Exception-ALLY Breaks Down Special Education for Parents Online

Rayford Davis saw a gap between schools and parents when his sister wasn't getting the support she needed while navigating her daughter's special needs education about four years ago.

Davis, the founder and CEO of Exception-ALLY, an education startup founded within the Flashpoint at Georgia Tech program, said his service works much like TurboTax for education, helping parents as a digital advocate in special education.

"It prepares them for meetings they have with the school," he said. "It’s managed in a way that’s very personalized to their child and their experience, so it’s not a general template."

Much of the assistance from Exception-ALLY is breaking down a child's Individualized Education Program (IEP), a 25 to 40 page academic, legal document implemented by the school, Davis said. Exception-ALLY provides an action plan, a translator and a year-round tracker of a child's IEP for parents.

Parents of children with special needs simply log on to Exception-ALLY's website, fill out questions about what their needs are, upload their child's IEP and the company customizes services to their program.

The process of IEPs, meetings with schools and other parts of special education, is an emotional one, Davis said. Whether a child has a mild exceptionality such as ADHD or a severe exceptionality such as cerebral palsy or down syndrome, parents must go through the same education process under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.

"The parents don’t usually know all the different accommodations that the school can offer to the parent," Davis said. "The parent also doesn’t usually know what their rights are going through the process, and so they kind of feel very much in the dark."

A startup that originally formed in the Flashpoint program serving parents of children with autism has expanded to include eight additonal exceptionalities and the ability to service half of all children in the country with an IEP, Davis said.

"We’ll be adding more for the rest of the year and starting next year we’ll be able to cover over 90 percent of children with an IEP," he said. "Over 1,000 people are registered, and we’ve even got five schools that have purchased the product for families as well."

Parents who employ special education advocates or attorneys usually have the most success in navigating their child's education, Davis said, but the cost can be expensive. Exception-ALLY offers plans for as low as $24, $98 for their entire suite of services or an annual subscription for $10 a month. Parents who've enrolled to the free lunch program will receive 60 percent off all services and schools who purchase plans will receive a discount based on volume.

"We saw an opportunity to reach many families who just don’t have access to that expertise, whether because of their geographic location or because of their financial needs, so this is where technology can make a huge difference in democratizing the ability to access that expertise for everybody," Davis said.