Resources For Parents

Pre-ARD Checklist

  • This resource provides a list of ways you can prepare for an Admission, Review, and Dismissal meeting.

Texas Organization of Parents, Attorneys, and Advocates

  • The Texas Organization of Parents, Attorneys, and Advocates (TOPAA) is focused on the state and federal laws regulating the education and related services of Texas students with disabilities. They hope to create meaningful, lasting change in the Texas education system.

Non-Educational Community-Based Support Services

  • The 74th Texas Legislative appropriated funds for families of certain students with disabilities. This money is non-educational community-based support services help them care for their children and to help them better cope with having an individual with a disability at home.

    Parents wishing to access services should contact their child’s school and request a meeting to discuss the need for non-educational services. School districts and charter schools that choose to apply for non-educational funds must have a planning meeting to discuss options for non-educational services. Persons attending and participating in this meeting should include district staff knowledgeable about the student, and representatives from the local mental health agency or the local Community Resource Coordination Groups of Texas.

Community Resource Coordination Groups

  • CRCGs are county-based groups of local partners and community members that work with parents, caregivers, youth and adults with complex needs to identify and coordinate services and supports.

    They help people whose needs can’t be met by one single agency and who would benefit from interagency coordination.

    They strive to meet the person’s and family’s needs with community-based solutions whenever possible.

Parent Advocacy Program

  • Texas Partners in Policymaking is an advanced leadership development training program for self-advocates and family members of people with developmental disabilities.

IDEA Manual: A Guide for Texas Parents and Students on Special Education Rights

  • A joint project between the Arc of Texas and Disability Rights Texas, the IDEA Manual details the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In 1975, the United States passed Public Law 94-142, now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), to ensure all students with disabilities receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE). Congress amended it in 1997 and again in 2004. Congress stated that the purpose of IDEA is to prepare students for further education, employment and independent living.

    This manual is designed to help you become familiar with the requirements of IDEA and Texas law so you can act as an equal partner in planning your child’s education. You will learn, by using this manual and by working with school staff, how to plan an educational program that will lead to an independent and productive life for your child and yourself.