Evaluation for Special Education Services
Author: Connie Compton, SCID Mom whose SCID Warrior just celebrated her 31st Life Day.
Connie (right) with her daughter Terra (unknown SCID)
Connie, mom to Terra (unknown SCID), retired June 2023 after working as a Special Education Teacher for 42 years.
An evaluation is a process for determining the individual learning needs of a child or student. Federal law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, “IDEA,” requires public schools to provide special education to students ages 3 to 21 who meet certain criteria. School districts are expected to “identify, locate and evaluate all children with disabilities, regardless of the severity of their disabilities,” which is known as Child Find. A child does not need to have attended school to be evaluated. School districts are responsible for evaluating preschool age students. Homeschool students and private school students also have a right to an evaluation under Child Find.
To start the process, a child is referred to the special education team either at a school or a school district office depending on local practices. The referral is made by a person who knows the student such as a parent, teacher, or doctor and then a timeline starts ticking. That timeline is generally determined by state law. The team may hold a Referral Meeting to discuss concerns, determine if evaluation is warranted, and, if so, what should be included in that evaluation. In order to begin the evaluation, a parent or legal guardian must give consent for the evaluation.
Eligibility for special education is determined by a comprehensive initial evaluation led by a specialist or a team of specialists such as a school psychologist, speech and language pathologist (SLP), occupational therapist (OT), and/or others as determined by the concerns brought forth in a special education referral. The evaluation, will consist of gathering records and data from a variety of sources regarding a child’s development and functioning as well as assessments and should include information from the parent and academic information. The student is eligible for special education and related services if they meet all three criteria of a 3-prong test:
Prong 1. Does the child have a disability? Per IDEA there are 13 categories under which a disability may be established. Some require a diagnosis by a qualified medical provider. These include Autism, Hearing Impairment, and Visual Impairment. Qualification for other categories, such as Specific Learning Disabilities* and Emotional Disturbance are determined in a manner specific to that category. For example, qualifying with a learning disability usually involves determining a discrepancy between cognitive skills and achievement and the process may vary from state to state and district to district. Developmental Delays, “DD,” is considered a fourteenth category. Students ages 3 through 9 can qualify as DD when they show delays in one or more of the following areas: physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social or emotional development, or adaptive development (activities of daily living).
*Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and Dyscalculia are types of learning disabilities.
Prong 2. Does the disability adversely impact the child’s educational performance? The disability must be interfering with the student’s ability to learn. For example, a student who has ADHD, a health impairment, who struggles to attend to instruction and therefore has not made typical academic growth in one or more academic areas may qualify for services. On the other hand, a student with ADHD who is performing at grade level may not meet this prong. The impact on educational performance is usually determined through individual assessments given by the evaluation team.
Prong 3. Does the child require specially designed instruction in order to receive FAPE, “a Free and Appropriate Public Education?” Some students with a disability that adversely impacts their education can access FAPE with accommodations such as extra movement breaks, shortened assignments, and prompting their attention to tasks, which may be addressed through a 504 Plan. Another student with the same concerns might require specially designed instruction, “SDI,” to learn skills and strategies to focus and therefore will qualify for special education.
The evaluation results are shared in a detailed written report and usually in a meeting that includes the parent(s)/guardian(s), the evaluator(s), special education provider(s), and general education teacher(s). The results will include the services the student is qualified to receive, such as core academics, speech, language, adaptive skills, behavior skills, and much more. It is important to note that qualifying for special education does not mean a child receives special education services; first an Individual Education Plan, “IEP” must be developed and the parent or guardian must give consent before services can begin.
To sum up, if you have concerns for your child’s development, you might consider making a referral for a special education evaluation. That will start a timeline and a process to an in-depth look at your child’s development which might lead to qualifying for special education services.
Watch for our next SCID Angels Newsletter where Connie will discuss: IEPs
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