Special education and Section 504 advocates for City of Chicago School District 299 families in Chicago.
3 based in Illinois · 3 virtual advocates who work with Illinois 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 Chicago conference room.
Advocates also coach. Some Chicago parents hire one for two hours of prep and go into the meeting alone.
City of Chicago School District 299 keeps progress data on every goal in the plan. Ask for it as a table of dates and numbers rather than a paragraph.
No advocate in this directory lists Chicago as their home base. These advocates work from other parts of Illinois, and each card names the city.
Based in Arlington Heights, IL
Special Education Advocate
I am a former special education teacher, with experience in public and therapeutic day schools.
Based in Inverness, IL
Special Education Advocate
I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Communicative Sciences and Disorders at Michigan State University and a Master’s of Education from DePaul University, with a dual certification in elementary and…
Based in Bloomington, IL
Founder & Advocate
Jade is a former special education teacher who has taught everything from pre-k all the way to transition classrooms with students up to age 21.
These advocates are not based in Illinois. They join IEP meetings by video or phone, which IDEA allows when you and the school agree.
Virtual · based in Atlanta, GA · works with Illinois schools
School Psychologist & Parent Advocate
I’m a certified School Psychologist, Parent Advocate, and Coach dedicated to helping families navigate special education with confidence.
Virtual · based in Coraopolis, PA · works with Illinois schools
Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Special Education Advocate
Hi there! I'm Brittany, owner and founder of Balanced Behaviors, LLC. I'm a Behavior Analyst and Licensed Behavior Specialist in Pennsylvania with a Master’s in Special Education from Slippery Rock…
Virtual · based in San Antonio, TX · works with Illinois schools
FamilyADDventures.com
Nicole Santiago is a learning specialist and an advocate (IEP coach). She is a member of COPAA.org and ensures special education students receive the most appropriate educational services possible.
See all 23 virtual advocates who work with Illinois families
512 public schools inside Chicago belong to City of Chicago School District 299. 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.
Buildings do not fund services and districts do. Ask which office is deciding before you spend a meeting arguing with the wrong one.
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 Illinois actually requires is 60 school days.
Keep every email. Most of what an advocate does with a Chicago file is date-stamping what the school already told you.
Illinois gives a school district 60 school days to finish an initial special education evaluation. A written request for an evaluation has to be answered inside 14 school days. Missed deadlines are handled by the Illinois State Board of Education, Special Education Department, which takes written state complaints from parents.
Certification programs exist and some advocates hold them. None of them is issued by the Illinois State Board of Education, Special Education Department, and none of them is required to sit in an Illinois IEP meeting.
A certificate says nothing about City of Chicago School District 299. Ask instead what the advocate has filed there and what came back.
Hiring an advocate does not pause a deadline or undo a meeting that already happened. The work starts from wherever the Chicago file sits today.
City of Chicago School District 299 answers to the parent on the paperwork, so an advocate can draft the letter and you still have to be the one who sends it.
Video is normal now. 23 of the advocates listed for Chicago work with families by phone or video instead of driving to the school.
Distance is a scheduling problem and not a legal one. Meetings run by video whenever the parent and the school both agree to it.
Answers about hiring a special education advocate in Chicago, Illinois, including cost, timing, virtual support, and Section 504 help.
How much does an IEP advocate cost in Chicago?
Flat fees are common for a single meeting and hourly billing is common for everything else. Many advocates give a free first call. Nobody bills you through this site, so ask each person how they invoice.
Which school district serves Chicago, Illinois?
Most of the city sits inside City of Chicago School District 299. The district writes the plan and holds the special education budget, which is why a complaint about a missed service names the district and not the school.
How long does the IEP evaluation process take in Illinois?
Illinois sets its own deadline and it is 60 school 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 records should I ask for before an IEP meeting?
Ask in writing and address it to the district rather than the front office. Schools have to let parents inspect the education records they keep, and inspection has to happen before the next IEP meeting.
How do I prepare for an IEP meeting in Chicago?
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 Illinois links for parents in Chicago.
Last reviewed 2026-08-11.
The same Illinois rules apply in Aurora, Naperville, Joliet, Rockford and the other cities listed here, or see every Illinois advocate.
Print the current IEP and bring it to the first call. Every advocate on the Chicago 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.
