Nan Waldman, Esq.

Educational Consultant 

  • Academic Planning
  • School Placement
  • Highly Gifted Enrichment
  • Learning Disability Workshops
  • IEPs & Accommodations
  • Conflict Prevention & Resolution
  • Individual & Family Services

Contact
Nan Waldman, Esq.
1640 5th Street 1-A
Santa Monica, CA  90401
(323) 515-2626

Profile

Nan Waldman
Parenting and Education: Counsel
Individual & Family Services | Greater Los Angeles Area, US

Summary

What I do (consult and provide counsel). I also teach parents to become education advocates for their children, and teach advocacy in education for social workers, medical students, law students, and interested professionals as well as parents.

I'm not the kind of lawyer who litigates, threatens or creates conflict. I provide only counsel to parents, and will mediate conflicts with schools, or refer to other lawyers for due process, formal mediation, or litigation.

Most parents want to know how they can improve their child's educational possibilities. I teach them to be effective advocates.

"This mean kid in school is bullying me," a boy told me, in a whisper. "And I was the one who got in trouble." All of this came out within a few minutes of his entry through my door. His mother was amazed.

***
What I do (training). I counsel and train students, their parents, social workers and capable others as educational advocates. Training occurs on a one to one basis, or in workshops or seminars. I teach self advocacy for K-16 through college (including representation and modeling of executive skills and advocacy behavior at IEP and related school-based meetings).

Education is a civil right. I teach disability awareness and educational advocacy for students at home or in hospital.

I show you how to do it, and you end up being comfortable and confident as an appropriately assertive and capable advocate.
Specialties: Consultation Advocacy Counsel IEP evaluation Learning Disabilities -- accommodations and services for dyslexia; other visual or auditory processing disabilities; ADHD; Autism; chronic illnesses; critical injuries; hospital stay; continuum of curriculum. Education law and advocacy workshops Training for social service providers Review of documents for accommodations needed Clinics for public or private school teachers and administrators Education Plan and Strategy Placement Decisions

Experience

  • Apr 2012 - Present
    Reading Specialist / Pride Learning Centers
    In addition to my 'day job' (providing parents with counsel to protect their children's educational rights and to maximize their education benefits), I love teaching as a reading specialist. I agreed to teach select students after school, on a 1:1 basis using PRIDE's systematic, progressive, organized and wonderful program, based on Orton-Gillingham's multisensory phonics training. I worked at PRIDE three years ago -- and missed 1:1 teaching too much not to continue.
  • Aug 1988 - Present
    Consultant, teacher and writer / n.waldman.esq@gmail.com
    I work to make lives better. I do this by providing counsel to students and families of students. I counsel families with students who may be highly gifted, and families with students who may have disabilities or specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia, ADHD, etc. I attend IEP or student/family/school meetings to teach advocacy and acquire educational services and accommodations for students. I teach special education advocacy to teachers and to related education and social service professionals. Part of my job is knowing a student's learning abilities first hand, so I also provide private sessions for tutoring as well as teaching self-advocacy skills. Students of every level are welcomed, including parents, grad students, medical students as well as related professionals in the legal, education and health care fields.
  • 2006 - Present
    UCLA School of Medicine Community Health Advocacy Training (CHAT) / UCLA
    Leading workshops and advocacy training to individuals and to groups of graduate students in medicine, law, nursing and social work, I use real vignettes and cases (redacted for privacy). Multidisciplinary learning teaches new professionals effective advocacy skills to use when addressing the rights of students and patients with disabilities.
  • Nov 2006 - Present
    Projects Director / Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation
    Foundation, project AND case management at this non-profit organization supporting families devastated by the catastrophic impact of having to decide, during a child's last days or months, whether to remain at work keeping insurance intact, a roof overhead, and food in the refrigerator -- or to remain at the bedside of a dying child.
  • Mar 2006 - Present
    Staff Attorney / Disability Rights Legal Center's Education Advocacy Project
    Representation, consultation and advocacy training for the holders of the educational rights of underserved students with disabilities.

Education

  • University of California, Hastings College of the Law
    JD

Additional Information

Websites:
LinkedIn
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