Post by Mayleng on Oct 28, 2003 11:43:08 GMT -5
This was posted on another board by a School Psych friend of mine, and it gives info on how schools determine if a child has a Specific Learning Disability.
Quote:
Hi All:
There has been some discussion here and there...well since I've been here...about determining whether kids "truly" are learning disabled. I would like to quote a few folks: "the schools testing only showed a 12-point difference when it had to be 16 to qualify"; "how can a psychologist diagnose an Ld in your child and then the school tell you he is not a "true" LD child if he is not functioning at least 2 grade levels behind?"; and "that's why I don't like focusing on numbers--I like focusing on kids' needs and strengths. But the system doesn't allow ANYONE to do that!".
For old times sake I'm including the federal definition of a learning disability because it guides me when I evaluate students:
(300.7 Child with a disability) "The term 'specific learning disability' means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calcualations including conditions suh as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia."
First, the identification of "a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes" is usually done through standardized testing. Unfortunately, in my experience this is not done very well through schools. Schools seem to have tunnel vision about the discrepancy part. Which is why so many parents seek outside evaluations--understandably so. IDEA is very clear about determination of eligibility, evaluation procedures, etc. If you're interested in reading more check out www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_02/34c
fr300_02.html According to IDEA part of the criteria for determining a learning disability is (300.541) (2) the team finds that a child has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability in one or more of the following areas: (i) oral expression (ii) listening comprehension
(iii) written expression
(iv) basic reading skill
(v) reading comprehension
(vi) mathematics calculation
(vii) mathematics reasoning
IDEA does not provide information as to HOW this severe discrepancy should/could be determined. This was left up to each individual state. Thus, this is where the "your child needs 15/16/22 points to qualify" mantra came from. I think it was because states needed something quantifiable so they wouldn't overqualify kids to receive special education services. Unfortunately, the opposite has occurred. States are underqualifying kids. We can easily get around the state mantra for being eligible for a learning disability. Again this is where IDEA comes in. IDEA supercedes state law governing special education always. I will just quote very specific parts, you can read the rest for yourself. First, (300.532) (b) a variety of assessment tools and strategies are used to gather relevant functional and developmental information about the child, including information provided by the parent, and information related to enabling the child to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum, that may assist in determining--
(1) whether the child is a child with a disability under 300.7
(f) no single procedure is used as the sole criterion for determining whether a child is a child with a disability and for determining an appropriate educational program for the child.
300.534: (1) a group of qualified professionals AND THE PARENT of the child must determine whether the child is a child with a disability, as defined in 300.7...
300.535 (a) in interpreting evaluation data for the purpose of determining if a child is a child with a disability under 300.7, and the educational needs of the child, each public agency shall--
(1) Draw upon information from a variety of sources, including aptitude and achievement tests, parent input, teacher recommendations, physical condition, social or cultural background, and adaptive behavior; and
(2) Ensure that information obtained from ALL these sources is documented and CAREFULLY CONSIDERED.
So...what does all this tell us. Well, if your school district uses one IQ test and one achievement test to determine the "severe discrepancy" part of the LD criteria---they have violated a few parts of IDEA and their 15-point mantra will hold no weight in a due process. Plus, there is an abundance of research that states the discrepancy formula is not a reliable or valid way to identify students with a learning disability.
Standardized achievement tests will rarely show a "discrepancy" in the early grades (k-2) because kids don't have to do much to get an "average" score. Which is why some school districts wait until kids are in 3rd grade to evaluate. I will tell you that you can identify kids with a severe discrepancy in the early grades. You just use other procedures to determine this. Such as, classroom performance data or DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills). It's very easy and takes less time than it takes to administer a standardized achievement test--I'm not kidding! So, why doesn't everybody do this? I'm not really sure. I can make some guesses though--laziness! It's very easy to administer an IQ test an achievement test look at the numbers and call it a day. To truly identify a learning disability it takes more than one test to identify "a disorder in one or more of the basic pscyholgical processes". It takes time to carefully analyze, synthesize all the information gathered to get a good picture of a students learning strengths and weaknesses, and that takes time. Time some people just don't have or are not willing to give, I'm not really sure.
So, what do you do when your district tells you your child doesn't qualify for a learning disability and then they quote their discrepancy mantra---you disagree with their evaluation and eligibility determination and request an Independent Education Evaluation at the districts expense. If they refuse you then formally request in writing to the school's superintendent a due process hearing and why. If my superintendent were to receive such letter from a parent, I would get a phone call immediately and he would ask me to review the evaluation information again, maybe we overlooked something, etc. School districts will typically avoid a due process at all costs (most, anyway). They are hugely expensive. More expensive than writing that IEP. So, to respond to Sharon F.'s quote--"but the system doesn't allow ANYONE to do that!"---yes it does! It's you, the parent. You just need the knowledge and how to use it. I hope I helped with some of that.
Unquote
I hope this helps some parents understand the school system.
Mayleng
Quote:
Hi All:
There has been some discussion here and there...well since I've been here...about determining whether kids "truly" are learning disabled. I would like to quote a few folks: "the schools testing only showed a 12-point difference when it had to be 16 to qualify"; "how can a psychologist diagnose an Ld in your child and then the school tell you he is not a "true" LD child if he is not functioning at least 2 grade levels behind?"; and "that's why I don't like focusing on numbers--I like focusing on kids' needs and strengths. But the system doesn't allow ANYONE to do that!".
For old times sake I'm including the federal definition of a learning disability because it guides me when I evaluate students:
(300.7 Child with a disability) "The term 'specific learning disability' means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calcualations including conditions suh as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia."
First, the identification of "a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes" is usually done through standardized testing. Unfortunately, in my experience this is not done very well through schools. Schools seem to have tunnel vision about the discrepancy part. Which is why so many parents seek outside evaluations--understandably so. IDEA is very clear about determination of eligibility, evaluation procedures, etc. If you're interested in reading more check out www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_02/34c
fr300_02.html According to IDEA part of the criteria for determining a learning disability is (300.541) (2) the team finds that a child has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability in one or more of the following areas: (i) oral expression (ii) listening comprehension
(iii) written expression
(iv) basic reading skill
(v) reading comprehension
(vi) mathematics calculation
(vii) mathematics reasoning
IDEA does not provide information as to HOW this severe discrepancy should/could be determined. This was left up to each individual state. Thus, this is where the "your child needs 15/16/22 points to qualify" mantra came from. I think it was because states needed something quantifiable so they wouldn't overqualify kids to receive special education services. Unfortunately, the opposite has occurred. States are underqualifying kids. We can easily get around the state mantra for being eligible for a learning disability. Again this is where IDEA comes in. IDEA supercedes state law governing special education always. I will just quote very specific parts, you can read the rest for yourself. First, (300.532) (b) a variety of assessment tools and strategies are used to gather relevant functional and developmental information about the child, including information provided by the parent, and information related to enabling the child to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum, that may assist in determining--
(1) whether the child is a child with a disability under 300.7
(f) no single procedure is used as the sole criterion for determining whether a child is a child with a disability and for determining an appropriate educational program for the child.
300.534: (1) a group of qualified professionals AND THE PARENT of the child must determine whether the child is a child with a disability, as defined in 300.7...
300.535 (a) in interpreting evaluation data for the purpose of determining if a child is a child with a disability under 300.7, and the educational needs of the child, each public agency shall--
(1) Draw upon information from a variety of sources, including aptitude and achievement tests, parent input, teacher recommendations, physical condition, social or cultural background, and adaptive behavior; and
(2) Ensure that information obtained from ALL these sources is documented and CAREFULLY CONSIDERED.
So...what does all this tell us. Well, if your school district uses one IQ test and one achievement test to determine the "severe discrepancy" part of the LD criteria---they have violated a few parts of IDEA and their 15-point mantra will hold no weight in a due process. Plus, there is an abundance of research that states the discrepancy formula is not a reliable or valid way to identify students with a learning disability.
Standardized achievement tests will rarely show a "discrepancy" in the early grades (k-2) because kids don't have to do much to get an "average" score. Which is why some school districts wait until kids are in 3rd grade to evaluate. I will tell you that you can identify kids with a severe discrepancy in the early grades. You just use other procedures to determine this. Such as, classroom performance data or DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills). It's very easy and takes less time than it takes to administer a standardized achievement test--I'm not kidding! So, why doesn't everybody do this? I'm not really sure. I can make some guesses though--laziness! It's very easy to administer an IQ test an achievement test look at the numbers and call it a day. To truly identify a learning disability it takes more than one test to identify "a disorder in one or more of the basic pscyholgical processes". It takes time to carefully analyze, synthesize all the information gathered to get a good picture of a students learning strengths and weaknesses, and that takes time. Time some people just don't have or are not willing to give, I'm not really sure.
So, what do you do when your district tells you your child doesn't qualify for a learning disability and then they quote their discrepancy mantra---you disagree with their evaluation and eligibility determination and request an Independent Education Evaluation at the districts expense. If they refuse you then formally request in writing to the school's superintendent a due process hearing and why. If my superintendent were to receive such letter from a parent, I would get a phone call immediately and he would ask me to review the evaluation information again, maybe we overlooked something, etc. School districts will typically avoid a due process at all costs (most, anyway). They are hugely expensive. More expensive than writing that IEP. So, to respond to Sharon F.'s quote--"but the system doesn't allow ANYONE to do that!"---yes it does! It's you, the parent. You just need the knowledge and how to use it. I hope I helped with some of that.
Unquote
I hope this helps some parents understand the school system.
Mayleng
