complaints go to the Florida Department of Education. It decides on the paperwork rather than at a hearing, so dates and documents are what the decision turns on.
Official Florida links for parents in Miami.
Last reviewed 2026-08-11.
The same Florida rules apply in Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando, St. Petersburg and the other cities listed here, or see every Florida advocate.
You are not limited to advocates inside Miami. The closest listed office is in Hialeah, and distance matters less than whether that person has worked a case in your district.
Have the most recent Miami-Dade County Public Schools progress report open on the first call. It shows whether the goals moved at all.
