ARD Process

Okay, I think we're going to go ahead and get started since it is twelve o'clock and I know we have a pretty lengthy presentation today. My name is Sarah Untersi. I'm a consultant here at the Region ten Education Service Center. We are so happy to have Jim Wright with us from Partners Resource Network. He is going to be presenting today on a guide to the ARD process in Texas. Again, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to put those in the chat. We will try to answer as many as we can. This webinar is being recorded today and we will have this available on the Region ten website here in a few days so that you are able to go back and watch this if you would like to. So, will go ahead and turn it over to Jim to get started. Alright, thank you. My name is Jim Wright. I'm with Partners Resource Network. We are Texas's PTI, that's parent and training information center. That is outlined in the IDA law that all state, all states have to have at least one PTI. Texas has gotten so large that we now for PTIs. In West Texas, we have the Penn project. And in the central area, the Austin area, we have the team project in the Houston coastal area, we have the path project. And up here in North and East Texas, we have the packed project and I'm the coordinator for region ten area. And we're excited to be collaborating with region ten ESE to bring this information to you. On these series of webinars we've put together throughout the school year. One thing that's interesting about working for partners resource network is that in the law, it's required that we have children with disabilities. And so I have a nineteen year old with Down syndrome, he's legally blind, and he's serviced in the Frisco ISD area. And then he has a younger brother who is sixteen. And he is also been served in special education from the start of age of three. He started with speech, then he was identified with dyslexia, then he was identified as being gifted. So that's something called twice exceptional. And so I've been very grateful for all the information I've been given by partners resource network as a parent before I became a professional. And I really feel through that collaboration, teaching me how to work with the schools that my children are definitely success stories of the special education system. And they have been able to, you know, benefit from the supports that Frisco ISD and the Texas Education Agency provides to our children. So today, we're going to get into a guide to the art process in Texas. It's not a very fun presentation sometimes or a topic to talk about. But it is a very useful tool that we need to have to make sure that our children are advancing and getting the correct information for them. So how do you get help for your child that's, you know, the school age, the first step is you want to always communicate with your child's teacher administration at the school, the assistant principal, the principal, and then you know, to make sure that we have all our services that are available to all of our students. Also, we are going to follow-up with this presentation with the slide deck. So don't worry about taking notes so much. And it will also come with a couple of additional resources to go more into depth about the laws and the terms and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, please don't feel free that that we're talking over, and you're not sure what's going on. So the very first thing that you get is you get something called the notice of procedural safeguards. And I think there's gonna be a link put into your in the chat on how to access this if you need to. But you have to be brought at least once a year, anytime you have your initial request for evaluation, anytime there's a complaint, anytime there's a due process hearing, or, you know, any type of discipline, disciplinary issue, they have to go through the, procedure safeguards. Now we have a whole training on procedural safeguards. And we did in Regent ended, do one last week or last month, I guess. And, it's okay that you don't know everything in the procedural safeguards, you're not really sure about it, because you get it every year, and you don't really look at it. It's only when you have some differences of opinions, are you something that's going a little bit more serious, that you really will need to dive into that and to figure that out. But no, you do need to know how to access it and why it exists. It's there to facilitate communication between parents and schools when we have differences of opinions. So it's a really well written and it's, you know, designed by the IDA laws, and they're working with the TEA to come up with, you know, how we're going to proceed to communicate together. And so, you want to have a referral for a full individual and initial evaluation, what we call an FiE, or in this case, FiE. And then after that, every three years, you'll have one called FiE. I'm also going to send you a fact sheet that has all their acronyms. So you can start speaking sped language because it's a secret coded language that once you get the acronyms and the keywords, and you know what they mean, then your team is going to have that much more respect for you, that you're giving yourself that knowledge to understand the language that they're talking about. So it's to help you to understand when they say things, they're not trying to be secret about it. It's just there's so many, different aspects of social education that, you know, it's just easier to talk on those acronyms. And as part of the government and governments love acronyms too. But just know that it can be initiated by the parent, school personnel, or any person involved in education and the care of the student. The key thing is, though, it can only be done with your parent consent. And so you are going to be involved in this process. So don't think that they're trying to go around you above your head or like that. You are a partner in this process. And when we do a referral, we want to get a an evaluation done in all areas of suspected disability. And going forward, when you're at this point, everything that you do, you really want to keep it in writing, because you'll be within the system for many, many years. And it's hard to remember all the details. And so by keeping things in writing, as issues come up, you have a frame of reference. And in Texas, anything that's spoken is considered, but it's not considered like it's considered like, hey, heresy, when you have it documented with the date and time of the event, then we have data and we have facts that we can work from. So prior written notice is one of the most confusing terms for me personally, and this process of special education. But it's a legal term that's required when the school proposes to do something or refuses to do something. It's whether it's identification, evaluation, educational program, educational placement, or providing fake free appropriate public education. The reason I find that confusing is usually it's at the end of the meeting. So it's, it's not the prior to the meeting, but it's at the end, but it is prior written notices, the legal term and ID law. So it's important to understand the concept of the law and what its purpose is. So parental consent. Again, this is to show that you are a part of this process, you have to get parental consent for initial evaluation, and the initial provisions of services. And you must be informed in your native language or form of communication. So if you're not a native English speaker, and you're not comfortable understanding legal ramifications, you do have the right to have that information presented to you and that information. One thing about the procedural safeguards link that we sent in earlier, sped text on their website has translated into many, many different languages, I think it's over twenty something languages there. And so it's very important that you understand it in your your native language that you understand what the process is. We're not trying to trick you. We're not trying to fool you not trying to make you do anything. We want you to know how to understand how we're trying to help your child benefit from their public education experience. To determine eligibility for special education services, they must meet both of these requirements, they must have an identity, a disability, and they must need special education services to benefit from education. So you have to have an educational need. That having a disability, there are thirteen different qualifications for special education services, according to IDA. And, you know, we'll go into that at another time. And also, it's in those handouts that we be sending news, those thirteen qualifications, but so you have to have a disability, and you have to have a need to benefit from that. So that sometimes can get kind of tricky. So it's good to have good communication, open communication. And so you really understand what is going on to, understand how your child is being served. So then we will go to the art committee meetings, they must be held at least once a year, to review the students IP. And we call that the annual determine whether annual goals are being met. And then we talk about, you know, how are we progressing? Do we have any reevaluations? What are those results? What is the information that we've been talking about? What are our concerns? What are the needs of the student as we get older and they're progressing through their education experience? Any other special factors or other matters? Say your child has gotten a new diagnosis, or has gotten very ill, and you have to spend some more time with the doctors, and that's going take away from things, those things come up, especially in our children that are more in self contained classrooms, that we have to get as parents, we have to give the school information, so they can make the right decisions to support our kids. We don't want to keep things secret so much. I'm a big believer that both parties need to be transparent and need to be have the data information the child or the child's needs. So both parties can come to an agreement of what is appropriate to serve that child. And the art committee commitment membership, we have the parents, you have to have at least one regular education teacher, one special ed teacher, the individual who can interpret evaluation results. Oftentimes, it's the diagnostician, sometimes it's the assistant principal or principal, an individual who represents the district. Oftentimes, that's the assistant principal or principal. And sometimes it's actually is somebody from the actual school district, and the student when appropriate. I want to encourage you that if your student starts at the age of thirteen, and fourteen, and above, you want them to participate at least at some point, at some part of that that ARD meeting. I'm a big believer in that because that student is learning how to self advocate. That student is learning that decisions are made on their behalf. And so if they're in the IDD world or self contained world, you may get past, the education, though, chances are they're going to another system through the state Medicaid systems, and decisions are made for them through meetings with them. In fact, I'm having a meeting tomorrow afternoon with with my, son's caseworkers to talk about these things. So it's very important that your child understands that decisions are made for them around a group of people that are well meaning for their their life. But the more that they can participate, they're able to communicate their wants and needs, the better that that child is going to have for the rest of their life. And our meetings are really good practice for the child to understand that their input is wanted. It's respected. And it would you know, what are the consequences or how things work for things that you asked for. So I am a really big believer in that. Now, there's some controversy type of thing. They don't necessarily have to be there for the whole meeting, but they do need to be there for like when we talk about the transition parts are about what their needs or wants are. So you can balance that out. But as we don't want to shield our children too much from that, because as parents, we, we want to protect our children. And so we have to sometimes get out of our comfort zones and to allow for that process to happen. Our meeting scheduling the school must invite the parents to each art committee, give you at least five school days notice before the meeting, arrange a meeting and time and place agreeable to the school and the parent. And they can conduct a meeting without the parents if the parents refuse to attend. Now, if the school says you're meeting on this such day, and then you can't meet that date, you do have the ability and the right to respond and say I'm unable to meet at that time and date. But I suggest that you give three to five more additional times and dates that you are able to meet, because that demonstrates to the school and anybody else that would maybe looking at this document, that you are wanting to participate, and that you are making an effort to that. And we just have to figure out what's mutually agreeable versus being dictated, this is the only chance that you have to meet. And so it's important to know that you do have the right to meet at a time that is convenient or you're available to meet. With the technology we have nowadays, we can do zoom meetings just like we're doing right now, those are starting to become more and more common, or can have call in meetings as well. I think a zoom meeting is much more preferable, because at least you're getting some contact of the visual. But obviously, in person is the ideal. But, whether it be work conflicts, scheduling conflicts, or health conflicts, it's understandable about that. But you really, really want to participate in that meeting. What are the art committee responsibilities, they must consider the strengths of the students, your concerns as a parent, review what the most recent evaluation is, with the present levels of the of the student, you know, where are they academically? Where are they developmentally? You know, where are they functionally? So I personally like to get this information, at least three to five days prior to the meeting. So I asked the school in writing, hey, can you send to me all the evaluations, all your goal proposals, any type of draft proposals that we're going to have, you know, you can't say I want the IP because IP is not done until after the meeting, but they do have a draft. And the reason for that is I like to be prepared for that. And to understand, you know what the concerns are from the school side. And if I have concerns from my side, then I will write up my parents statement, my concerns, and I'll share that with the school, three or four days in advance, so they have time to consider, you know, the concerns, and then they know, you know, what we what I would like to focus as a parent point of view, and the meeting and so that helps make the meetings a lot more efficient, faster, because everybody's pressed for time. And that makes the communication a little clearer. And also hopefully remove some of the emotions because sometimes, you know, we get upset that we're, you know, not concerned that things are going the right way or the way we'd want them. But until you can remove that emotion, get on paper, you know what your concerns are, we can't really solve the issue. And because the most important need is the student. It's not about your ego, or the educators egos is not about any of that. It's all about what does a student need to be successful. And so I think that is a great tool is to get that information upfront, share their information that you're concerned about, and get the process of communication going. The art committee responsibilities when developing an IP, the art committee must develop measurable annual goals. And so that means they should be a ideally be a percentage of Johnny will get x percent of this task this many times, it will be observed either by work observation, or that type of thing. And we have a course, we have another presentation all about that. So I'm not gonna go too deep into that. We determine what does the child need, as far as accommodation participation, for the not just the state assessments and the, you know, the college exams, all that kind stuff, but what do they need to be successful on a day to day basis. So we need to have accommodations to kind of meet both of those needs, identify supplementary aids and services. And my student, my older son's case, he needs the iPad for, communication device that has some programs on there that helps him communicate, helps him with some scheduling, that type of thing. And he also has some visual tools in there that helps him with that to see better. And so those are some supplemental aids and services that he benefits from. And then if your student has a case with, autism, then there's an autism supplement and then the our state agency, PRN, and region ten ESC, sped techs are doing a joint presentation on the autism supplement by Elaine Pethic next week, and I think Sarah's gonna put that the link to register for that. I really recommend, you signing up for that. Lane is I'm gonna say he's my hero. I really look forward to every time I have the opportunity to hear from him because he inspires me so much. I learned so much from him. And I encourage parents and educators to attend anything that Lane has to say because he is all about getting the most out of our kids to reaching their potential. So what are our committee responsibilities? When developing an IP, the committee should decide at the school of the child qualifies for ESY services extended school year. And just know that it's not. I wish he needs I think he I think he needs to go to summer school. I wish he went to summer school, there has to be a need. And how they determine that need is through data. And it's about regression. And so it's in depends on where you are. It's either six to eight weeks of they come back to school, how long did it take them to regain their, their skills they had or the goals that they mastered from last May. So you can do as a parent, you can kind of measure these things yourself or ask the school to say, Hey, the skill that he had back in May, he's not, he's taking them too long to get that back again. And if that's the case, then that child is eligible for extended school year. For my oldest child, it was kind of interesting. He would qualify about every other year because the years that he had, yes, why he didn't regress, and then he didn't qualify. And then the next year, he regressed, and then he qualified. So finally, I had this documentation and said, Look back to these odds here. Every time that he went to ESY, he did not regress every time he did not go to ESY, he did regress. So we're not going to have him regress every other year, we have enough data to justify that he qualifies, and benefits from extended school year. But it wasn't because I wish he wanted to go there, I wanted to go there, I had the data. And I was able to point it out through the paperwork of the school that he did meet eligibility requirements. And so that's how you as a parent can advocate for your child is keeping track of that data. Because going through all this process, all your diagnosticians will change, all your therapists will change, all your educators will change, all your administrators will change, but you are the constant of your child. And so as a parent on you to keep track of that. And again, we have another workshop on how do you organize your appointment work. So that's another topic for another time. The other topic we're talking about is least restrictive environment. And that can be an emotional issue sometimes. And again, those decisions are based on data, and needs to be based on the need of the child, not on on what you want or wish or hope as a parent. And if you do have differences of opinion that you really need to educate yourself and you really need to have in-depth conversations. And it doesn't have to be in the art committee. It can be in a parent teacher conference or a parent administrator conference. So you can get that knowledge and get that understanding because, you know, schools really want to meet the needs of your child. By and large, they really, really want to do that. And the tools that they have available to them, very different from district to district. But you want to be aware, you know, what is offered in your district. You know, what's the criteria for that? What does that population look like? And you know, what are the pros and cons? What are the benefits of your child being in that setting? And I get calls oftentimes from a child that's struggling emotionally or having troubles with anxiety and those type of things. And so I talked to parents often about the benefits of going in a more restrictive environment sometimes, because it doesn't have to be permanent, it just has to be to that child can get their social emotional needs met. And so that you know, this is a tool to help do that. So those are conversations that you can have with other professionals with us, a partner resource network with your education team at your school. And then lastly, we decide you know whether the student has met graduation criteria. So discipline is, you know, it's a pretty big issue. The student code of conduct applies to all students. So I want to say this, if your student has autism, or, or emotional disturbance or difficulties, Please, please read the entire school code of conduct from start to finish. So at least your child knows when they're asked to be in to do something by a friend, that they have the opportunity to know that if they do that, that they are choosing a wrong thing. Because if that student has not read the code of conduct or does not know what is in the school code of conduct. And they make a decision based on trying to fit in with their friends. And they make a bad decision such as bringing a can of beer on the bus. I've had that as a case, bringing, you know, tobacco or any type of those type of things. Because they were asked by a friend and they didn't understand the consequences of that. They were under subject to discipline, regardless of their disability. So it's important on certain issues that you know, you know what those criteria are for a child with a disability, you know, what protections they have, and what they're still subject to. Now, if there's something in the code of conduct that your student cannot meet because of their disability, you need to discuss this at the art meeting and consider that whether they're they can be exempt from that particular part of the code of conduct, as noted in the paperwork, because if it's not, they are subject to everything in that code of conduct. Anytime that we have a change of placement, either through alternative school, or ISS for more than ten days and doesn't have to be consecutive, it's collective, then we also have to have a meeting about that. Here's the meeting we're talking about just on the last slide. It's amazing how the slides will work together. It's called a manifestation determination and conduct ARD. So are we have reviews MDR. We have this meeting, that they'd still have to give you five days notice on this meeting, even though that was something that was, you know, pretty bad. They still have to give a notice and then you still have the right to get that information. So anytime that you have that this is this is when you want to read your procedural safeguards. This is when you want to reach out to, sped text partners resource network to understand what the rights are, and to understand you know, what your child needs. This is also the laws of Texas have also changed quite a bit this past year, about discipline and what's needed. And so this is also a good time that if we don't have a behavior intervention plan, or BIP, this is a good time that we probably need to evaluate for the need of one. Because ultimately, behavior is a form of communication of a need that's not being met. And so as parents and educators, we need to dig down and figure out what need does that student have that's not being met. Now, there are definitely consequences to certain serious actions. But if your child has a disability, they are sometimes protected a little bit more than a child without a without a disability. But this is through a formal meeting. And then we have a determination to see whether that child is an action because of disability or not because of disability. And again, in the handouts above, we'll have a quite a bit more information about the legalities of all that. Dispute resolution, and this is outlined in your procedural safeguards. This is what things that we have offered to us a facilitated IP through TEA mediation, you have the ability to file a complaint, or to do a due process hearing. The other thing that I'd like to encourage parents to follow is that these are listed in our order. And I really suggest that you follow the order that's outlined in the procedural safeguards. Because we don't want to skip steps in filing our complaint, we don't want to skip steps and doing our due process hearing, because we're not enhancing our chances to be successful. Now, the reason that these are set up to be done in this order is each is designed to have both parties come to the table and talk. Whether it's with an outside person, or a person within the district that could be facilitating. It is a way to share your concerns, the school can share their concerns, and they have conversations to get together on the same page. If you know, we do this one step, and it's still still not still not agreeing, then we go to the next step, then we go to the next step, the next step. And all along the way, you know, we need to document your concerns, the actions of that, because the school is definitely documenting their side. But as parents, you can document your perspective and your concerns. And know that you will be heard at some point of this level doesn't mean it's going to go your way all the time. But you will be heard. And the great thing about this is that if we do this with fidelity, we really and earnestly are trying to come together. Most issues are solved, and we can get to a form of agreement on how to proceed. And so that's why I do really like about the procedural safeguards, because it is designed to get us together and to solve these hard issues. So what do expect to our meetings? It's kind of overview of what we just went through, we have our introductions, we're going to review our data, we're going to make sure the pleth, the present levels of academic achievement and functional performance is accurate. And as a parent, you really want to read this very carefully. Because say you transfer to another school, say you have to move, say another teacher comes into your classroom because of, you know, or whatever. This document is going to say, this is your child. And so you need to be very confident that this is who your child is. And so you want this to be a true representation. For us, for me personally, I like to have these conversations prior to the meeting. Because we can be a less stressful because once you're in an art meeting, it is a legal occupation or legal legal proceeding. And having this conversation outside of that allows for people to be a little bit more open, have communication be a little bit more, free. And then what we decide we put on paper, and then we formalize it in the art. I'm not saying you have to do this every time. But anytime there's there's differences opinions, I think it's good to try to get that on the same page as much as possible prior to the meeting. So we're gonna review and develop the IP, we're going to determine the placement, you know, what the least restrictive environment, we're going to read our assurances in our minutes. And we have our closing remarks and signatures. And just know that there, you know, some districts do where everybody signs some districts do only two people sign. There's no right way or wrong way. But just know that there's only two signatures that truly matter is the representative of the school. And you as a parent, and those are the ones that are going to be determined agree and disagree. Just because the school has nine people on the table, and you only have three people on your table doesn't mean you're being out voted nine to three. So I just want to make sure that's clear, because a lot of parents are real concerned about, you know, this case, you do have an equal vote and everything. So have that confidence in yourself that you know, this is a process designed to make sure that we are on the same page. So that is the end of a presentation. I went through it a lot faster than I normally do. I think I made our thirty minute mark. And we'll go to our Q and A and chat. So I will stop sharing. Thank you so much for sharing that with us today. That was such valuable information. I think we had just a couple of questions during the presentation, I was able to get those answered. And then I did share those links in the chat as well, with some of those documents, so they are also available to everyone. All right. Thank you everyone for your time today. Really appreciate it. I am going to drop one more link in the chat and that is just the Region ten website where you can find the recordings, it does take about a week for these webinars to get uploaded to the website once we are finished with those. But this one will be available our presentation from August is already available and then again Jim touched on it a little bit in his presentation as well, but that's fedtex dot org is a fantastic website with lots and lots of resources. The Partners Resource Network, prn dot org, right, is you guys org? Prntexas dot org. Prntexas dot org also has a lot of great resources for families available. So please feel free to reach out to any of us if you have any questions, and thank you for being here today.