What Is an IEP in Texas? ARD Committees, FIIE, and How It Works

You have been told your child needs an IEP, and the school handed you a notice about an "ARD meeting." If you have been reading national explainers about IEPs and none of them mention the ARD, the FIIE, or Chapter 89, you are missing the Texas-specific layer that actually governs what happens in your child's school.

An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is the legally binding written plan that defines the special education services your child receives from their public school. Every state follows the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), but Texas adds its own rules through the Texas Education Code (TEC) Chapter 29 and the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 89. When you hear something different from your district than what you read in a national guide, the Texas rules are what count.

Here is what you actually need to know as a Texas parent.

Texas Uses "ARD" — Not "IEP Team"

The first thing that throws Texas parents off: the team that writes and reviews your child's IEP is not called the IEP Team in Texas. It is called the ARD committee — Admission, Review, and Dismissal. Same legal function, different name, and that distinction matters when you are researching your rights or preparing for a meeting.

The ARD committee is required to include:

• A general education teacher
• A special education teacher
• A local educational agency (LEA) representative (typically an administrator or district designee)
• Someone who can interpret evaluation results (often an LSSP or Educational Diagnostician)
• The parent(s)
• The student, where appropriate (required beginning no later than age 14 in Texas)

You are a full member of this committee — not an observer, not a guest. Your signature on the ARD document is either agreement or documented disagreement, and you have the right to disagree and have that noted.

The FIIE: Texas's Evaluation Process

Before your child can receive an IEP, they must be evaluated. In Texas, the initial evaluation is called a Full Individual and Initial Evaluation (FIIE). Once you provide written consent, the district has 45 calendar days to complete the FIIE and hold an ARD meeting to review the results — with limited exceptions for holiday periods.

The FIIE is conducted by licensed professionals. In Texas, the most common evaluators are:

• LSSP (Licensed Specialist in School Psychology) — cognitive, behavioral, and emotional assessments
• Educational Diagnostician — academic achievement testing, learning disability identification
• Speech-Language Pathologist — communication and language evaluation

The FIIE must cover all areas of suspected disability. If you believe the district's evaluation missed something — say, they only assessed academics but not behavior — you have the right to request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at public expense. Texas follows the federal IEE rule: the district either funds the evaluation or takes you to a due process hearing to defend why its evaluation was sufficient.

Texas's 13 Eligibility Categories

Under TAC §89.1040, Texas recognizes 13 disability categories for special education eligibility:

Autism, Deaf-Blindness, Deafness, Emotional Disturbance, Hearing Impairment, Intellectual Disability, Multiple Disabilities, Orthopedic Impairment, Other Health Impairment (which includes ADHD), Specific Learning Disability (which includes dyslexia under HB 3928), Speech or Language Impairment, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Visual Impairment.

Two categories deserve special mention for Texas parents. Other Health Impairment (OHI) is how most ADHD diagnoses qualify for an IEP. Specific Learning Disability (SLD) now explicitly includes dyslexia in Texas following HB 3928, which mandated that dyslexia be evaluated and served under IDEA — not just under Section 504 or the separate Dyslexia Program. As of 2024, Texas has 212,167 students identified with SLD of dyslexia out of 365,916 total SLD students.

The 8.5% Cap and Why It Still Matters

From 2004 to 2016, Texas operated under an unofficial policy that capped special education identification at 8.5% of total enrollment. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Education found this cap illegal — it had kept an estimated 250,000 eligible children out of special education services they were legally entitled to. Enrollment has since risen from 498,320 students (9.2%) in 2017-2018 to 857,520 students (15.5%) today.

Why does this matter to you now? Because if your older child was evaluated and found ineligible during the cap era, or if your younger child has been denied services with vague reasoning, that history of artificial suppression is relevant context. Districts are no longer operating under the cap, but some of the same evaluators and administrators remain.

What Goes Into a Texas IEP

A compliant Texas IEP under TAC §89.1055 must include:

• PLAAFP (Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance): A specific, data-based description of how your child's disability currently affects their participation in the curriculum
• Measurable Annual Goals: Skill targets your child should reach within 12 months
• Special Education and Related Services: Every service (speech, OT, PT, reading intervention, counseling) listed with frequency, duration, location, and provider
• LRE statement: An explanation of how much time your child will spend in general education and justification for any time outside it
• Supplementary aids and services: Accommodations for instruction and for STAAR testing (Texas's state assessment)
• Transition planning beginning at age 14 in Texas — two years earlier than the federal minimum of 16

The 10-Day Recess Rule

This is one of the most powerful and underused tools Texas gives parents. Under TAC §89.1050, if you attend an ARD meeting and do not agree with what is being proposed, you can invoke a 10-school-day recess. This pauses the meeting, gives you time to gather more information, consult a resource, or prepare a response, and requires the ARD committee to reconvene within that window.

You do not need to sign anything to trigger a recess. You simply state that you are invoking your right to recess and document it in writing. The school cannot implement the proposed IEP changes during the recess period.

Where to Get Help in Texas

Texas has a federally funded network of Parent Training and Information (PTI) centers through Partners Resource Network (PRN), which includes three regional centers: PACT (Southeast Texas), PATH (West Texas/El Paso), PEN (Central Texas), and TEAM (East Texas). These centers offer free support, training, and help navigating the ARD process.

Disability Rights Texas (DRTx) publishes an 80-page IDEA manual and offers legal advocacy services for eligible families. TEA maintains SPEDTex as its official parent resource hub.

If you need more structured help — understanding FIIE reports, preparing for ARD meetings, navigating the 10-day recess, or responding to a district that keeps saying your child does not qualify — the Texas IEP & 504 Blueprint walks through the Texas-specific process with fill-in-the-blank templates, ARD preparation checklists, and plain-English explanations of the rules that govern what your district can and cannot do.

Annual Review and Reevaluation

Texas ARD committees must convene at least once per year to review and update the IEP. A full reevaluation must occur at least every three years unless you and the school mutually agree it is not necessary. You can request an ARD meeting at any time — not just at the annual review — if you believe your child's needs have changed or services are not being delivered.

The TEA's Child Find obligation under TAC §89.1001 means Texas schools are required to identify and evaluate all children who may need special education — including those enrolled in private schools or homeschools, and those who have not been referred by a teacher. If you suspect your child has a disability and the school is not acting, your written evaluation request starts the clock.

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