From the Diary of Kristin Lynne Nori

What to ask, what to write down and what to request before, during and after an IEP or 504 meeting, from an advocate with more than 26 years in education.

A parent is sitting at a table. There are several professionals in the room, everyone is talking, acronyms are flying and pages are turning. The parent is nodding and, as one advocate who knows the scene has written, “you can tell they don’t really understand what they’re being asked to agree to.”

It’s a common table to sit at. In the 2022-23 school year, 7.5 million students ages 3 to 21 received special education or related services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the equivalent of 15 percent of all public school students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The advocate is Kristin Lynne Nori, co-founder of InspireED Solutions, a special education advocacy and educational support business that helps families of children from PreK through age 21 understand evaluations, IEPs and 504 Plans and prepare for school meetings. She brings more than 26 years in education to it. “I’ve been in enough school meetings to recognize the look,” she says. What she offers the parent wearing it takes three sentences: “You know your child. I know the system. Together we can build a clearer path forward.”

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Two Levels of Knowledge at One Table

Kristin doesn’t blame either side. “I do not think most IEP and 504 conversations go wrong because parents do not care or because schools do not care,” she says. “They often go wrong because the two sides are speaking from very different levels of knowledge and experience.”

School teams use educational language, acronyms, timelines, data and procedures every day. For a parent, she says, this may be the first time they’ve heard those terms, “and the decisions being discussed are about their child. That creates an immediate imbalance.”

One result is waiting. “Parents often wait too long to ask questions because they assume the school will tell them if their child needs more help,” she says. Her common example is a child who has been struggling for months, academically, behaviorally, socially or with communication. The parent attends conferences, agrees to interventions, works with the child at home, and keeps hearing that the team wants to give the child more time. The parent assumes that if an evaluation is needed, the school will initiate it.

“What can be missed is that the parent also has a voice in the process,” she says. The federal regulations say the same. Under the rules for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, in place since 2006, “either a parent of a child or a public agency may initiate a request” for an initial evaluation. Kristin’s list for parents is practical: ask what interventions are being used, request the data, ask how progress is being measured, document concerns in writing and, when appropriate, make a formal request for an evaluation.

“By the time some families reach me, they have a long history of concern but very little organized documentation and no clear understanding of what has already been tried,” she says.

Her answer to that is three words.

Curiosity, Documentation, Collaboration

“Curiosity. Documentation. Collaboration.” Those are the three words Kristin says guide much of her advocacy work, and she spells them out for parents: ask questions early, and put important concerns and requests in writing. The third word comes with a condition.

“Work collaboratively with the school, but do not confuse collaboration with staying silent when your child is continuing to struggle.”

Kristin Lynne Nori, Co-Founder & Special Education Advocate, InspireED Solutions

She hears versions of one concern from parents, she has written: “But I don’t want the school to think I’m difficult.” Her reply: “I understand that fear. But advocacy doesn’t have to look like conflict.”

Her illustration is a change of sentence. Instead of “You aren’t helping my child,” she suggests: “Can you help me understand what interventions are currently being provided and what the data shows about my child’s progress?” As she wrote: “You’re still raising the concern. You’re still advocating. But you’re opening the door to problem-solving.”

Documentation is the habit she keeps herself. “I document everything,” she says. “If it matters enough to discuss, it matters enough to write down, identify the next step, and follow up.” For parents, she has written, that means keeping copies of emails with teachers, report cards and progress reports, assessment results, intervention data, work samples and notes from meetings, and putting a significant concern in writing. “Documentation creates clarity.”

In the meeting itself, she is listening for something particular.

What She Listens For in a Meeting

“In a meeting, I listen for what is being said and what is not being said,” Kristin says. She notices when the conversation is heavy on opinions but light on data, when a concern keeps getting redirected without a clear action step, when accommodations are listed on a plan but nobody has discussed whether they are actually being implemented, and when everyone agrees that a child is struggling “but no one has defined what progress should look like or how it will be measured.”

Her tools are questions. “Some of the strongest advocacy is simply knowing when to ask,” she says, and she gives five: “Can you show me the data?” “How will we measure that?” “Who is responsible for implementing this?” “When will we review whether it is working?” “Can we put that in writing?” She adds that “a productive meeting does not have to be adversarial.”

“A parent may walk out of a meeting remembering the emotion of the conversation. Experience has taught me to listen for the decisions, responsibilities, timelines, data, and next steps underneath that conversation.”

Kristin, Co-Founder & Special Education Advocate, InspireED Solutions

Some of her hardest moments in education, she says, were in meetings “where everyone genuinely wanted to help a child, but the conversation had become stuck.” What she took from them: “I learned not to add more emotion to an already emotional room.” She goes back to the child’s needs, the data, what has already been tried and the next concrete action, and to one question: “What does this child need in order to be successful?”

She learned to listen that way from more than one seat.

Many Sides of the Table

“After more than 26 years in education, I’ve sat on many sides of the table,” Kristin wrote. She listed them: special education teacher, behavior specialist, coach, compliance officer, family member.

“I have worked in special education, behavior, compliance, MTSS, coaching, and professional development,” she says. “Because of that, I understand both the human side of a school team and the systems that influence how decisions are made.” The roles she names include District Compliance Officer for Section 504, special education and behavior specialist, educational consultant, and National Professional Development Specialist & Coach with Catapult Learning, on top of a Master of Arts in Teaching from The Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Science from Ohio University. With Christine Lynn Jones she co-authored Bridging the Educational Gap Between Home and School, a workbook written to guide parents in keeping records and knowing what to ask the school.

What she saw from those seats is one of the reasons the business moved toward advocacy. “I’ve watched dedicated educators work incredibly hard to help children succeed,” she wrote. “But I’ve also watched parents walk into meetings overwhelmed by acronyms, paperwork, data, timelines, and recommendations they don’t fully understand.” Her conclusion: “Parents shouldn’t have to become special education experts just to make sure their child gets the support they need.”

How she treats people in that work, she traces to her mother. “My mother shaped much of how I approach people,” she says. “She reinforced the importance of showing up, caring for people, and doing what needs to be done even when life is difficult.” Those values, she says, “are deeply woven into how I support families today.”

What a Family Gets When They Call

“When a parent comes to me, I want the first feeling to be relief,” Kristin says. Many families, she says, arrive with a stack of documents, a long email chain and a feeling that they should understand what is happening but do not.

“My job is to slow the process down,” she says. She translates educational language into plain language, identifies the most important concerns, organizes the evidence, prepares parents for meetings and helps families determine what questions and requests need to come next. When a parent hands her a child’s IEP, she has written, “I see a story,” and she looks for the connections between its sections. The question she gives parents to start with: “Does this document accurately describe my child today?”

“I am not there to replace the parent’s voice. I am there to help strengthen it.”

Kristin, Co-Founder & Special Education Advocate, InspireED Solutions

She describes InspireED Solutions as an established educational consulting business “that has intentionally evolved into a stronger special education advocacy focus.” Its current services include a free Advocacy Call, advocacy strategy sessions, IEP/504 meeting preparation, virtual meeting advocacy, comprehensive advocacy packages, letter and communication support, academic and specialized academic support, and behavior support.

Where Kristin Is Now

“I would rather describe InspireED accurately as a growing advocacy practice than overstate where it is,” Kristin says. “The foundation is built. The services are active.”

She is based in the Wilmington, North Carolina area and works with families virtually across the United States. So far, she says, InspireED has helped families in Maryland, Virginia, New York, California, Wisconsin, Florida, Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The focus now has two parts: expanding the number of families served, and building referral relationships with therapists, psychologists, pediatric providers, tutors and family-support professionals. “These professionals often know what a child needs clinically or therapeutically,” she says, “but families sometimes need help translating those recommendations into meaningful school-based support.”

The parent she most wants to reach is “the one who knows something is not working for their child but does not yet know what to ask for.” For that parent there is a free Advocacy Call. What’s next, in her words, is “growing InspireED Solutions into a trusted national resource for families who need clarity, strategy, and a knowledgeable voice beside them as they navigate special education.”

Outside work, she lives near the Carolina coast, “and being near the water is where I reset,” she says. Fishing, the beach, gardening and time with her family keep her grounded.

Her final thought goes back to the parent at the table. “Parents do not need to know every special education acronym, regulation, or procedure before they ask for help,” she says. “They need to know that their concerns matter.” They also need to understand, she says, “that they are not simply guests at the IEP or 504 table. They are an important member of their child’s educational team.” For IEPs, the federal regulations put that in a list: the people a school must include on a child’s IEP Team begin with “The parents of the child.”

As she tells parents with a meeting coming up: “You don’t have to figure this out at the table.”

The Kristin Lynne Nori Playbook: For the Parent With a Meeting Coming Up

Ask early. “You don’t have to wait until your child is failing to start asking questions.”
Put it in writing. Keep emails, report cards, progress reports, work samples and meeting notes in one place, and put significant concerns and requests in writing.
Walk in with three concerns. Write down your three biggest concerns before the meeting. If it ends and they haven’t been addressed, “you’re not finished.”
Slow the meeting down. Ask what a term means, ask to see the data, ask how progress will be measured and who is responsible.
Collaborate, and keep speaking. Work with the school, “but do not confuse collaboration with staying silent when your child is continuing to struggle.”