Special education and Section 504 advocates for DeKalb County Public Schools families in Dunwoody.
4 based in Georgia · 3 virtual advocates who work with Georgia schools
The job is plain. An advocate knows what services the school owes your child and asks for them in writing.
Most of the work happens before anyone sits down in a Dunwoody conference room.
During a Dunwoody IEP meeting an advocate writes down what the team agrees to and asks for it in the document before anyone leaves the room.
Records live with DeKalb County Public Schools, not with the front office of one building, and a request addressed to the district gets a faster answer than one that is not.
No advocate in this directory lists Dunwoody as their home base. These advocates work from other parts of Georgia, and each card names the city.
Based in Flowery Branch, GA
Special education advocate/ IEP consultant
I am a certified special education teacher and I am also a behavior specialist. I am also a mother to a child with Behavioral issues on an IEP, and another child with a 504.
Based in Atlanta, GA
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.
Based in Atlanta, GA
School Psychologist & Parent Advocate
I’m a certified School Psychologist, Parent Advocate, and Coach dedicated to helping families navigate special education with confidence.
Based in Cumming, GA
Founder
I’m Russell Lloyd, founder of YourChild.org, author, mentor, and special education advocate. I review the record, find the gaps, build the strategy, prepare the parent, and lead IEP meetings.
These advocates are not based in Georgia. They join IEP meetings by video or phone, which IDEA allows when you and the school agree.
Virtual · based in San Diego, CA · works with Georgia schools
Special Education Advocate
At the Sanford Autism Advocacy Group (SAAG), we are a small but mighty special education consulting group with an emphasis on Autism and IEPs.
Virtual · based in Leonardtown, MD · works with Georgia 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 Harrisburg, PA · works with Georgia schools
Special Education Advocate
I’m a special education teacher with experience supporting students with behavioral, intellectual, and learning needs.
6 public schools inside Dunwoody belong to DeKalb 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.
District lines and city lines are not the same thing. A street can sit inside one city and be zoned to the district next door.
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 Georgia actually requires is 60 calendar days.
Ask the Dunwoody team for the evaluation report before the meeting, not at it, because nobody reads a long report accurately while the rest of the team waits.
Georgia gives a school district 60 calendar days to finish an initial special education evaluation. No Georgia rule sets a separate deadline for answering a written request, so the federal reasonable-time standard is what applies. Missed deadlines are handled by the Georgia Department of Education, Division for Exceptional Children, which takes written state complaints from parents.
Certification programs exist and some advocates hold them. None of them is issued by the Georgia Department of Education, Division for Exceptional Children, and none of them is required to sit in a Georgia IEP meeting.
Advocates who work Gainesville and here see the same state rules twice a week. Repetition inside one state is the practice worth paying for.
Hiring an advocate does not pause a deadline or undo a meeting that already happened. The work starts from wherever the Dunwoody file sits today.
What worked for a family in Gainesville may not fit yours. Ask the advocate what is different about your file before you copy anyone.
Video is normal now. 22 of the advocates listed for Dunwoody work with families by phone or video instead of driving to the school.
Ask for two references from cases like yours. Somebody who cannot produce one has not worked many.
Answers about hiring a special education advocate in Dunwoody, Georgia, including cost, timing, virtual support, and Section 504 help.
What is the hourly rate for a parent advocate?
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.
When should I hire a special education advocate in Dunwoody?
Bring somebody in when the file stops making sense to you. A routine review with services in place and progress data that moves usually does not need one.
Is an IEP advocate a type of lawyer?
An advocate is not a lawyer and cannot give legal advice or file a lawsuit. What an advocate can do is build the written record a lawyer would need later.
Does DeKalb County Public Schools cover every Dunwoody address?
Most Dunwoody families work with DeKalb County Public Schools. Charter and magnet enrollment can change which agency owes the service, so ask that question before the first meeting.
What can I do if I cannot afford an advocate?
No public program assigns you a private advocate. The links under official resources on this page go to the state agency and to the complaint process, and both cost nothing to use.
Official Georgia links for parents in Dunwoody.
Last reviewed 2026-08-11.
The same Georgia rules apply in Gainesville, Valdosta, Newnan, Smyrna and the other cities listed here, or see every Georgia advocate.
Print the current IEP and bring it to the first call. Every advocate on the Dunwoody list will ask for it.
Two questions sort most of this out. What would you do first with this file, and what does that cost.
