Where should you start? For better or worse, raising a child requires your active advocacy. As a healthy parent you must begin by knowing your child as completely as possible. This means working with professionals across a spectrum of expertise in order to document your child's unqiue constellation of strengths and weaknesses. This can mean comprehensive medical work-up starting with your pediatrician, educational, intellectual, cognitive and/or neuropsychological assessment, social and emotional testing, evaluation by physical therapy/occupational therapy experts in areas including sensory defensiveness AND follow-up evaluation for vision, hearing, speech/language ... the list is long. It is only then that you can begin to lobby local, state and national bureaucracies to see that your child gets what he or she needs. Seldom will anyone spontaneously offer to help.

The following are just a few places to begin with the dual roles of assessment and advocacy. Start a file. Take notes. Date every piece of paper. Create a paper trail so that you don't find yourself chasing your own tail.

Educational Resources for New Hampshire

Federal government current list of many, many valuable resources for education in NH