The Somerville Special Education Advocacy Project (SSEAP) is launching an innovative Advocate Training Fellowship program this spring to strengthen the capacity and expertise of parents of children with disabilities in the city as SSEAP enters its next phase.
Click here to download the Somerville Advocate Fellowship Application
SSEAP, a project of Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC), was created nearly 10 years ago with the generous support of Somerville parents Beverly and Miriam Schwartz. SSEAP was developed in response to widespread concerns about the adequacy of special education programs in Somerville. Over the last decade, significant improvements have been made in the problem areas identified by parents as well as the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. SSEAP has employed a multi-strategic approach to promote reforms and improvements in the delivery of special education to children with all types of disabilities, including intellectual impairments, autism, learning disabilities, emotional impairments, and physical disabilities. SSEAP worked to overcome barriers by changing conditions for many children, addressing district policies and practices which impact children system-wide, while also providing individual advocacy for one child at a time.
Over 250 children, particularly those who are low-income and from diverse cultural/linguistic communities, have benefited from improved services through SSEAP individual legal representation and assistance.
SSEAP convened a parent group, Somerville Parents for Inclusion, which organized to promote increased inclusion opportunities for students with disabilities within the school district. The parents were successful in advocating for the school committee to adopt increased inclusion opportunities as a priority goal in the district’s long-range plan. Since then, the district has taken significant steps toward inclusion throughout the city.
As SSEAP recognizes the changes over the past decade and moves into Phase II, the project will focus on efforts to support the city’s parents of children with disabilities to participate in the special needs Parent Advisory Council and to engage in other efforts to improve provision of special education services and opportunities. In particular, SSEAP is pleased to launch the Advocate Training Fellowship which will provide selected parents of children with disabilities with intensive training at Massachusetts Advocates for Children and will result in an increase in the number of Somerville parents with special education expertise. This fellowship is only available to Somerville parents, and will begin in the Spring. Scholarships are provided.
For further information please contact Johanne Pino at 617-357-8431 x234.
If you would like to learn more about the regulations governing special education rights for children, please refer to the links below:
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