Five Advocacy Steps for Parents of Dyslexic Children to Bring Your Family Peace This Holiday Season
- Melissa Minnick
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
The holidays are a time for celebration, connection, and a little reflection.
As the year winds down, it’s natural to think about how far your child has come and where you want to see even more growth in the year ahead.
Between festive moments, report cards, & progress updates, you might find yourself wondering:
Am I doing enough to help my dyslexic child succeed?
Does the school really understand what my child needs?
What more can I do to make next year smoother?
If those questions sound familiar, take heart.
Understanding these advocacy steps for parents of dyslexic children can help you enter the new year with more clarity and confidence.
You’ve already done so much, and with a few intentional steps, you can step into the new year with clarity, confidence, and peace.
The Connection Between Advocacy and Peace of Mind
When you advocate effectively for your child, you don’t just change their educational experience; you change your family’s emotional landscape.
Advocacy brings:
clarity where there was confusion,
structure where there was chaos,
& hope where there was helplessness.
It allows you to move from reacting to planning, and that shift alone can bring enormous peace.
It’s not about perfection; it’s about peace through preparedness.
When you know where things stand, what’s next, and how to get there, you create harmony both at the IEP table and at the dinner table.
How to Start Advocating & Find That Peace This Season
This is where peace of mind turns into action. You don’t have to fix everything overnight. Small, intentional steps can make a big difference in how you feel and how prepared you are for the new year.
Here’s how to begin:
1. Get Organized
Start by gathering all important documents related to your child’s education: IEPs, 504 Plans, evaluation reports, progress data, and testing results.
Create a dedicated binder or a digital folder (Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive all work well). Within it, separate materials into sections such as:
Evaluations and Testing (psychological, educational, speech/language, etc.)
IEP or 504 Plans (keep the most recent copy on top)
Progress (quarterly reports, state and district test reports, data charts, classroom assessments)
School Communications (emails, teacher notes, and meeting summaries)
Having everything in one place immediately reduces overwhelm and gives you a clear picture of your child’s educational story. Organization is the foundation of effective advocacy and of peace of mind.
🌟 Pro Tip: Consider audio recording your child’s IEP meetings. Add a digital folder within your drive to store these recordings alongside your notes and documents. Listening back later can help you catch important details, clarify what was discussed, hold team members accountable, and ensure you have an accurate record of the conversation, especially when meetings move quickly or cover a lot of ground.
2. Review Progress
Now that everything is organized, take a deeper look at what the data shows. Review report cards, teacher notes, IEP progress reports, testing results, classroom work, and even your own parent observations or notes from home.
Look for patterns over time, not just one-off results. If several reports or tests identify the same area of struggle, note it as a concern to bring up with the school team.
When you spot steady growth, celebrate it. When you see ongoing challenges, document them. This gives you a clear, factual picture of your child’s progress and helps you speak with confidence when it’s time to meet with the school.
3. Reflect on What’s Working & What’s Not
Once you understand the data, take time to think about what’s happening in the classroom every day.
Which teaching strategies, interventions, or accommodations seem to help your child succeed? Which ones don’t seem to make a difference? Are there supports and intervention services that worked in the past that have been dropped, or new ones that are helping?
Reflecting on these patterns helps you focus your energy where it matters most. You’ll enter the new year ready to share what’s working, ask for what’s needed, and collaborate with the team from a place of calm clarity.
This is where peace of mind begins, when your advocacy is grounded in both data and understanding.
4. Write Down Your Questions and Concerns
As you review and reflect, jot down your concerns and questions. You might ask:
“How is progress being measured on this goal?”
“Is additional data (or assessment results) needed before the next meeting?”
“What is the specially designed instruction you are using to teach my child, and is it evidence-based to be effective for a child with dyslexia?
“What assistive technology is my child using?”
Writing your questions and concerns now means you won’t forget them later, and it helps you walk into every meeting feeling focused and prepared, not flustered.
5. Know You’re Not Alone
You don’t have to figure out all of this on your own. There are advocacy professionals who can help you review your child’s documents, interpret data, and plan next steps. Support brings both clarity and confidence, and it’s one of the best gifts you can give yourself this holiday season.
A Gift of Peace: Our Holiday Special
This December, we want to help you step into the new year with calm, clarity, and confidence, ready to advocate for your child with ease.
That’s why we’re offering an extra-special holiday gift:
🎁 Our complete IEP Empowerment Guide
At No Cost to You, for a limited time
The IEP Empowerment Guide is a powerful, audio-based resource that walks you through every part of your child’s IEP, helping you understand what it means, what questions to ask, and how to advocate effectively at every step.
Here’s what’s inside:
🎧 Private playlist of audio lessons
📝 Downloadable episode recaps
✅ IEP Meeting Checklist
💻 Access to our Online Classroom
💬 Membership in our private Facebook Community
Absolutely free. All we ask in return is your honest feedback once you’ve used it. It’s our way of saying thank you for being part of our community, and for showing up every day for your child. Because peace of mind doesn’t come from knowing everything… it comes from knowing where to start.
Use coupon code: HappyHolidays to claim your gift for you or a friend. Offer valid from December 1-31, 2025.
This holiday season, permit yourself to pause and to prepare. You don’t have to navigate your child’s education alone. When you step into advocacy with knowledge and support, you bring peace not just to your mind, but to your home.
🎁 Take advantage of our Holiday Peace of Mind Special before it ends. Let’s make this the season you find your calm and your confidence.
We hope you found these advocacy steps for parents of dyslexic children helpful! If you want to learn more, you don’t want to miss this!
🎉 We’re going live for Ask the Advocate: Advocacy Steps to Bring Peace to Your Family, and you’re invited!
Come join us as we talk about how to turn reflection into readiness and bring real calm and clarity to your advocacy in the new year.
You’ll walk away with practical strategies, renewed confidence, and a clear plan to help your child move forward with success.
If you’re feeling unsure about what to do next, you’re not alone. We’ve walked alongside many families facing the same questions, and we know how helpful it can be to have someone listen and guide you.
That’s why we offer Free Discovery Calls. A no-pressure conversation where parents of children with dyslexia can talk through their child’s needs & discover their next best steps.