Parents, guardians, and/or legal caregivers are essential members of the Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) committee, or Individual Educational Programming (IEP) committee. During this annual meeting, a lot of information is shared and discussed. For some, all of this can be overwhelming, difficult to follow, and quite daunting. At times, you may be feeling a little lost and confused by the jargon and acronyms flying around.
You may also feel uncomfortable with the changes suggested by others to your child’s programming, services, and/or goals. At this point, you may also feel a little lost and unsure of what to do next. You aren’t feeling comfortable and are not ready to agree to everything that has been said in the ARD meeting. The good news is that federal law states that you don’t have to.
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), parents, guardians, and legal caregivers are provided a lot of rights. One of these is the right to request to take a break (table or take a recess) for up to 10 days. This is used when a parent, guardian, or legal caregiver disagrees with the proposed changes to the programming, services, and/or goals by the ARD/IEP committee.
During this time, everyone can:
Evaluate what was initially proposed.
Gather additional information
Ask for outside assistance
The goal of this time is to gather additional resources that will help the committee reach a general agreement for everyone. Most importantly, that your student will get the support they need and be successful.
DID YOU KNOW?
A parent may request an independent facilitator from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to lead and support an ARD meeting that is currently in a recess due to disagreement.
To get an independent facilitator, submit a request form to TEA within 5 days of the ARD meeting which ended in disagreement.
19 T.A.C. 89.1197 