Schools and IEP (Dallas, Plano, Richardson: house, school district, live) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

VL33 · 09-09-2015, 10:14 AM

We will be relocating to Dallas area soon. We have 1 child with a learning disability. We have not had him professionally tested, only tested through his school. We, as in his parents, think he has a learning disability as in he does not comprehend very well in reading (what, where, when, how, why?). His school that he is in now doesn't think he needs to be tested as they see that it's not anything that deals with autism. He is in iep and special ed at his current school. But since we will be moving to the Dallas area are not very sure where we should even start looking for a house since we don't know what school to send him too. My husband will have to commute to downtown Dallas for work. Right now, his drive is about 30-40 minutes out. We don't want the commute to be much more different than now. So we are trying to find out what school district is rated best for helping children with learning disabilities? Where/Who do you recommend to us to have him tested at? We think he might do better if the classes were smaller. Any suggestions and recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

masonsmom4 · 09-10-2015, 05:27 PM

I am not sure which areas are the best for a commute to downtown. It seems like Plano, Frisco, Allen are recommended very often for new families and their schools are some of the best. I imagine those districts would be able to service your child well. I only have experience with Lewisville ISD in Flower Mound for our services and while I would recommend them to any special needs family it probably falls outside your desired commute.

Honestly, I would assume that any of the highly desired districts that have families moving here by the hundreds have made much progress in handling high functioning students as autism rates are going so high. I think children on the spectrum have many opportunities here in North Texas.

One thing that might help: Lewisville ISD's Special Education PTSA has a provider directory that you can download. It includes doctors, therapists, special programs, etc. for special needs children and it is put together by parents who have experience with these providers. There may be some testing facilities in there as well, I can't remember right now. It includes resources located in most of the Northern Dallas suburbs, so whether you end up in Plano (or Grapevine or wherever) you may at least find some direction. Also, IEP's are called ARD's here. I forget what it stands for. I have been so pleased with what Texas has to offer my son, I hope you find the same. Good luck!

bamaintex · 09-10-2015, 07:05 PM

Actually, they are still IEPs here. The ARD is the review process/meetings. My son has a speech IEP in Allen and I had an ARD meeting yesterday. I commute to downtown Dallas 3 days/week and while I've had much worse commutes, it's not all that great. I can make the morning drive in 40 minutes, but I leave at 6:45am. If I leave later, it's close to an hour. It takes between 50-60 minutes in the afternoon and I leave the office at 4pm. My neighbor works in special Ed in Richardson and she has good things to say about their programs.

Pink Babe · 09-10-2015, 07:47 PM

You might want to consider getting your child tested for learning differences. Dallas is blessed to have many different private schools that specialize in dealing with learning differences. Contact the Shelton School for private testing. You can also check out Scottish Rite Hospital but the wait for appointments is long.

Difficulty is reading is usually related to dyslexia, not autism. If your child is dyslexic or has some sort of processing issue, you need to know that. It is hard to think about schools when you aren't really sure what you are dealing with in terms of learning.

Good luck!

masonsmom4 · 09-12-2015, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bamaintex

Actually, they are still IEPs here. The ARD is the review process/meetings. My son has a speech IEP in Allen and I had an ARD meeting yesterday. I commute to downtown Dallas 3 days/week and while I've had much worse commutes, it's not all that great. I can make the morning drive in 40 minutes, but I leave at 6:45am. If I leave later, it's close to an hour. It takes between 50-60 minutes in the afternoon and I leave the office at 4pm. My neighbor works in special Ed in Richardson and she has good things to say about their programs.

You're right. I guess I was referring to the lingo I use in my head. Everywhere I've lived before was always an IEP and an IEP meeting, but here they throw in the "ARD". It's the ARD meeting for the IEP. When I first moved here I had no idea what they were talking about when they set up an "ARD meeting" and I've been doing this special ed. thing for 10+ years now.