Educational consultation & parent coaching · Eastside
Educational Consultant Serving Redmond, Bellevue, and Eastside Families
Independent, expert guidance through IEPs, 504 Plans, evaluations, and placement decisions — so you walk into the next school meeting knowing exactly what to ask for and why.
The service
Expert interpretation between you and the school
Special education is a system with its own vocabulary, timelines, and evidentiary standards. Parents are expected to make consequential decisions in hour-long meetings surrounded by professionals who work with those rules daily. Educational consulting corrects that imbalance: you gain an experienced educator on your side of the table who reads the paperwork with a practiced eye and translates it into plain language.
Engagements typically start with a comprehensive records review — evaluations, IEP or 504 documents, progress monitoring data, discipline records, report cards, and work samples. Dr. Custer then meets with you to explain what the data shows, where the current plan is thin, and which specific goals, services, and accommodations are defensible. You leave with a written strategy: the requests to make, the language to use, the documentation to bring, and the fallback positions if the team resists.
When helpful, she attends the meeting itself, asks the questions that keep vague commitments from becoming the final plan, and follows up afterward to confirm the written document matches what was agreed to aloud. Consulting also covers school selection, transition planning between elementary, middle, and high school, and coordination with outside providers so everyone is working from the same plan.
Common situations
When families bring in a consultant
- An IEP exists but progress reports repeat the same goals year after year
- The district declined an evaluation request and you are unsure how to respond
- Accommodations are written down but inconsistently delivered in classrooms
- A private evaluation exists and you need help turning it into school services
- You are choosing between a public program and a private school with learning support
- A middle-to-high-school transition threatens to lose hard-won supports
- A move to a new school or district means starting over with a new team
- You feel outnumbered in meetings and want a professional advocate present
Outcomes
What changes after consulting
Plans with teeth
Vague goals become measurable ones. Service minutes, provider qualifications, and progress-monitoring methods get specified in writing, which is what makes a plan enforceable rather than aspirational.
Confident, prepared parents
You understand the assessment data, the eligibility framework, and the reasonable range of outcomes before the meeting begins. That preparation changes the tone of the conversation from defensive to collaborative.
Better use of your money
Sometimes the honest recommendation is that the school plan is adequate and your dollars are better spent on private tutoring.
Evidence when you need it
If the file lacks the data to support your request, Dr. Custer can complete a psychoeducational evaluation and write recommendations in language school teams recognize.
Experience
Broad experience with schools of every kind
Practices vary meaningfully from one school to the next. What one team expects before granting extended time differs from the school across town, and independent schools in Redmond and Kirkland run their own learning-support models entirely. Dr. Custer's experience is broad and national, so those differences are familiar territory — and that shortens the path from request to implementation.
She consults with families in person across Redmond, Bellevue, Bothell, Kirkland, Sammamish, Issaquah, Woodinville, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace, and nearby Seattle neighborhoods. Support is provided to parents who send their child to public or private schools, as well as those who homeschool.
Answers for local families
Educational consulting questions
Related support
Other ways Dr. Custer helps Washington families
Walk into the next meeting with an expert beside you
A 30 minute consultation is free, unhurried, and free of pressure. Call (847) 651-7892 or send a message and Dr. Custer will follow up personally with honest next steps for your family in Redmond, Bellevue, Bothell, Kirkland, or anywhere on the Eastside.