Special education and Section 504 advocates for Prince George's County Public Schools families in College Park.
1 based in Maryland · 3 virtual advocates who work with Maryland schools
An advocate is a paid professional who reads the evaluation reports, drafts your concerns, sits beside you at the IEP table, and follows up on whatever the school agreed to do.
College Park is the 8th-largest city in Maryland. Size has nothing to do with how well a district runs its IEP meetings, and a small district with one experienced case manager often does better than a large one.
Advocates also coach. Some College Park parents hire one for two hours of prep and go into the meeting alone.
Prince George's County Public Schools 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 College Park as their home base. These advocates work from other parts of Maryland, and each card names the city.
Based in Leonardtown, MD
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…
These advocates are not based in Maryland. 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 Maryland 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 Los Angeles, CA · works with Maryland schools
Strategic Special Education Advocate
I combine the precision of a Columbia Law attorney with over a decade of special education leadership to help Los Angeles families navigate the IEP process with clarity, confidence, and results.
Virtual · based in New York, NY · works with Maryland 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…
See all 25 virtual advocates who work with Maryland families
2 public schools inside College Park belong to Prince George's 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.
Charter and magnet enrollment changes who owes the service. Ask which agency is responsible before the first meeting.
Confirm your child's district by address before you send a letter or name a district-specific process.
No Maryland deadline applies to a written evaluation request. Federal rules still require a response within a reasonable time.
Bring the last two report cards and the current plan. That is usually enough paper to start.
Maryland gives a school district 60 days after parental consent and 90 days after the written referral to finish an initial special education evaluation. No Maryland 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 Maryland State Department of Education, Division of Special Education, which takes written state complaints from parents.
Certification programs exist and some advocates hold them. None of them is issued by the Maryland State Department of Education, Division of Special Education, and none of them is required to sit in a Maryland IEP meeting.
A certificate says nothing about Prince George's County Public Schools. 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 College Park file sits today.
What worked for a family in Annapolis may not fit yours. Ask the advocate what is different about your file before you copy anyone.
Video is normal now. 25 of the advocates listed for College Park 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 College Park, Maryland, 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 College Park?
Most parents call after a school says no to testing, after goals repeat unchanged for a year, or a week before an annual review. Earlier is cheaper. An advocate hired the night before a meeting can only read so much.
Can I hire a virtual advocate if we live in College Park?
Yes. IDEA, the federal special education law, requires parent participation in IEP meetings and allows alternative means such as video or phone when you and the school agree. Your advocate does not have to live nearby.
Does Prince George's County Public Schools cover every College Park address?
Most College Park families work with Prince George's County Public Schools. Charter and magnet enrollment can change which agency owes the service, so ask that question before the first meeting.
How do I get my child school records?
Ask for the full file, which means every evaluation, the progress data behind each goal and any email where the school said no. Put it in writing and keep the date.
Official Maryland links for parents in College Park.
Last reviewed 2026-08-11.
The same Maryland rules apply in Annapolis, Salisbury, Abingdon, Hagerstown and the other cities listed here, or see every Maryland advocate.
Start with two calls, not six. Ask each advocate what they would do first with a College Park file, and hire the one whose answer is specific enough that you could write it down as a task.
Say the name of your school and Prince George's County Public Schools in the first message. That is enough for an advocate to know whether they can take the case.
