ARD Meeting Farce

[Guest guest]

In theory, parents are supposed to be members of the ARD Committee

and have an equal voice in the determination of their child's IEP.

In reality, many of us have experienced being presented with what

the school personnel have developed prior to the ARD meeting. We

are told to " take it, or leave it, " and our concerns and knowledge

are ignored -- the minutes may reflect that they were " considered, "

but they certainly are never considered with any conviction.

School personnel refuse to admit that this is the case, because such

an admission would mean that school districts are not complying with

IDEA.

I recently found some very interesting posts on the Texas

Educational Diagnostician Association's message board. I don't

expect the posts to be on there for long, nor do I expect the board

to be accessible by the public for much longer because this is the

kind of information that educators do not want parents to have

access to.

A diagnostician posted: " On the signature page of the ARD, if I as

a diag don't agree to the placement, is it legal to sign 'in

attendance' next to my name without checking 'do not agree'?

[Obviously, she doesn't agree, but she doesn't want to call

attention to the fact that she doesn't agree. She just wants to

fade into oblivion, and not speak up about what she believes is best

for the child. She at least has enough conscience to not want to

appear to agree.]

Another diagnostician responded: " The admin is the person that

represents the district and is the voice. maybe you should have

taken a short recess during the ard, or pre ard next time to ensure

the school is united. it also might bring up liability concerns if

a staff member is in disagreement. " [They admit it! They are not

to express their personal opinion in the ARD meeting. They are

supposed to let the admin state their position for them. They all

get together beforehand WITHOUT THE PARENTS to unite and make sure

that they are all on the same page!]

A recent thread surveyed what parents believe would make a good

special education director. Honesty is a very important

characteristic. Everyone must be honest about what is best for the

child. It is very dishonest for district personnel to develop the

IEP without the parents there and to decide beforehand as a group

what they will and will not agree to.

Marvin

[Guest guest]

I am an attorney who has represented both schools and parents, and while I

certainly appreciate your concerns, I think these posts paint an unnecessarily

dark view of what goes on behind the scenes at ARDs.

One thing most parents need to try to understand is that they can be far more

successful in asking for services that fit within the school district framework

than those that don't. For example, smaller classes would have benefitted my

daughter. But if you ask for this in an ARD, they're going to translate that

into resource classes, because those are the only smaller classes they have to

offer. In my daughter's case, most of the time resource classes would have been

more damaging than having a smaller class was beneficial. The " smaller classes "

many private evaluators recommend are usually only available if you secure

private school services.

When the school anticipates a difficult ARD or disagreement among the staff they

will often have a " staffing " with key staff to work out the disputed areas.

It's perfectly legal, and to my surprise, my daughter's middle school even

initiated inviting me to one once.

As a parent advocate, I try to beat them to the punch and request a " staffing "

to address those issues that both sides know are going to be difficult and may

be areas of disagreement. Then we have the key decision makers present, and

sometimes we may only arrive at multiple possiblities rather than a resolution.

The truth is that no one " makes " the staff agree at ARD's, but they do feel peer

pressure to agree. They're more likely to offer alternatives during the meeting

than to formally disagree at the end.

Having known all different kinds of diagnosticians in the twenty-five years I've

been doing this, I can assure you that they come in all different

varieties--from wonderful to horrible. The former is your child's best friend,

the latter you need to try to get away from as soon as possible.

kmarvinadams wrote:

In theory, parents are supposed to be members of the ARD Committee

and have an equal voice in the determination of their child's IEP.

In reality, many of us have experienced being presented with what

the school personnel have developed prior to the ARD meeting. We

are told to " take it, or leave it, " and our concerns and knowledge

are ignored -- the minutes may reflect that they were " considered, "

but they certainly are never considered with any conviction.

School personnel refuse to admit that this is the case, because such

an admission would mean that school districts are not complying with

IDEA.

I recently found some very interesting posts on the Texas

Educational Diagnostician Association's message board. I don't

expect the posts to be on there for long, nor do I expect the board

to be accessible by the public for much longer because this is the

kind of information that educators do not want parents to have

access to.

A diagnostician posted: " On the signature page of the ARD, if I as

a diag don't agree to the placement, is it legal to sign 'in

attendance' next to my name without checking 'do not agree'?

[Obviously, she doesn't agree, but she doesn't want to call

attention to the fact that she doesn't agree. She just wants to

fade into oblivion, and not speak up about what she believes is best

for the child. She at least has enough conscience to not want to

appear to agree.]

Another diagnostician responded: " The admin is the person that

represents the district and is the voice. maybe you should have

taken a short recess during the ard, or pre ard next time to ensure

the school is united. it also might bring up liability concerns if

a staff member is in disagreement. " [They admit it! They are not

to express their personal opinion in the ARD meeting. They are

supposed to let the admin state their position for them. They all

get together beforehand WITHOUT THE PARENTS to unite and make sure

that they are all on the same page!]

A recent thread surveyed what parents believe would make a good

special education director. Honesty is a very important

characteristic. Everyone must be honest about what is best for the

child. It is very dishonest for district personnel to develop the

IEP without the parents there and to decide beforehand as a group

what they will and will not agree to.

Marvin

Texas Autism Advocacy

www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

Texas Disability Network

Calendar of Events

www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

[Guest guest]

HI ,

Do you work your own practice or with a firm?

How old is your daughter? How is she presently in terms of progression and

moving forward?

Candis

Feller Heiligenthal wrote:

I am an attorney who has represented both schools and parents, and while I

certainly appreciate your concerns, I think these posts paint an unnecessarily

dark view of what goes on behind the scenes at ARDs.

One thing most parents need to try to understand is that they can be far more

successful in asking for services that fit within the school district framework

than those that don't. For example, smaller classes would have benefitted my

daughter. But if you ask for this in an ARD, they're going to translate that

into resource classes, because those are the only smaller classes they have to

offer. In my daughter's case, most of the time resource classes would have been

more damaging than having a smaller class was beneficial. The " smaller classes "

many private evaluators recommend are usually only available if you secure

private school services.

When the school anticipates a difficult ARD or disagreement among the staff they

will often have a " staffing " with key staff to work out the disputed areas.

It's perfectly legal, and to my surprise, my daughter's middle school even

initiated inviting me to one once.

As a parent advocate, I try to beat them to the punch and request a " staffing "

to address those issues that both sides know are going to be difficult and may

be areas of disagreement. Then we have the key decision makers present, and

sometimes we may only arrive at multiple possiblities rather than a resolution.

The truth is that no one " makes " the staff agree at ARD's, but they do feel peer

pressure to agree. They're more likely to offer alternatives during the meeting

than to formally disagree at the end.

Having known all different kinds of diagnosticians in the twenty-five years I've

been doing this, I can assure you that they come in all different

varieties--from wonderful to horrible. The former is your child's best friend,

the latter you need to try to get away from as soon as possible.

kmarvinadams wrote:

In theory, parents are supposed to be members of the ARD Committee

and have an equal voice in the determination of their child's IEP.

In reality, many of us have experienced being presented with what

the school personnel have developed prior to the ARD meeting. We

are told to " take it, or leave it, " and our concerns and knowledge

are ignored -- the minutes may reflect that they were " considered, "

but they certainly are never considered with any conviction.

School personnel refuse to admit that this is the case, because such

an admission would mean that school districts are not complying with

IDEA.

I recently found some very interesting posts on the Texas

Educational Diagnostician Association's message board. I don't

expect the posts to be on there for long, nor do I expect the board

to be accessible by the public for much longer because this is the

kind of information that educators do not want parents to have

access to.

A diagnostician posted: " On the signature page of the ARD, if I as

a diag don't agree to the placement, is it legal to sign 'in

attendance' next to my name without checking 'do not agree'?

[Obviously, she doesn't agree, but she doesn't want to call

attention to the fact that she doesn't agree. She just wants to

fade into oblivion, and not speak up about what she believes is best

for the child. She at least has enough conscience to not want to

appear to agree.]

Another diagnostician responded: " The admin is the person that

represents the district and is the voice. maybe you should have

taken a short recess during the ard, or pre ard next time to ensure

the school is united. it also might bring up liability concerns if

a staff member is in disagreement. " [They admit it! They are not

to express their personal opinion in the ARD meeting. They are

supposed to let the admin state their position for them. They all

get together beforehand WITHOUT THE PARENTS to unite and make sure

that they are all on the same page!]

A recent thread surveyed what parents believe would make a good

special education director. Honesty is a very important

characteristic. Everyone must be honest about what is best for the

child. It is very dishonest for district personnel to develop the

IEP without the parents there and to decide beforehand as a group

what they will and will not agree to.

Marvin

Texas Autism Advocacy

www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

Texas Disability Network

Calendar of Events

www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

[Guest guest]

I'm a solo practitioner and my daughter is now attending community college (she

has moderate learning disabilities but loves to learn--schoool is and always

will be a very uphill battle for her--I'm very proud of how hard she's worked

and how far she's come).

Candis Firchau wrote:HI ,

Do you work your own practice or with a firm?

How old is your daughter? How is she presently in terms of progression and

moving forward?

Candis

Feller Heiligenthal wrote:

I am an attorney who has represented both schools and parents, and while I

certainly appreciate your concerns, I think these posts paint an unnecessarily

dark view of what goes on behind the scenes at ARDs.

One thing most parents need to try to understand is that they can be far more

successful in asking for services that fit within the school district framework

than those that don't. For example, smaller classes would have benefitted my

daughter. But if you ask for this in an ARD, they're going to translate that

into resource classes, because those are the only smaller classes they have to

offer. In my daughter's case, most of the time resource classes would have been

more damaging than having a smaller class was beneficial. The " smaller classes "

many private evaluators recommend are usually only available if you secure

private school services.

When the school anticipates a difficult ARD or disagreement among the staff they

will often have a " staffing " with key staff to work out the disputed areas.

It's perfectly legal, and to my surprise, my daughter's middle school even

initiated inviting me to one once.

As a parent advocate, I try to beat them to the punch and request a " staffing "

to address those issues that both sides know are going to be difficult and may

be areas of disagreement. Then we have the key decision makers present, and

sometimes we may only arrive at multiple possiblities rather than a resolution.

The truth is that no one " makes " the staff agree at ARD's, but they do feel peer

pressure to agree. They're more likely to offer alternatives during the meeting

than to formally disagree at the end.

Having known all different kinds of diagnosticians in the twenty-five years I've

been doing this, I can assure you that they come in all different

varieties--from wonderful to horrible. The former is your child's best friend,

the latter you need to try to get away from as soon as possible.

kmarvinadams wrote:

In theory, parents are supposed to be members of the ARD Committee

and have an equal voice in the determination of their child's IEP.

In reality, many of us have experienced being presented with what

the school personnel have developed prior to the ARD meeting. We

are told to " take it, or leave it, " and our concerns and knowledge

are ignored -- the minutes may reflect that they were " considered, "

but they certainly are never considered with any conviction.

School personnel refuse to admit that this is the case, because such

an admission would mean that school districts are not complying with

IDEA.

I recently found some very interesting posts on the Texas

Educational Diagnostician Association's message board. I don't

expect the posts to be on there for long, nor do I expect the board

to be accessible by the public for much longer because this is the

kind of information that educators do not want parents to have

access to.

A diagnostician posted: " On the signature page of the ARD, if I as

a diag don't agree to the placement, is it legal to sign 'in

attendance' next to my name without checking 'do not agree'?

[Obviously, she doesn't agree, but she doesn't want to call

attention to the fact that she doesn't agree. She just wants to

fade into oblivion, and not speak up about what she believes is best

for the child. She at least has enough conscience to not want to

appear to agree.]

Another diagnostician responded: " The admin is the person that

represents the district and is the voice. maybe you should have

taken a short recess during the ard, or pre ard next time to ensure

the school is united. it also might bring up liability concerns if

a staff member is in disagreement. " [They admit it! They are not

to express their personal opinion in the ARD meeting. They are

supposed to let the admin state their position for them. They all

get together beforehand WITHOUT THE PARENTS to unite and make sure

that they are all on the same page!]

A recent thread surveyed what parents believe would make a good

special education director. Honesty is a very important

characteristic. Everyone must be honest about what is best for the

child. It is very dishonest for district personnel to develop the

IEP without the parents there and to decide beforehand as a group

what they will and will not agree to.

Marvin

Texas Autism Advocacy

www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

Texas Disability Network

Calendar of Events

www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org