Special education and Section 504 advocates for Memphis-Shelby County Schools families in Memphis.
3 virtual advocates who work with Tennessee schools
Advocates work for you, not for the school. That is the whole difference.
Families in Memphis and Knoxville run into the same problem. The school says the current plan is working, and the progress report shows the same goal repeated from last year with the same numbers under it.
Paperwork is where cases are won or lost, and an advocate who has read every progress report in the file will find the sentence a Memphis team wrote two years ago that contradicts what it is saying now.
Read the evaluation report twice. The second read is where the missing service usually shows up.
These advocates are not based in Tennessee. They join IEP meetings by video or phone, which IDEA allows when you and the school agree.
Virtual · based in Cumming, GA · works with Tennessee schools
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.
Virtual · based in New York, NY · works with Tennessee 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 Inverness, IL · works with Tennessee schools
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…
See all 26 virtual advocates who work with Tennessee families
Memphis-Shelby County Schools runs the IEP meetings for most Memphis students, and its special education staff will be on the other side of the table when you walk in.
Parents in Knoxville 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.
Federal law lets a state write its own evaluation deadline instead of using the national one. What Tennessee actually requires is 60 calendar days.
If the Memphis team says no, ask for the refusal in writing.
Tennessee gives a school district 60 calendar days to finish an initial special education evaluation. No Tennessee 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 Tennessee Department of Education, Division of Special Education and Student Supports, which takes written state complaints from parents.
Training varies, and so does what it proves. A parent who asks how many Memphis IEP meetings an advocate sat in last year learns more than a certificate would show.
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.
You sign, not the advocate. Consent and the plan itself both need a parent signature.
Rates and openings decide most of this. An advocate who cannot meet before your Memphis meeting date is the wrong hire, and the second-best advocate who is free this month usually beats the best one who is not.
Experience with Memphis-Shelby County Schools matters more than the number of years printed on a profile page.
Answers about hiring a special education advocate in Memphis, Tennessee, including cost, timing, virtual support, and Section 504 help.
What do special education advocates charge in Memphis, Tennessee?
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 Memphis schools?
Most Memphis families work with Memphis-Shelby County Schools. Charter and magnet enrollment can change which agency owes the service, so ask that question before the first meeting.
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 should a records request say?
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.
Where does a written special education complaint go?
Three routes stay open when you disagree. Mediation is voluntary for both sides, a written state complaint is decided on the record by the Tennessee Department of Education, and a due process hearing takes evidence.
Official Tennessee links for parents in Memphis.
Last reviewed 2026-08-11.
The same Tennessee rules apply in Knoxville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Clarksville and the other cities listed here, or see every Tennessee advocate.
Start with two calls, not six. Ask each advocate what they would do first with a Memphis file, and hire the one whose answer is specific enough that you could write it down as a task.
Have the most recent Memphis-Shelby County Schools progress report open on the first call. It shows whether the goals moved at all.
