RE: re: ARD requirements

June 20, 2004

Again, I think this is is a very important matter

to submit to TEA--that the districts are doing a lousy

job educating parents about how to write good IEPs.

Each district should offer a monthly workshop on what is

an IEP and what considerations need to go into writing good

ones. Yet most parents know nothing about it. The teachers

really don't even explain the rules and procedures brochure.

I have been surprised at the language used at ARD meetings.

When it is a school directed goal, they make sure to specify

everything about it in writing " just to make sure that it happens "

as I heard one OT say. When it is something that the parents

want, then suddenly it doesn't need to be on paper. We understand

what you want.

The change of placement thing is kind of a moot point because a

parent the right to call an ARD when they feel the need to.

Re: ARD requirements

I too just finished having this exact same discussion with my school

district (Clear Creek ISD)! - the week before school let out they

send a letter saying only that my son would be moved to a different

campus for PPCD next fall, and would be that - no ARD (and they

referred me to some of the same reasons already given in this thread

as to why they were fully within their rights). They tell me that

they are doing me a favor by moving my son to his home campus, but

the home campus doesn't have a motor lab, and I'm worried that even

though the previous speech therapist gave my son 1-1 because of his

inability to focus when other children are working with her at the

same time, since it isn't spelled out specifically in his IEP to get

1-1 speech he won't receive it at the new campus. I guess that just

goes to show us all once again, that we need to be sure to spell out

explicitly in the IEP's everything our kids need, because you can't

take it on faith that you will be dealing with the same principal,

teacher, or therapists who made you assurances about how things would

be when you had the ARD through the duration of time until the next

ARD.

-

Texas Autism Advocacy

Unlocking Autism

www.UnlockingAutism.org

Autism-Awareness-Action

Worldwide internet group for parents who have a

child with AUTISM.

SeekingJoyinDisability - Prayer support for those touched by Disability:

SeekingJoyinDisability/

June 20, 2004

<<HISD has basically said they're not going to put a life skills class in

every elementary.>>

They don't have to - but why aren't they offering the parents

transportation? This should be included in the child's IEP as a related

service! If the child cannot benefit from the educational programming

without getting to school, then the school needs to provide special ed

transportation!

BTW, if a specific campus is identified in a child's IEP then the school

CANNOT unilaterally change it without going back to ARD. If the only thing

that was specified in the ARD was a generalized statement, such as type of

classroom, then the school can go ahead and change the placement. Look

carefully at your ARD documents and see what was written!! This is also

extremely useful in the later years, especially once in Middle and High

school.

A little over a year ago I had a similar situation - it wasn't a change of

campus but a change of classrooms in Middle School. According to our

district, and TEA confirmed this, a child's " placement " CAN be changed

WITHOUT an ARD as long as all elements of his/her IEP can still be met.

This means that once a child is covered under special ed and is in any type

of special ed class the school can " unilaterally " change this placement to

any other type of special ed class - from resource to self-contained,

including behavior, life skills, etc. THIS IS CONSIDERED PERFECTLY LEGAL -

there is nothing in federal or state law that states otherwise!!

One of my kids (PDD & Bipolar) had an " elective " of office work, but we had

an IEP with specific goals and objectives. One of the district's sped

administrators thought she could change his placement by moving him out of

the specified class into another. This was done in the middle of a school

year, I was not notified until AFTER the change was made and they told my

son BEFORE the told me. He was a disaster!! They changed all the rules on

him - then wanted to know why he was a mess! Luckily we had specified on

his schedule of services page the specific class setting by name. An

another saving grace was the specific IEP goals and objectives which could

only be carried out in a specific setting. Obviously the sped coordinator

did not read my son's IEPs carefully and missed these specifics. By the end

of the 2nd day of constant emails and phone calls, everything was back to

the way it had been.

Barbara

June 21, 2004

I can see pros and cons for both situations (home school vs. another school with

appropriate programs)....let me tell you where I'm coming from. We have just

moved from New Jersey, and are waiting for our house in Houston to be completed

(mid July). We will be in the Cy-Fair ISD, with Copeland as our home school.

In New Jersey (where every district is NOT wonderful, by the way, according to

the parents I know up there), we were in a fantastic situation. There was an

elementary school across the street, but my son went to another school that had

the program suited for him. He was bussed (which is REQUIRED -- your friends

should have transportation provided for their child!!), which worked well. I am

SO glad that the district put all of their resources into a single, well-planned

program at one school, rather than spreading the resources out over the other 10

elementary schools. Since our district was small, it worked well. Now, when we

looked into the districts in Houston, we were told that for the most part it is

a neighborhood school situation, which is also okay since Connor will be able to

go to school with the kids he plays with in the neighborhood -- not the case in

NJ, where playdates with his classmates were more of a challenge to schedule due

to the distance between the kids' homes. Fortunately, Connor started

mainstreaming part of each day into a regular K class with an aide, and did

extremely well, so that is our plan for first grade. The Child Study Team in NJ

did a fantastic job of re-drafting our IEP for next year with very, very

specific information, so that there will be no doubt as to what services Connor

had and should have. I'm still nervous about the switch, since we did have such

a good situation, but we're hopeful that as Connor continues to progress so well

and spends more time in a mainstream environment, that this will also be a good

situation for him. The information here on this list is good (although a bit

scary at times; seems like everyone has had problems with the schools here at

some time or the other), and has helped us a lot. We'll see what happens!

e

re: ARD requirements

Jeff/a--

" Unless the IEP of a child with a disability requires some other

arrangement, the child is educated in the school that he or she would attend

if non-disabled--the " Home " School. "

Well I can tell that HISD does NOT follow this. They basically say, " Here

is the school where there is a program that will suit your child. " Doesn't

matter if you have a home school a block away. I am helping a family right

now who don't have transportation and find it a hardship to have their child

at the school the district wants her. HISD has basically said they're not

going to put a life skills class in every elementary.

June 21, 2004