What people are saying.

  • "The team at Kaplan Marquis Educational Consultants paved the way for our child’s success in both the education and career arenas. KMES helped us navigate the complicated school system’s offerings and guided us to successfully partake in all services available along the way. KMES also provided referrals for additional resources available to build upon our child’s future success. Fast-forward, with a BS degree from a respected state university and a career of choice, including management positions, our child is organized, independent, and most importantly, confident and happy!"

    — GP, Howard County

  • "When it became clear that our rising 6th grader would need an IEP heading into Middle School, we dreaded what we anticipated might be an adversarial, bureaucratic, and challenging process to convince the school to provide the services he would need. Lori was our Tiger Mom advocate. Somewhere between a Doula and savvy attorney, Lori demystified the whole process, prepared herself and us to walk into the meeting with everything we needed, and stood up for our son's needs. Thanks to Lori we were able to answer potentially "trick" questions accurately; in fact Lori knew even more about some of the nuances of the process than the school counselors did. She kept us from potential pitfalls that could have resulted in stripping our son of his accommodations if we switched schools. The school officials were highly complimentary of Lori as well, and impressed with how easy she made everything on both sides. Thanks to Lori we all sailed through the process easy peasy, with minimal stress, and a 100% satisfactory outcome. Worth every penny to sleep well at night."

    — ADT, Montgomery County

  • "Lori helped me navigate the process of developing a 504 plan for my child with ADHD, and she worked with me and elementary school administrators to socialize and implement it. Her compassionate, knowledgeable, and calm approach helped me find a path through a frustrating experience and realize what would work best for my family. She helped me think of practical solutions for the classroom and even at home, and we started this school year with confidence knowing what tools we have available and how to address potential challenges. I am so grateful to Lori for getting us on the right track!"

    — LL, Sarasota County 

  • "We can’t recommend Lori Marquis highly enough for anyone navigating Howard County's reassignment process. Her guidance was invaluable, providing clear and insightful advice every step of the way. From the very beginning, she demonstrated exceptional responsiveness, always promptly answering our questions and addressing our concerns. Despite the process being inherently stressful, she guided us through it with remarkable patience and clarity. Beyond her professional expertise, Lori approached every interaction with kindness and genuine empathy, making a challenging process much more manageable. Thanks to her support, we achieved a positive outcome, and we are truly grateful for her help."

    — MT, Howard County 

  • "We have had extremely positive experiences and outcomes when consulting with Ellen Kaplan of Kaplan Marquis, for IEP services for both of our boys, through middle and high school years. Ellen is the most knowledgeable, professional, caring and personal person we could have found as an advocate for our boys. She has doggedly pursued the best outcomes for them, while helping us fully understand the related laws and documentation (of which there is a lot), and while pushing the school IEP teams to word their solutions more carefully and with our individual kids in mind. We have had an incredibly eye-opening experience with Kaplan Marquis, which makes us feel prepared, empowered, and able to best advocate for our kids. This service is one of the most valuable things we have found in our parenting journey."

    — SS, Howard County

  • "Kaplan Marquis was very helpful in educating us on the special education process and made herself available to attend meetings at our child's school. The advocate was able to see both sides of the issues and our concerns as parents. They reviewed the school's data and collaborated with us and the school team to form a reasonable recommendation for our child."

    — R, Howard County

  • "My son has mild special educational needs and when he transitioned from a private school for dyslexic children (grade 1-5) to public middle school. I was overwhelmed trying to get him the support he needed in and out of the classroom. I finally hired Kaplan Marquis Educational Consultants (KMEC), as an advocate and it took two meetings both occurring within a month; one with me and my son, and, one school team meeting, to get him on the path to an individualized education program. To this day, I bring KMEC to all my son's school team meetings because they have the expertise on learning differences, educational law and have a relationship and rapport with the Howard County School System. KMEC's staff are professionally trained educational advocates with a keen understanding of the special needs educational system in the Howard County Schools. My experience with them over the last few years has been one of mutual respect and collaboration. I believe my son is receiving the best possible educational experience in the Howard County Schools as a result of KMEC efforts."

    — M, Howard County