Testimonials

To anyone considering partnering with Ms. Alaana Wood,

I am a single parent with a child who is several years behind in his academics. By second grade he was already showing signs of not keeping up with his studies. By third grade I was vigorously questioning his teachers on what did they think was going on and what we could do to turn it around.

I was repeatedly told that my child was not working hard enough, and as an English learner was working with a deficit in being able to comprehend the subject matter. My son was born in the United States; English is the primary language spoken at our bilingual home; nonetheless, he was labeled as an ELD student because he is Asian and couldn’t scholastically meet the criteria to test out.

In fourth and fifth grade things did not improve despite my efforts sending him to multiple private tutors and participating in many meetings with his primary teacher and the principal. He was struggling with oral expression, math, and reading comprehension. I was referred to Ms. Wood through a friend who thought she could help me with my situation.

Ms. Wood analyzed my child’s scholastic history from first grade and immediately identified that the school had been negligent in not responding to the continued poor scores and lack of progress each year. They had never looked any deeper into any potential learning issues. He is very hard working, spending hours at home each day studying and working through his assignments with my participation, in conjunction with weekly tutoring sessions.

Ms. Wood immediately counseled me on the necessary steps to take with the school and district to get him scheduled him for a Psycho-Educational evaluation. Just getting the district to that step, despite all of the data pointing to this possibility, took perseverance and resolve on both my part and Ms. Wood’s. She guided me through the process, explaining my rights as a parent, and the concepts surrounding IDEA. She worked with me to prepare the needed letters and firm responses to the several push-back strategies employed by the district. She was with me, in my corner, helping me at every meeting from that point forward.

Thanks to Ms. Wood they were able to identify his specific learning disability, which made him eligible to work with a team to develop the initial individualized education program plan (IEP). As a point of interest, there was absolutely no finding of his lack of reading, or communicating, in English that played any part in his learning and processing issues.   

It has been an ongoing process. We’re still having to challenge the district’s findings and recommendations at nearly every turn. It shouldn’t be this hard, nor should we have to be experts in the Child Find laws to get the actions and special help our children need.

Ms. Wood is reliable, knowledgeable, and most of all, she cares. She gave me the information and courage to fight for the rights of my son to receive the benefits the state offers for children in need.

I would highly recommend her to any parent unsure of what the school district’s responsibilities are, and what help is available to our children who are experiencing difficulties in the school environment. In my eyes she’s been a Godsend. I feel so blessed that she was referred to me, and has intervened in such a positive way to develop a clear path for us in a complicated educational system that will help my son succeed in whatever the future holds for him.