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About Us: Our Purpose is to Assist Families
PEAK Parent Center is a beacon of hope for families of children with disabilities. Discovering that a child has a disability often feels overwhelming and isolating for parents. Everyday PEAK empowers families, educating them about specific disabilities, available resources, laws that protect their children’s rights, and tools they need to become lifelong advocates for their children and themselves.
PEAK Parent Center provides assistance to families of children with disabilities, educators, and others who work with them. PEAK’s primary intent is to help families help their children. Approximately 87,000 children (birth through age 21) receive special education services in Colorado. PEAK offers an array of services to assist them and their families. Each year, PEAK directly reaches over 35,000 families, educators, and individuals with disabilities across Colorado and beyond. PEAK has served the State of Colorado as the federally designated Parent Training and Information Center (PTI) since 1986.
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Our Mission
The mission of PEAK Parent Center is to provide training, information and technical assistance to equip families of children birth through age twenty-six including all disability conditions with strategies to advocate successfully for their children. As a result of PEAK's services to families and professionals, children and adults with disabilities will live rich, active lives participating as full members of their schools and communities.
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We’re a Resource
PEAK assists families and others through services like our telephone hotline, workshops, conferences, website, and publications. As a PTI, PEAK supports and empowers parents by providing them with information and strategies to use when advocating for their children. PEAK works one-on-one with families, but also collaborates with state government and the education, rehabilitation, advocacy, and medical communities to make system changes that improve outcomes for children.
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We Assist Children With a Variety of Disabilities
PEAK serves families of children with all kinds of challenges – physical, learning, emotional, cognitive, and sensory disabilities; the disability can be mild to significant. We do not limit our services to one disability category. And, we offer support to families throughout their child’s educational journey, serving families who have babies, school aged children, and young adults (to age 26).
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We Are Parents Ourselves
Many of PEAK’s staff members are parents of children with disabilities. Some are former teachers. Some are individuals with disabilities. This background, along with training, allows staff members to offer understanding and peer-to-peer, knowledgeable assistance to families.
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We Offer Several Types of Help and Information
PEAK helps parents and educators to see new possibilities for children, expands their knowledge of special education issues, and offers new strategies for success. Our services include:
- A toll-free hotline with trained parent advisors who provide information, support, and referrals
- Free workshops statewide on successfully educating children with disabilities
- An annual conference on inclusive and best practice education attended by hundreds of parents and educators
- A family and resource library to help parents and educators increase their knowledge and skill sets
- An online statewide calendar of disability-related events
- SPEAKout e-Newsletter which contains the latest information and updates for families
- A parent leadership course for families of children with disabilities
- Leadership course for self-advocates and their families
- Person Centered Planning
- And more…
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Our Reach Is Expanding
PEAK’s main office, which serves the entire state, is located in Colorado Springs. We also provide workshops throughout Colorado and have four Parent Outreach Community Connectors, working remotely across the state, who extend PEAK’s outreach efforts across Colorado.
Because of our expertise, PEAK also has been selected to provide technical assistance and support to the Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs) in 10 other states including: Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
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Who should contact PEAK Parent Center?
- Families of children with disabilities
- General Educators
- Special Educators
- Individuals with disabilities
- Friends of Children with Disabilities
- General Education Administrators
- Special Education Administrators
- Related Service Providers
- Professionals in the Education, Medical, and Human Service Fields
- Individuals who wish to contract with PEAK for consultation, customized in-service trainings, curriculum development, in-service presentations and/or workshops on a fee-for-service basis.
- Professionals in education, medical, and human service fields
- Individuals who wish to contract with PEAK for consultation, customized in-service trainings, curriculum development, in-service presentations and workshops on a fee-for-service basis
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Is there a cost for PEAK Parent Center services?
- Many of PEAK services are provided at no cost to parents and families
- PEAK also provides consultation, customized in-service trainings, and project evaluation services to community groups and school districts on a fee-for-service basis
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Executive Director
Barbara Buswell*
Colorado Springs, CO
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PEAK Parent Center Board of Directors
Kent Willis*
President
Attorney
Frisco, CO
Sarah Billerbeck*
Vice President
Parent
Denver, CO
Delois Meyer*
Secretary
Parent
Broomfield, CO
Shelly McCrary*
Treasurer
Parent
Colorado Springs, CO
Christi Kasa
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, CO
Sandra Kwesell*
Parent
Colorado Springs, CO
Gerry Olvey
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, CO
Sandi Patrick-Hendricks*
Clinical Social Worker
Limon, CO
Diana Jolly
Community Volunteer
Hugo, CO
Board Member Emeritus
*parent of a child with a disability or self advocate
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