Diana creates change for those facing unimaginable challenges. Her work is crucial for making the way for others to get the education and services they need. Her intelligence and tenacity requires an unbending system to bend. I highly recommend her.

Dianna Pharr and Nancy have done an amazing job as advocates for my twice exceptional student. They have great depth of knowledge of the laws around free and appropriate education as well as tons of experience and working relationship with the school districts to get results. She is a fierce and tenacious advocate and the with the addition of Nancy they are a great team. I would not go into an ARD without them.

Ms Pharr is a highly dedicated and professional Advocate. Always putting the needs of children above all else. She is what makes this a safe place for kids.

Dianna has single handedly mentored me on the rights of children with special needs. She is a thoughtful, compassionate, tireless, and respected special education advocate who has made an incredible difference in our lives. In ARD meetings, she is solution-oriented, without backing down. She has been responsive, caring, and absolutely eager to get great results for our family, and I know of many others she is helping. If you need an advocate to help you navigate the ins and outs of the system, please contact her. Our experience with her has been stellar.

There simply is no better advocate for children than Dianna Pharr. Dianna hold the highest ethical and moral conduct. She fights tirelessly for the children others would rather look past. She’s simply a deal making, child rights miracle worker!

Dianna Pharr literally fell into my familys lap just before school was to start the Fall of 2016. I had contacted someone to ask a question, who contacted another and then they wanted to verify with Dianna and she sent me a message asking me what time and where to meet for my meeting at the school my boys were attending. It was THAT day and she had just came back into town. When we met, she had what little I had with me for a meeting which was supposed to be about a situation that had occurred there and instead, the administration there tried to turn it into a different sort of meeting. While there, Dianna asked for my sons paperwork and they didnt have anything. She quickly uncovered there were bigger issues than I had expected. She took us as Pro-Bono and we would send what we could. My sons were being bullied horribly at this school, including my autistic, hearing impaired child. We were given an Emergency Transfer to another school just two days before school was to start! After my children had started school there in August, my son with special needs was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma. We had already started the processes to fix both of my sons IEPs and began mediation proceedings. She took over and allowed me to concentrate on my family and my sons treatment. She kept me apprised and she had to get help. She worked not only my case, but so many others. She travels to other districts and she is one of the ONLY approved education advocates approved by TEA to work with the legal folks in the AustinISD district. When we were transitioning the boys back to school after treatment, she gave me guidance and got me back on my feet to advocating for my boys again. She gives me advice and if she cannot get to me right away, she gave me the greatest advice EVER and I pass it on. Write everything down. Record your meetings. If you dont agree, dont sign the IEP. Put everything in writing. And they arent your friends. Theres a business hat when advocating and theres a mom hat.I do not know what we would have done without her. She asks clients to follow a certain protocol of communication. I do not know what the previous clients below were dealing with, but even if you have an advocate, you need to educate yourself. I suggest buying From Emotions to Advocacy, it has everything you need in there and formats, etc. And if you dont jive with one advocate, there are others that are listed on the TEA website. There is NO way I could have cared for my son those 8 months at the hospital and deal with IEPs, ARD meetings and find the resources we needed to help our kids heal and now they are about to start high school.She knows the laws, she knows who to talk to, she knows her stuff. But shes also human and she takes on some very severe cases, she testifies at TEA for our children. Ive never had her miss an ARD, or a meeting. She has had to cancel being present, but she sent me the points I needed to make and it calmed me down and I went in feeling calm and I am more confident.

Dianna Pharr has been an absolutely amazing advocate for our entire family over the last 3.5 years (& counting). It is no exaggeration to say that her guidance, assistance, & advocacy have been life-changing! We are beyond grateful.We are a family with 4 children, ranging in age from PreK to high school. All 4 of our children have multiple chronic illnesses or disabilities, from the common to the incredibly rare. Adding to the complexity, 3 of our children are also gifted, making them “twice exceptional” - & also making the task of attaining help for them exponentially harder.When Dianna first began to help us, only 1 of our 4 children was even receiving SpEd or 504 services. Accommodations for that one child were woefully inadequate, & our attempts to qualify the others for ANY help whatsoever had all hit a brick wall. I’d naively assumed that my diligent efforts to volunteer & to “work within the system” would get our children all the help they needed - & that my own knowledge as a law tutor would keep our family from being taken advantage of. I was so wrong.Once Dianna began to review our children’s situations, it immediately became clear that our School District was not fulfilling its moral or statutory obligations. She helped me to gather & review records; instructed me in how to create a paper trail of goodwill & good faith efforts; & encouraged me to find my voice. She has patiently led me on an intensive crash course on both the broad strokes & the intricacies of Special Education law. Once-foreign acronyms & concepts like IDEA, FAPE, FERPA, IEE, ESY, FBA, BIP, & OCR now roll off my tongue.With Dianna’s help, we have navigated the fraught Child Find process. Despite the School District’s repeated rejections for services when *I* had sought help on my own, now that Dianna is assisting us, 3 of our 4 children are fully qualified for SpEd services (the fourth child has a robust Section 504 plan, & we expect will be granted full SpEd status shortly).No parent wants to “fight” their school district. It’s hard to admit that we can’t always trust that our School Districts will act in our children’s best interests. But sometimes we need a knowledgeable & experienced professional to help us.Dianna has BEEN that expert voice for our family. She has tirelessly participated in countless ARDs, phone conferences, physician consultations, 504 meetings, & informal prep sessions. When we needed an attorney, she connected us with an amazing education lawyer & even came along - all while continuing to monitor our situation & educate us further SO THAT WE CAN HELP OURSELVES. She has loved & fought for our children as though they were her own.Dianna has ferociously supported our family at every turn. When we have come to her overwhelmed, frustrated, or discouraged, she has listened carefully - & then doubled her efforts to champion our cause. When our situation within our School District deteriorated, she helped us weigh whether to request mediation or file due process. She has even guided us in filing formal grievances with Texas Education Agency and the US Department of Education - & she has offered testimony to support us in those processes.At every step of the way, Dianna has stood with us, shoulder-to-shoulder, as we have navigated an incredibly difficult journey. Her knowledge is so vast that I still find myself looking to her for advice, even though she has ALWAYS worked her hardest to create self-confidence & the personal knowledge to conduct these meetings on our own.Dianna has been beyond generous with her time & her passion. She is absolutely brilliant at understanding education law - but her advocacy actually springs from a deep devotion to helping children & families. She most definitely isn’t advocating for money or for glory - she’s in it because it is her calling to HELP children & families. We honestly can’t imagine where our children or our family would be without her.