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The Multidisciplinary Team and Parental Participation in the Assessment Process

This assignment assesses your ability to investigate how participants of the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) contribute to the development of the Individualized Education Program. This assessment also supports your achievement of the Course Learning Outcomes 2 and 3 and the MASE Program Learning Outcomes 5 and 8.

Instructions:
Using support from the required readings, the Instructor Guidance, supplemental information derived from the discussions and outside sources, and information from the scenario described below you will write a three page journal reflecting on various aspects of your journey so far.
Scenario: You have come to the point in the process where Manuel’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) is about to be created assuming he meets the federal eligibility criteria. As a result Manuel may have the opportunity to receive individualized help. The Multidisciplinary Team is going to become involved and each member will contribute his or her unique perspectives and observations. Although Manuel’s mother and father support the recommendations for additional services, they have also expressed feeling mixed emotions about the process and the contributions of the multidisciplinary team in the development of the IEP. As the special educator working closely with Manuel in the classroom and with Mr. Franklin, and as a reflective practitioner, you are writing in your journal about this next step in the process. You have found that the writing helps to clarify possible issues and that you often feel confident about your next steps after writing in your reflective journal.

Use the instructions below for the content and written communication expectations. Before submission, review your assignment using the Grading Rubric to ensure it meets the expectations for distinguished performance. If you have questions about the assignment or the rubric, please contact your instructor using the “Ask Your Instructor” discussion before the due date.

Content Expectations:
Write a reflective journal to include the following elements.

· Your feelings as you have come to the point in the journey where Manuel’s IEP is about to be created and he will receive individualized help.

· Your thoughts about how each participant contributing to the IEP will help to make this a positive and strong experience for Manuel and his parents.

· Your plan for ensuring that Manuel and his parents continue to play a key role in the process. Include at least four specific suggestions for their participation.

· Your strategy for talking to Manuel about his need to services. Describe how you will frame the conversation so that he does not feel “dumb.”

Written Expectations:

· Syntax and Mechanics: Exhibit meticulous use of grammar, spelling, organization, and usage throughout your submission.

· Organization: Use the above listed guidelines for explicit sections/headings within your paper.

· Source Requirement: Reference at least 3 scholarly sources including the course text in order to provide compelling evidence to support your ideas.

· Page Requirement: 3 pages not including the title and references pages.

· Additional Page Requirement: Your submission must include a title and reference page.

· APA format: All in text citations, page format and references must be written in APA 6th edition format.

Next Steps: Review and Submit the Assignment
Review your assignment with the Grading Rubric to ensure you have achieved the distinguished levels of performance for each criterion. Next, submit your document no later than Day 7.

Recommendation:

The MASE program provides the opportunity for you to create an online portfolio that can be used in your career development and professional practice. Throughout the program you will have various assessments that can be included in this e-portfolio and these will be finalized in the last course of the MASE program, Capstone course, ESE699. You may select this assignment and subsequent coursework to include as artifacts. Therefore, it is strongly encouraged you save your coursework on a flash-drive (e.g., a USB removable drive) or store in a cloud-based option such as Dropbox, GoogleDrive, or other similar applications.

Carefully review the

Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)

for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignmen

WEEK FOUR INSTRUCTOR GUIDANCE
Welcome to Week Four! In the first half of this class, you have learned about the legal and historical foundations of the current assessment and evaluation process in Special Education, different kinds of assessments, including formal and informal assessments, the assessment and evaluation process in Special Education, Response to Intervention (RTI), the purpose and role of the Child Study Team (CST), and the need to take cultural and social factors into account.
This week, as we move into the last half of the class, we focus on the role of the special educator in the assessment and evaluation process, the role of the Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team, and the importance of parental and student participation in the assessment process. By the end of this week you will be able to explain the Special Educator’s role in the use of assessment and evaluation results to develop an appropriate Individualized Education Program (IEP) for a student and describe how participants of the multidisciplinary evaluation team contribute to the development of the IEP.
Week Four Journal Guidance
One of the characteristics of outstanding educators is their ability to reflect on their practice. As we reach the half-way point of the course we will take a moment to pause and reflect on the journey so far. As described in the blog, The Reflective Practitioner, the best teaching is constructed from events that are “…puzzling, troubling and uncertain” (Merickel, 1998). You may be puzzling over aspects of this case, or troubled and uncertain as to how you might proceed if you were Manuel’s teacher. You may recognize that there are some dilemmas inherent in this case (as with all cases involving real students and lives) and may be wondering what kind of response is the most effective. The emotional awareness you bring to your teaching…and learning…will set you apart and allow you to serve your students deeply and with purpose. Some key questions to ask in this reflective process include the following:
As you write in your journal this week you will be reflecting on some strategies for talking to both Manuel and his parents about the need for a formal assessment and evaluation that puts the special education process in motion. A resource you might find helpful is the “All Kinds of Minds” website. A link to the site can be found below the picture here.

Talking With Students About Their Learning Strengths and Learning Challenges (Links to an external site.)
And finally, one way to enhance your ability to reflect is to know yourself as a learner. Check out the interactive website below to find out what kind of learner YOU are! It might be a great way to start your reflective journal this week and may help you in thinking about the kinds of activities and strategies that might help you to talk with Manuel and his family.

What is YOUR Learning Profile? (Links to an external site.)
Make sure to use the Grading Rubric as a self-checklist before submitting the final copy of your assignment to confirm you have met or exceeded each required expectation. The highest level of achievement on the rubric is “distinguished”, which is only earned through exceeding posted expectations at the proficiency level. Please remember you are in a masters-level program. Therefore, your writing, research, and content are held to graduate-level expectations.
Recommendation
The MASE program provides the opportunity for you to create an online portfolio that can be used in your career development and professional practice. Throughout the program you will have various assessments that can be included in this e-portfolio and these will be finalized in the last course of the MASE program, Capstone coure, ESE699. You may select this assignment and subsequent coursework to include as artifacts. Therefore, it is strongly encouraged you save your coursework on a flash-drive (e.g., a USB removable drive) or store in a cloud-based option such as Dropbox, GoogleDrive, or other similar applications.
REFERENCES
Great Schools Staff (n.d.).
Special education evaluation: An overview (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from
http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/legal-rights/666-special-education-evaluation-an-overview.gs
Merkial, D. (1998). The Reflective Practitioner (Links to an external site.). [Blog Post] Retrieved from http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/pte/module2/rp.htm
National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (n.d.).
What is a multidisciplinary evaluation and assessment? (Links to an external site.)
Retrieved from http://www.mychildwithoutlimits.org/plan/early-intervention/multidisciplinary-evaluation-and-assessment/
Pierangelo, R., & Giuliani, G. A. (2012). Assessment in special education: A practical approach. Boston: Pearson.
Stump, C. (n.d.)
Before special ed: How pre-referral works. (Links to an external site.) Retrieved from http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/LD-ADHD/517-pre-referral.gs?page=all
Sources for visuals
Bridge Scene-Google Docs/Creative Commons (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flickr_-_Nicholas_T_-_Winter_Pause

Assessment in Special Education: A Practical Approach

Fourth Edition

Roger Pierangelo

Long Island University

George A. Giuliani

Hofstra University

•

Recommendation

:
The recommendations concerning educational placement and program that need to be made to the school,teachers, and parents

1.2 PURPOSE OF ASSESSMENT

Assessment takes place when students experience difficulty meeting the demands of the general education curriculum and are referred forconsideration for special education services (

McLoughlin & Lewis, 2008

). As will be discussed in great detail throughout this book,following a referral for a suspected disability of a child and with written parental or guardian permission, an individual multidisciplinaryand comprehensive assessment is conducted. This means that formal tests, observations, and numerous assessments will be given. Theresults help to determine if special education is needed and whether factors unrelated to disabilities are affecting a child’s schoolperformance.

Assessment should be an active, ongoing process that has a clearly specified purpose (

Taylor, 2009

). Assessment results provideinformation useful for determining or modifying a child’s program, if necessary. The decisions that use assessment information are variedand complex, and they occur in and out of classrooms (

Salvia & Ysseldyke, 2007

). Assessment plays a critical role in the determination of siximportant decisions (

National Information Center for Children and Youths with Disabilities, 2000

• Evaluation decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information of a student’s strengths,weaknesses, and overall progress.

• Diagnostic decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information of the specific nature of thestudent’s problems or disability.

• Eligibility decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information on whether a child is eligible forspecial education services.

• IEP development decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information so that an individualizededucation program (IEP) may be developed.

• Educational placement decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information so that appropriatedecisions may be made about the child’s educational placement.

• Instructional planning decisions: Information collected in the assessment process is critical in planning instruction appropriate to thechild’s special social, academic, physical, and management needs.

1.3 LANDMARK COURT CASES IN SPECIAL EDUCATION

The first federal laws designed to assist individuals with disabilities date back to the early days of the nation. In 1798, the Fifth Congresspassed the first federal law concerned with the care of persons with disabilities (

National Information Center for Children and Youth withDisabilities, 1996

). This law authorized the Maine Hospital Service to provide medical services to seamen with disabilities or those whowere sick. By 1912, this entity had become known as the Public Health Service. However, prior to World War II, there were relatively fewfederal laws authorizing special benefits for persons with disabilities. Those that existed were intended to address the needs of warveterans with service-connected disabilities. This meant that, for most of our nation’s history, schools were allowed to exclude—and oftendid exclude—certain children, especially those with disabilities.

In 1948, only 12 percent of all children with disabilities received some form of special education. By the early 1950s, special educationservices and programs were available in school districts, but often undesirable results occurred. For example, students in special classeswere considered unable to perform academic tasks. Consequently, they went to special schools or classes that focused on learning manualskills such as weaving and bead stringing. Although programs existed, it was clear that discrimination was still as strong as ever for thosewith disabilities in schools.

Legislation and court cases to prevent discrimination in education first came to notice in 1954 with the famous case Brown v. Board ofEducation of Topeka, Kansas. In Brown, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal practice under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S.Constitution to arbitrarily discriminate against any group of people. The Court then applied this principle to the schooling of children,holding that a separate education for African American students is not an equal education. In its famous ruling, separate but equal wouldno longer be accepted (347 U.S. 483).

Brown set the precedent for future discrimination cases in education. People with disabilities were recognized as another group whoserights had been violated because of arbitrary discrimination. For children, the discrimination occurred because they were denied access toschools due to their disabilities. Using Brown as their legal precedent, students with disabilities claimed that their segregation and exclusionfrom school violated their opportunity for an equal education under the

Fourteenth Amendment

of the U.S. Constitution—the EqualProtection Clause. If Brown prohibited segregation by race, then schools should not be able to segregate or otherwise discriminate byability and disability.

In the 1960s, parents began to advocate for better educational opportunities for their children. Around the same time, many authoritiesbegan to agree that segregated special classes were not the most appropriate educational setting for many students with disabilities. By theend of the 1960s, landmark court cases set the stage for enactment of federal laws to protect the rights of children with disabilities andtheir parents. Some of the most significant court cases in special education, in their order of occurrence, include:

HOBSON v. HANSEN (1967).

In Hobson v. Hansen, a U.S. district court declared that the District of Columbia school system’s tracking system was invalid. However, specialclasses were allowed, provided that testing procedures were rigorous and that retesting was frequent (

Sattler, 2008

DIANA v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION (

1970

).

In Diana v. State Board of Education, California was mandated by the court to correct bias in assessment procedures used with ChineseAmerican and Mexican American students. Diana had three very important holdings that would later influence the enactment of federalspecial education laws:

1. If a student’s primary language was not English, the student had to be tested in both English and his or her primary language.

2. Culturally unfair items had to be eliminated from all tests used in the assessment process.

3. If intelligence tests were to be used in the assessment process, they had to be developed to reflect Mexican American culture (Diana v.State Board of Education, C-70: 37RFT, N.D. Cal., 1970).

PARC v. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA (

1972

).

A U.S. federal court in Pennsylvania ratified a consent agreement ensuring that schools may not exclude students who have been classifiedwith mental retardation. Also, the court mandated that all students must be provided with a free public education. Both of these holdingswould play a fundamental role in the enactment of future federal special education laws (PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 343 F.Supp. 279, E.D. PA 1972).

WYATT v. STICKNEY (1972).

In Alabama, a federal court ruled that mentally retarded children in state institutions had a constitutional right to treatment (Wyatt v.Stickney, 344 F. Supp. 387, M.D. Ala 1972).

GUADALUPE v. TEMPE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (1972).

In Arizona, a U.S. district court agreed to a stipulated agreement that children could not be placed in educable mentally retarded classesunless they scored lower than two standard deviations below the population mean on an approved IQ test administered in the child’s ownlanguage. Guadalupe v. Tempe Elementary School also stipulated that other assessment procedures must be used in addition to intelligencetests, and that parental permission must be obtained for such placements (Sattler, 2008).

MILLS v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (1972).

This case set forth future guidelines for federal legislation, including the rights of students with disabilities to have access to a free publiceducation, due process protection, and a mandated requirement to provide special education services regardless of the school district’sfinancial capability (Mills v. Board of Education of District of Columbia, 348 Supp. 866, CD. DC 1972; contempt proceedings, EHLR 551:643CD. DC

1980

PASE (PARENTS IN ACTION ON SPECIAL EDUCATION) v. JOSEPH P. HANNON (1980).

In this case regarding bias in IQ testing, the judge (Judge Grady in Illinois) found that on the IQ tests he examined, only 9 of the 488 testquestions were racially biased. Consequently, IQ tests were found not to be discriminatory. Furthermore, Judge Grady indicated that clinicaljudgment also plays a large role in interpreting IQ test results. He stated: “There is no evidence in this record that such misassessments asdo occur are the result of racial bias in test items or in any aspect of the assessment process currently in use in the Chicago public schoolsystem.” Therefore, the decision in PASE resolved some of the controversy about the use of IQ tests for special education classification. As aresult, the use of intelligence tests was acceptable in psychoeducational assessment as long as they followed all other proceduralsafeguards under federal law (PASE v. Joseph P. Hannon, No. 74 C 3586 N.D. Ill. 1980).

LUKE S. AND HANS S. v. NIX ET AL. (1982).

In the state of Louisiana, all evaluations had to be completed within a 60-day time period. The plaintiffs in this case argued that thousandsof students were not being appropriately evaluated within this time period. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and informed the stateof Louisiana that greater prereferral assessment should be done before a referral is made (Luke S. and Hans S. v. Nix et al, cited in Taylor,2009, p. 9).

BOARD OF EDUCATION OF HENDRICK HUDSON SCHOOL DISTRICT v. ROWLEY (1982).

The parents of Amy Rowley, a deaf student with minimal residual hearing and excellent lip-reading skills, sought the services of a full-timeinterpreter in her regular classes. Amy had been provided with an FM trainer (a teacher of the deaf) for 1 hour per day and speechtraining for 3 hours per week. Even though Amy was missing about half of what was being discussed in class, she was very well adjusted,was performing better than the average child in the class, and was advancing easily from grade to grade.

Based on these facts, the U.S. Supreme Court determined in Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson School District v. Rowley that Amy wasreceiving an “appropriate” education without the sign interpreter. In reaching this opinion, the Court concluded that the obligation toprovide an appropriate education does not mean a school must provide the “best” education or one designed to “maximize” a student’spotential. However, the program must be based on the student’s unique individual needs and be designed to enable the student to benefitfrom an education. In other words, the student must be making progress (

Hager, 1999

, p. 5).

JOSE P. v. AMBACH (1983).

Plaintiffs filed suit against New York City, complaining about the inappropriate delivery of services. The plaintiffs argued that many studentsin special education were not receiving services in an appropriate time frame. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and stated that fromthe time of referral to evaluation a maximum of 30 days can elapse. The court informed the defendants that all evaluations must be “timelyevaluations” (Taylor, 2009, p. 10).

LARRY P. v. RILES (1984).

In this California case, using IQ tests as the assessment measure for placing African American students in special education as mentallyretarded was found to be discriminatory. Schools in California were mandated by the court to reduce the disproportionate representationof African American students in special education. In Larry P. v. Riles, the court determined that IQ tests were discriminatory against AfricanAmericans in three ways:

1. IQ tests actually measure achievement rather than ability. Because African Americans throughout their educational history have beendenied equal educational opportunities through schools segregated by race, they will inevitably have achievement scores lower than thenorms and thus be discriminated against in testing.

2. IQ tests rest on the plausible but unproven assumption that intelligence is distributed in the population in accordance with a normalstatistical curve (bell-shaped), and thus the tests are artificial tools to rank individuals.

3. IQ tests lead to the classification of more African American students than white students in dead-end classes for students with mild tomoderate disabilities [(No. C-71-2270 RFP (1979) and No. 80-4027 DC No. C-71-2270 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit(1984)].

GEORGIA STATE CONFERENCE OF BRANCHES OF NAACP v. STATE OF GEORGIA (1984).

In Georgia State Conference of Branches of NAACP v. State of Georgia, a U.S. court of appeals ruled that African American children schooled inthe state of Georgia were not being discriminated against solely because there was a disproportionate number of them in classes for lowachievers. The court explained that there was no evidence of differential treatment of African American and other students.Overrepresentation of African American children in classes for the mentally retarded by itself was not sufficient to prove discrimination(Sattler, 2008).

DANIEL R. R. v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION (1989).

Daniel R. R. is one of the crucial cases opening the door to increased inclusion of children with disabilities in regular education classes. Thecourt noted that Congress showed a strong preference favoring mainstreaming—that is, educating the student in the regular educationclassroom with supports. Ironically, the court determined that it was not appropriate to include the child in this case in full-time regulareducation. However, the court’s analysis of the least restrictive environment requirement, especially its interpretation of what is meant byproviding supplementary aids and services in the regular classroom, has been followed by a number of other courts (Hager, 1999, p. 6).

In determining whether it is appropriate to place a student with disabilities in regular education, the student need not be expected to learnat the same rate as the other students in the class. In other words, part of the required supplementary aids and services must be themodification of the regular education curriculum for the student, when needed. The court in Daniel R. R. v. State Board of Education noted,however, that the school need not modify the program “beyond recognition.” Also, in looking at whether it is “appropriate” for the child tobe in regular education—in other words, whether the student can benefit educationally from regular class placement—the school mustconsider the broader educational benefit of contact with nondisabled students, such as opportunities for modeling appropriate behaviorand socialization (Hager, 1999, p. 6).

GERSTMEYER v. HOWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (

1994

).

Although Howard School District had been told that a child needed an evaluation before entering the first grade, the evaluation was notdone prior to the child’s entering the first grade. The parents sent their child to private school and the evaluation was only done 6 monthsafter the initial referral. The parents sued the district for the costs of private schooling and tutoring caused by the delay. In Gerstmeyer v.Howard County Public Schools, the court ruled in favor of the parents and made Howard School District reimburse them for all associatedcosts (Taylor, 2009, p. 10).

1.3 LANDMARK COURT CASES IN SPECIAL EDUCATION
The first federal laws designed to assist individuals with disabilities date back to the early days of the nation. In 1798, the Fifth Congresspassed the first federal law concerned with the care of persons with disabilities (National Information Center for Children and Youth withDisabilities, 1996). This law authorized the Maine Hospital Service to provide medical services to seamen with disabilities or those whowere sick. By 1912, this entity had become known as the Public Health Service. However, prior to World War II, there were relatively fewfederal laws authorizing special benefits for persons with disabilities. Those that existed were intended to address the needs of warveterans with service-connected disabilities. This meant that, for most of our nation’s history, schools were allowed to exclude—and oftendid exclude—certain children, especially those with disabilities.
In 1948, only 12 percent of all children with disabilities received some form of special education. By the early 1950s, special educationservices and programs were available in school districts, but often undesirable results occurred. For example, students in special classeswere considered unable to perform academic tasks. Consequently, they went to special schools or classes that focused on learning manualskills such as weaving and bead stringing. Although programs existed, it was clear that discrimination was still as strong as ever for thosewith disabilities in schools.
Legislation and court cases to prevent discrimination in education first came to notice in 1954 with the famous case Brown v. Board ofEducation of Topeka, Kansas. In Brown, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal practice under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S.Constitution to arbitrarily discriminate against any group of people. The Court then applied this principle to the schooling of children,holding that a separate education for African American students is not an equal education. In its famous ruling, separate but equal wouldno longer be accepted (347 U.S. 483).
Brown set the precedent for future discrimination cases in education. People with disabilities were recognized as another group whoserights had been violated because of arbitrary discrimination. For children, the discrimination occurred because they were denied access toschools due to their disabilities. Using Brown as their legal precedent, students with disabilities claimed that their segregation and exclusionfrom school violated their opportunity for an equal education under the
Fourteenth Amendment
of the U.S. Constitution—the EqualProtection Clause. If Brown prohibited segregation by race, then schools should not be able to segregate or otherwise discriminate byability and disability.
In the 1960s, parents began to advocate for better educational opportunities for their children. Around the same time, many authoritiesbegan to agree that segregated special classes were not the most appropriate educational setting for many students with disabilities. By theend of the 1960s, landmark court cases set the stage for enactment of federal laws to protect the rights of children with disabilities andtheir parents. Some of the most significant court cases in special education, in their order of occurrence, include:
HOBSON v. HANSEN (1967).
In Hobson v. Hansen, a U.S. district court declared that the District of Columbia school system’s tracking system was invalid. However, specialclasses were allowed, provided that testing procedures were rigorous and that retesting was frequent (Sattler, 2008).
DIANA v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION (1970).
In Diana v. State Board of Education, California was mandated by the court to correct bias in assessment procedures used with ChineseAmerican and Mexican American students. Diana had three very important holdings that would later influence the enactment of federalspecial education laws:
1. If a student’s primary language was not English, the student had to be tested in both English and his or her primary language.
2. Culturally unfair items had to be eliminated from all tests used in the assessment process.
3. If intelligence tests were to be used in the assessment process, they had to be developed to reflect Mexican American culture (Diana v.State Board of Education, C-70: 37RFT, N.D. Cal., 1970).
PARC v. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA (1972).
A U.S. federal court in Pennsylvania ratified a consent agreement ensuring that schools may not exclude students who have been classifiedwith mental retardation. Also, the court mandated that all students must be provided with a free public education. Both of these holdingswould play a fundamental role in the enactment of future federal special education laws (PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 343 F.Supp. 279, E.D. PA 1972).
WYATT v. STICKNEY (1972).
In Alabama, a federal court ruled that mentally retarded children in state institutions had a constitutional right to treatment (Wyatt v.Stickney, 344 F. Supp. 387, M.D. Ala 1972).
GUADALUPE v. TEMPE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (1972).
In Arizona, a U.S. district court agreed to a stipulated agreement that children could not be placed in educable mentally retarded classesunless they scored lower than two standard deviations below the population mean on an approved IQ test administered in the child’s ownlanguage. Guadalupe v. Tempe Elementary School also stipulated that other assessment procedures must be used in addition to intelligencetests, and that parental permission must be obtained for such placements (Sattler, 2008).
MILLS v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (1972).
This case set forth future guidelines for federal legislation, including the rights of students with disabilities to have access to a free publiceducation, due process protection, and a mandated requirement to provide special education services regardless of the school district’sfinancial capability (Mills v. Board of Education of District of Columbia, 348 Supp. 866, CD. DC 1972; contempt proceedings, EHLR 551:643CD. DC 1980).
PASE (PARENTS IN ACTION ON SPECIAL EDUCATION) v. JOSEPH P. HANNON (1980).
In this case regarding bias in IQ testing, the judge (Judge Grady in Illinois) found that on the IQ tests he examined, only 9 of the 488 testquestions were racially biased. Consequently, IQ tests were found not to be discriminatory. Furthermore, Judge Grady indicated that clinicaljudgment also plays a large role in interpreting IQ test results. He stated: “There is no evidence in this record that such misassessments asdo occur are the result of racial bias in test items or in any aspect of the assessment process currently in use in the Chicago public schoolsystem.” Therefore, the decision in PASE resolved some of the controversy about the use of IQ tests for special education classification. As aresult, the use of intelligence tests was acceptable in psychoeducational assessment as long as they followed all other proceduralsafeguards under federal law (PASE v. Joseph P. Hannon, No. 74 C 3586 N.D. Ill. 1980).
LUKE S. AND HANS S. v. NIX ET AL. (1982).
In the state of Louisiana, all evaluations had to be completed within a 60-day time period. The plaintiffs in this case argued that thousandsof students were not being appropriately evaluated within this time period. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and informed the stateof Louisiana that greater prereferral assessment should be done before a referral is made (Luke S. and Hans S. v. Nix et al, cited in Taylor,2009, p. 9).
BOARD OF EDUCATION OF HENDRICK HUDSON SCHOOL DISTRICT v. ROWLEY (1982).
The parents of Amy Rowley, a deaf student with minimal residual hearing and excellent lip-reading skills, sought the services of a full-timeinterpreter in her regular classes. Amy had been provided with an FM trainer (a teacher of the deaf) for 1 hour per day and speechtraining for 3 hours per week. Even though Amy was missing about half of what was being discussed in class, she was very well adjusted,was performing better than the average child in the class, and was advancing easily from grade to grade.
Based on these facts, the U.S. Supreme Court determined in Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson School District v. Rowley that Amy wasreceiving an “appropriate” education without the sign interpreter. In reaching this opinion, the Court concluded that the obligation toprovide an appropriate education does not mean a school must provide the “best” education or one designed to “maximize” a student’spotential. However, the program must be based on the student’s unique individual needs and be designed to enable the student to benefitfrom an education. In other words, the student must be making progress (Hager, 1999, p. 5).
JOSE P. v. AMBACH (1983).
Plaintiffs filed suit against New York City, complaining about the inappropriate delivery of services. The plaintiffs argued that many studentsin special education were not receiving services in an appropriate time frame. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and stated that fromthe time of referral to evaluation a maximum of 30 days can elapse. The court informed the defendants that all evaluations must be “timelyevaluations” (Taylor, 2009, p. 10).
LARRY P. v. RILES (1984).
In this California case, using IQ tests as the assessment measure for placing African American students in special education as mentallyretarded was found to be discriminatory. Schools in California were mandated by the court to reduce the disproportionate representationof African American students in special education. In Larry P. v. Riles, the court determined that IQ tests were discriminatory against AfricanAmericans in three ways:
1. IQ tests actually measure achievement rather than ability. Because African Americans throughout their educational history have beendenied equal educational opportunities through schools segregated by race, they will inevitably have achievement scores lower than thenorms and thus be discriminated against in testing.
2. IQ tests rest on the plausible but unproven assumption that intelligence is distributed in the population in accordance with a normalstatistical curve (bell-shaped), and thus the tests are artificial tools to rank individuals.
3. IQ tests lead to the classification of more African American students than white students in dead-end classes for students with mild tomoderate disabilities [(No. C-71-2270 RFP (1979) and No. 80-4027 DC No. C-71-2270 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit(1984)].
GEORGIA STATE CONFERENCE OF BRANCHES OF NAACP v. STATE OF GEORGIA (1984).
In Georgia State Conference of Branches of NAACP v. State of Georgia, a U.S. court of appeals ruled that African American children schooled inthe state of Georgia were not being discriminated against solely because there was a disproportionate number of them in classes for lowachievers. The court explained that there was no evidence of differential treatment of African American and other students.Overrepresentation of African American children in classes for the mentally retarded by itself was not sufficient to prove discrimination(Sattler, 2008).
DANIEL R. R. v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION (1989).
Daniel R. R. is one of the crucial cases opening the door to increased inclusion of children with disabilities in regular education classes. Thecourt noted that Congress showed a strong preference favoring mainstreaming—that is, educating the student in the regular educationclassroom with supports. Ironically, the court determined that it was not appropriate to include the child in this case in full-time regulareducation. However, the court’s analysis of the least restrictive environment requirement, especially its interpretation of what is meant byproviding supplementary aids and services in the regular classroom, has been followed by a number of other courts (Hager, 1999, p. 6).
In determining whether it is appropriate to place a student with disabilities in regular education, the student need not be expected to learnat the same rate as the other students in the class. In other words, part of the required supplementary aids and services must be themodification of the regular education curriculum for the student, when needed. The court in Daniel R. R. v. State Board of Education noted,however, that the school need not modify the program “beyond recognition.” Also, in looking at whether it is “appropriate” for the child tobe in regular education—in other words, whether the student can benefit educationally from regular class placement—the school mustconsider the broader educational benefit of contact with nondisabled students, such as opportunities for modeling appropriate behaviorand socialization (Hager, 1999, p. 6).
GERSTMEYER v. HOWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (1994).
Although Howard School District had been told that a child needed an evaluation before entering the first grade, the evaluation was notdone prior to the child’s entering the first grade. The parents sent their child to private school and the evaluation was only done 6 monthsafter the initial referral. The parents sued the district for the costs of private schooling and tutoring caused by the delay. In Gerstmeyer v.Howard County Public Schools, the court ruled in favor of the parents and made Howard School District reimburse them for all associatedcosts (Taylor, 2009, p. 10).

1.5 INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004) an evaluation of a child with a suspected disability must bemade by a multidisciplinary team or groups of persons including at least one teacher or specialist with knowledge in the area of thesuspected disability. These professionals must use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional anddevelopmental information, including information provided by the parent that will assist in determining whether a child has a disability asdefined under federal law (

Cohen & Spenciner, 2011

). The members of the multidisciplinary team often include the following (

Pierangelo &Giuliani, 2009

• General education teacher

• School psychologist

• Special education evaluator

• Special education teacher

• Speech and language clinician

• Medical personnel (when appropriate)

• Social workers

• School/guidance counselor

• Parents

• School nurse

• Occupational and physical therapists

The roles that each of these people play in the assessment process are discussed thoroughly in

Chapter 8

1.6 CLASSIFICATIONS UNDER IDEA 2004

IDEA 2004 lists separate categories of disabilities under which children may be eligible for special education and related services. Childrenare eligible to receive special education services and supports if they meet the eligibility requirements for at least one of the disablingconditions listed in P.L. 108-446 and it is determined that they are in need of special education services (

Gargiulo, 2008

According to IDEA 2004, Sec. 602(3)(A), a child with a disability is a child

1. with mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments, seriousemotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disability;and

2. who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services

The definitions of the 13 disabling conditions under IDEA 2004 are listed below:

Autism

:
A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evidentbefore age 3, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagementin repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusualresponses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected because the childhas an emotional disturbance.

Deaf–blindness

:
Concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and otherdevelopmental and educational problems that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children withdeafness or children with blindness.

Developmental delay

• physical development

• cognitive development

• communication development

• social or emotional development

• adaptive development

It must also be determined that, because of the developmental delays, the child needs special education and related services. Developmentaldelays are defined by the state and must be measured by appropriate diagnostic instruments and procedures.

Emotional disturbance

:
A condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a markeddegree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance:

• An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors

• An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers

• Inappropriate types of behaviors or feelings under normal circumstances

• A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression

• A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems

The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they havean emotional disturbance.

Hearing impairment

:
An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s performance butthat is not included under the definition of deafness in this section. (

Deafness

: A hearing impairment so severe that the child is impairedin processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child’s educationalperformance.)

Mental retardation

:
Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behaviorand manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child’s performance.

Multiple disabilities

:
Concomitant impairments (such as mental retardation–orthopedic impairment) the combination of which causessuch severe educational problems that the problems cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of theimpairments. The term does not include deaf–blindness.

Orthopedic impairment

:
A severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includesimpairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g., clubfoot, absence of some member), impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis,bone tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that causecontractures).

Other health impairment

:
Having limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems, such as a heartcondition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes,that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Specific learning disability

:
A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or usinglanguage, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or domathematical calculations. The term includes conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia,and developmental aphasia; it does not include a learning problem that is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; ofmental retardation; of emotional disturbance; or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. Under IDEA 2004, whendetermining whether a child has a specific disability, a local education agency shall not be required to take into consideration whether achild has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability.

Speech or language impairment

:
A communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or avoice impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Traumatic brain injury

:
An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functionaldisability or psychosocial impairment or both, and that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term applies to open orclosed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstractthinking; judgment; problem solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; informationprocessing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative or to brain injuries induced bybirth trauma.

Visual impairment

:
An impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The termincludes both partial and total sight blindness.

1.7 HOW STUDENTS ARE IDENTIFIED FOR ASSESSMENT

There are normally three ways a student may be identified for assessment of a suspected disability (

Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2009

1. School personnel may suspect the presence of a learning or behavior problem and ask the student’s parents for permission toevaluate the student individually
. This may have resulted from a student scoring far below his or her peers on some type of screeningmeasure and thereby alerting the school to the possibility of a problem.

2. The student’s classroom teacher may identify certain symptoms in a child within the classroom that seem to indicate the presenceof some problem
. For example, the student’s work is below expectations for his or her grade or age, or the student’s behavior is sodisruptive that he or she is unable to learn. Further, attempts at intervention strategies suggested by professional staff members havemet with little or no success.

3. The student’s parents may call or write the school or the director of special education and request that their child be evaluated
.The parents may feel that the child is not progressing as expected or may notice particular problems in how their child learns. Whenparents note a problem and request an evaluation, the school must follow through on the assessment process. This is the parents’ legalright.

1.8 PARENTAL CONSENT AND THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

To protect the legal rights of parents and their children, IDEA 2004 (sec. 300.300) mandates that a school must obtain written permissionbefore any school evaluation for a suspected disability is undertaken. Request for

consent for evaluation

should not be misinterpreted asa decision that a child has a disability. Rather, it is a means of ensuring that parents have both full knowledge of school actions andinvolvement in the decision-making process. It is important that parents fully understand the reasons for an individual evaluation so thatthey feel comfortable with the decisions they must make. This process of parents’ rights is discussed in great detail in Chapter 8.

1.9 COMPONENTS OF A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT

An evaluation for special education should always be conducted on an individual basis. When completed, it is a comprehensive assessmentof the child’s abilities. Under IDEA (sec. 614(2)(B)), no single measure or assessment is used as the sole criterion for determining anappropriate educational program for a child. Further, the child must be assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability, including,where appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, communicative status,and motor abilities. In light of these mandates, a comprehensive assessment should normally include many of the following:

• An individual psychological evaluation including general intelligence, instructional needs, learning strengths and weaknesses, andsocial–emotional dynamics

• A thorough social history based on interviews with parents and student

• A thorough academic history with interviews or reports from past teachers

• A physical examination including specific assessments that relate to vision, hearing, and health

• A classroom observation of the student in the current educational setting

• An appropriate educational evaluation specifically pinpointing the areas of deficit or suspected disability including, but not limited to,educational achievement, academic needs, learning strengths and weaknesses, and vocational assessments

• A functional behavioral assessment to describe the relationship between a skill or performance problem and variables that contributeto its occurrence

• The purpose of a functional behavioral assessment is to gather broad and specific information in order to better understand thereasons for the student’s problem behavior

• A bilingual assessment for students with limited English proficiency

• Auditory and visual discrimination tests

• Assessment of classroom performance

• Speech and language evaluations, when appropriate

• Physical and/or occupational evaluations, when indicated

• Interviewing the student and significant others in the student’s life

• Examining school records and past evaluation results

• Using information from checklists completed by parents, teachers, or the student

• Evaluating curriculum requirements and options

• Evaluating the student’s type and rate of learning during trial teaching periods

• Evaluating which skills have been and have not been mastered, and in what order unmastered skills need to be taught

• Collecting ratings on teacher attitude toward students with disabilities, peer acceptance, and classroom climate

This information can be gathered in a variety of ways. These may include, but are not limited to norm-referenced tests, informal assessment,criterion-referenced tests, standards-referenced tests, ecological assessment, curriculum-based assessment, curriculum-basedmeasurement, dynamic assessment, portfolio assessment, authentic/naturalistic/performance-based assessment, task analysis, outcome-based assessment, and learning styles assessment (Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2009). All of these are discussed in detail in

Chapter 2

of thistextbook.

CONCLUSION

Assessment is a complex process that needs to be conducted by a multidisciplinary team of trained professionals and involves both formaland informal methods of collecting information about the student. Although the team may choose to administer a series of tests to thestudent, by law assessment must involve much more than standardized tests. Interviews of all key participants in the student’s educationand observations of student behaviors in the classroom or in other sites should be included as well. To develop a comprehensive picture ofthe student and to develop practical intervention strategies to address that student’s special needs, the team must ask questions and useassessment techniques that will help them determine the factors that are facilitating—and interfering with—the child’s learning.

It is also important that assessment be an ongoing process. As you will see as you read through this book, the process begins even beforethe student is referred for formal evaluation; his or her teacher or parent may have noticed that some aspect of the student’s performanceor behavior is below expectations and, so, requests an official assessment. After eligibility has been established and the IEP developed forthe student, assessment should continue, through teacher-made tests, through ongoing behavioral assessment, or through other methods.This allows teachers and parents to monitor the student’s progress toward the goals and objectives stated in his or her IEP. Thus,assessment should not end when the eligibility decision is made or the IEP is developed; it has continuing value in contributing to the daily,weekly, and monthly instructional decision making that accompanies the provision of special education and related services.

A thorough and comprehensive assessment can greatly enhance a child’s educational experience. The assessment process has many stepsand needs to be appropriately done. Furthermore, no one individual makes all of the decisions for a child’s classification; it is done by amultidisciplinary team. As future special educators, it is your professional responsibility to understand the laws, steps, and variousassessment measures and procedures used in the special education process so that when you enter the school systems, you can have asignificant and positive impact on all those with whom you are involved in special education.

Vocabulary

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Federal antidiscrimination legislation for people with disabilities enacted in 1990.

Analysis: The processing and understanding of patterns in a child’s educational, social, developmental, environmental, medical, andemotional history.

Assessment approach: The way information is collected for making an educational decision.

Assessment: A process that involves collecting information about a student for the purpose of making decisions.

Autism: A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evidentbefore age 3.

Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson School District v. Rowley:
In Rowley, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the obligation toprovide an appropriate education does not mean a school must provide the best education or one designed to maximize a student’spotential.

Collection: The process of tracing and gathering information from the many sources of background information on a child, such as schoolrecords, observation, parent intakes, and teacher reports.

Consent for evaluation: A means of ensuring that parents have both full knowledge of school actions and involvement in the decision-making process.

Daniel R. R. v. State Board of Education:
One of the important cases that opened the door to increased inclusion of children withdisabilities in regular education classes.

Deaf–blindness: Simultaneous hearing and visual impairments.

Deafness: A hearing impairment so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information, with or without amplification.

Determination: The determination of the presence of a suspected disability using knowledge of the criteria that constitute each category.

Developmental delay: Experiencing delay in one or more of the following areas: physical development, cognitive development,communication.

Diana v. State Board of Education:
In this case, California was mandated by the court to correct bias in assessment procedures used withChinese American and Mexican American students.

Due process: The right to an impartial hearing if parents do not agree with the decisions made about their child in the assessment process.

Education of All Handicapped Children Act (EHA): The federal law that set forth procedural safeguards for children with disabilities andtheir parents.

Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986: Amended P.L. 94-142, requiring states to provide a free and appropriatepublic education to children with disabilities ages 3 through 5.

Eligibility and diagnosis: The determination by assessment whether a child is eligible for special education services and what classificationthe child will receive.

Emotional disturbance: A disability whereby a child of typical intelligence has difficulty, over time and to a marked degree, with variousemotional and behavioral issues.

Evaluation: The evaluation of a child’s academic, intellectual, psychological, emotional, perceptual, language, cognitive, and medicaldevelopment in order to determine areas of strength and weakness.

Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): The federal law that gives parents and eligible students the right to examine thestudent’s personal file.

Fourteenth Amendment: The equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that all people must have equal protectionunder the law.

Georgia State Conference of Branches of NAACP v. State of Georgia:
A U.S. court of appeals ruled that overrepresentation of AfricanAmerican children in classes for the mentally retarded by itself was not sufficient to prove discrimination.

Gerstmeyer v. Howard County Public Schools:
Here, the court ruled that when a school district delays an evaluation for 6 months, parentscan sue for costs associated with the delay and be reimbursed for all associated costs.

Guadalupe v. Tempe Elementary School:
In Arizona, a U.S. district court agreed to a stipulated agreement that children could not be placedin educable mentally retarded classes unless they scored lower than two standard deviations below the population mean on an approvedIQ test administered in the child’s own language.

Hearing impairment: An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating.

Hobson v. Hansen:
A U.S. district court declared that the District of Columbia’s school system’s tracking system was invalid.

IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act): Federal law requiring a timely, comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation.

IDEA ’97 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997): Federal law that strengthened parents’ roles and the least restrictiveenvironment mandate.

IDEA 2004 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act): The federal law that guarantees a “free and appropriateeducation,” including special education and related service programming, to all children and youth with disabilities who require it. IDEA2004 also ensures that the rights of children and youth with disabilities and their parents or guardians are protected (e.g., fairness,appropriateness, and due process in decision making about providing special education and related services to children and youth withdisabilities).

Individualized education program (IEP): The document that sets forth the short-term and long-term goals of each child who is classifiedin special education.

Informed consent: The rights of parents to know exactly what will happen to their children in the process of assessment.

Instructional planning: One of the primary purposes of assessment whereby a plan is developed that is appropriate for a child in specialeducation. The plan should focus on social, academic, physical, and management needs.

Jose P. v. Ambach:
The court in this case ruled that evaluations in or for special education services must be “timely evaluations.”

Larry P. v. Riles:
In this California case, using IQ tests as the assessment measure for placing African American students in special educationas mentally retarded was found to be discriminatory.

Least restrictive environment (LRE): The idea that all children with disabilities should be educated in an environment that is leastrestrictive, ensuring to the extent possible that they will receive their education with children without disabilities.

Luke S. and Han S. v. Nix et al.:
A Louisiana court case in which the court ruled that greater pre-referral assessment should be done beforea referral is made.

Mental retardation: Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior.

Multiple disabilities: The manifestation of two or more disabilities (such as mental retardation and blindness), the combination of whichrequires special accommodation for maximal learning.

Native language: The language that is the primary language for the child and/or his or her parents.

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB): With passage of No Child Left Behind, Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary EducationAct (ESEA). In amending ESEA, the new law represents a sweeping overhaul of federal efforts to support elementary and secondaryeducation in the United States. It is built on four commonsense pillars: accountability for results, an emphasis on doing what works basedon scientific research, expanded parental options, and expanded local control and flexibility.

Nondiscriminatory assessment: Objective and fair testing practices and procedures for all children.

Orthopedic impairment: Physical disabilities including congenital impairments, impairments caused by disease, and impairments fromother causes.

Other health impairment: Having limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems (e.g., diabetes, asthma,hypoglycemia, attention deficit disorder).

PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:
In this case, a U.S. federal court in Pennsylvania ratified a consent agreement ensuring thatschools may not exclude students who have been classified with mental retardation.

Reauthorization: The act of amending and renewing a law.

Recommendation: The recommendations concerning educational placement and programs that need to be made to the school, teachers,and parents.

Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act: A civil rights law created to prevent discrimination against all individuals withdisabilities in programs that receive federal funds, as do all public schools.

Specific learning disability: A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in usinglanguage, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematicalcalculations.

Speech or language impairment: A communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voiceimpairment.

Transition services: Services and programs to help students in special education make the transition from high school to college orvocational career.

Traumatic brain injury: An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functionaldisability or psychosocial impairment or both.

Visual impairment: An impairment in vision (including blindness) that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educationalperformance.

Vocational Education Act of 1984 (Perkins Act): Law authorizing federal funds to support vocational education programs.

Wyatt v. Stickney:
In Alabama, a federal court ruled that mentally retarded children in state institutions had a constitutional right totreatment.

Zero reject: All students have the right to a public school education and cannot be excluded because of a disability.

•

Determination

:
The determination of the presence of a suspected disability using knowledge of the criteria that constitute eachcategory

•
Recommendation

:
The recommendations concerning educational placement and program that need to be made to the school,teachers, and parents

1.2 PURPOSE OF ASSESSMENT

Assessment takes place when students experience difficulty meeting the demands of the general education curriculum and are referred forconsideration for special education services (McLoughlin & Lewis, 2008). As will be discussed in great detail throughout this book,following a referral for a suspected disability of a child and with written parental or guardian permission, an individual multidisciplinaryand comprehensive assessment is conducted. This means that formal tests, observations, and numerous assessments will be given. Theresults help to determine if special education is needed and whether factors unrelated to disabilities are affecting a child’s schoolperformance.
Assessment should be an active, ongoing process that has a clearly specified purpose (Taylor, 2009). Assessment results provideinformation useful for determining or modifying a child’s program, if necessary. The decisions that use assessment information are variedand complex, and they occur in and out of classrooms (Salvia & Ysseldyke, 2007). Assessment plays a critical role in the determination of siximportant decisions (National Information Center for Children and Youths with Disabilities, 2000):
• Evaluation decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information of a student’s strengths,weaknesses, and overall progress.
• Diagnostic decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information of the specific nature of thestudent’s problems or disability.
• Eligibility decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information on whether a child is eligible forspecial education services.
• IEP development decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information so that an individualizededucation program (IEP) may be developed.
• Educational placement decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information so that appropriatedecisions may be made about the child’s educational placement.
• Instructional planning decisions: Information collected in the assessment process is critical in planning instruction appropriate to thechild’s special social, academic, physical, and management needs.
1.3 LANDMARK COURT CASES IN SPECIAL EDUCATION
The first federal laws designed to assist individuals with disabilities date back to the early days of the nation. In 1798, the Fifth Congresspassed the first federal law concerned with the care of persons with disabilities (National Information Center for Children and Youth withDisabilities, 1996). This law authorized the Maine Hospital Service to provide medical services to seamen with disabilities or those whowere sick. By 1912, this entity had become known as the Public Health Service. However, prior to World War II, there were relatively fewfederal laws authorizing special benefits for persons with disabilities. Those that existed were intended to address the needs of warveterans with service-connected disabilities. This meant that, for most of our nation’s history, schools were allowed to exclude—and oftendid exclude—certain children, especially those with disabilities.
In 1948, only 12 percent of all children with disabilities received some form of special education. By the early 1950s, special educationservices and programs were available in school districts, but often undesirable results occurred. For example, students in special classeswere considered unable to perform academic tasks. Consequently, they went to special schools or classes that focused on learning manualskills such as weaving and bead stringing. Although programs existed, it was clear that discrimination was still as strong as ever for thosewith disabilities in schools.
Legislation and court cases to prevent discrimination in education first came to notice in 1954 with the famous case Brown v. Board ofEducation of Topeka, Kansas. In Brown, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal practice under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S.Constitution to arbitrarily discriminate against any group of people. The Court then applied this principle to the schooling of children,holding that a separate education for African American students is not an equal education. In its famous ruling, separate but equal wouldno longer be accepted (347 U.S. 483).
Brown set the precedent for future discrimination cases in education. People with disabilities were recognized as another group whoserights had been violated because of arbitrary discrimination. For children, the discrimination occurred because they were denied access toschools due to their disabilities. Using Brown as their legal precedent, students with disabilities claimed that their segregation and exclusionfrom school violated their opportunity for an equal education under the
Fourteenth Amendment
of the U.S. Constitution—the EqualProtection Clause. If Brown prohibited segregation by race, then schools should not be able to segregate or otherwise discriminate byability and disability.
In the 1960s, parents began to advocate for better educational opportunities for their children. Around the same time, many authoritiesbegan to agree that segregated special classes were not the most appropriate educational setting for many students with disabilities. By theend of the 1960s, landmark court cases set the stage for enactment of federal laws to protect the rights of children with disabilities andtheir parents. Some of the most significant court cases in special education, in their order of occurrence, include:
HOBSON v. HANSEN (1967).
In Hobson v. Hansen, a U.S. district court declared that the District of Columbia school system’s tracking system was invalid. However, specialclasses were allowed, provided that testing procedures were rigorous and that retesting was frequent (Sattler, 2008).
DIANA v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION (1970).
In Diana v. State Board of Education, California was mandated by the court to correct bias in assessment procedures used with ChineseAmerican and Mexican American students. Diana had three very important holdings that would later influence the enactment of federalspecial education laws:
1. If a student’s primary language was not English, the student had to be tested in both English and his or her primary language.
2. Culturally unfair items had to be eliminated from all tests used in the assessment process.
3. If intelligence tests were to be used in the assessment process, they had to be developed to reflect Mexican American culture (Diana v.State Board of Education, C-70: 37RFT, N.D. Cal., 1970).
PARC v. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA (1972).
A U.S. federal court in Pennsylvania ratified a consent agreement ensuring that schools may not exclude students who have been classifiedwith mental retardation. Also, the court mandated that all students must be provided with a free public education. Both of these holdingswould play a fundamental role in the enactment of future federal special education laws (PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 343 F.Supp. 279, E.D. PA 1972).
WYATT v. STICKNEY (1972).
In Alabama, a federal court ruled that mentally retarded children in state institutions had a constitutional right to treatment (Wyatt v.Stickney, 344 F. Supp. 387, M.D. Ala 1972).
GUADALUPE v. TEMPE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (1972).
In Arizona, a U.S. district court agreed to a stipulated agreement that children could not be placed in educable mentally retarded classesunless they scored lower than two standard deviations below the population mean on an approved IQ test administered in the child’s ownlanguage. Guadalupe v. Tempe Elementary School also stipulated that other assessment procedures must be used in addition to intelligencetests, and that parental permission must be obtained for such placements (Sattler, 2008).
MILLS v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (1972).
This case set forth future guidelines for federal legislation, including the rights of students with disabilities to have access to a free publiceducation, due process protection, and a mandated requirement to provide special education services regardless of the school district’sfinancial capability (Mills v. Board of Education of District of Columbia, 348 Supp. 866, CD. DC 1972; contempt proceedings, EHLR 551:643CD. DC 1980).
PASE (PARENTS IN ACTION ON SPECIAL EDUCATION) v. JOSEPH P. HANNON (1980).
In this case regarding bias in IQ testing, the judge (Judge Grady in Illinois) found that on the IQ tests he examined, only 9 of the 488 testquestions were racially biased. Consequently, IQ tests were found not to be discriminatory. Furthermore, Judge Grady indicated that clinicaljudgment also plays a large role in interpreting IQ test results. He stated: “There is no evidence in this record that such misassessments asdo occur are the result of racial bias in test items or in any aspect of the assessment process currently in use in the Chicago public schoolsystem.” Therefore, the decision in PASE resolved some of the controversy about the use of IQ tests for special education classification. As aresult, the use of intelligence tests was acceptable in psychoeducational assessment as long as they followed all other proceduralsafeguards under federal law (PASE v. Joseph P. Hannon, No. 74 C 3586 N.D. Ill. 1980).
LUKE S. AND HANS S. v. NIX ET AL. (1982).
In the state of Louisiana, all evaluations had to be completed within a 60-day time period. The plaintiffs in this case argued that thousandsof students were not being appropriately evaluated within this time period. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and informed the stateof Louisiana that greater prereferral assessment should be done before a referral is made (Luke S. and Hans S. v. Nix et al, cited in Taylor,2009, p. 9).
BOARD OF EDUCATION OF HENDRICK HUDSON SCHOOL DISTRICT v. ROWLEY (1982).
The parents of Amy Rowley, a deaf student with minimal residual hearing and excellent lip-reading skills, sought the services of a full-timeinterpreter in her regular classes. Amy had been provided with an FM trainer (a teacher of the deaf) for 1 hour per day and speechtraining for 3 hours per week. Even though Amy was missing about half of what was being discussed in class, she was very well adjusted,was performing better than the average child in the class, and was advancing easily from grade to grade.
Based on these facts, the U.S. Supreme Court determined in Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson School District v. Rowley that Amy wasreceiving an “appropriate” education without the sign interpreter. In reaching this opinion, the Court concluded that the obligation toprovide an appropriate education does not mean a school must provide the “best” education or one designed to “maximize” a student’spotential. However, the program must be based on the student’s unique individual needs and be designed to enable the student to benefitfrom an education. In other words, the student must be making progress (Hager, 1999, p. 5).
JOSE P. v. AMBACH (1983).
Plaintiffs filed suit against New York City, complaining about the inappropriate delivery of services. The plaintiffs argued that many studentsin special education were not receiving services in an appropriate time frame. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and stated that fromthe time of referral to evaluation a maximum of 30 days can elapse. The court informed the defendants that all evaluations must be “timelyevaluations” (Taylor, 2009, p. 10).
LARRY P. v. RILES (1984).
In this California case, using IQ tests as the assessment measure for placing African American students in special education as mentallyretarded was found to be discriminatory. Schools in California were mandated by the court to reduce the disproportionate representationof African American students in special education. In Larry P. v. Riles, the court determined that IQ tests were discriminatory against AfricanAmericans in three ways:
1. IQ tests actually measure achievement rather than ability. Because African Americans throughout their educational history have beendenied equal educational opportunities through schools segregated by race, they will inevitably have achievement scores lower than thenorms and thus be discriminated against in testing.
2. IQ tests rest on the plausible but unproven assumption that intelligence is distributed in the population in accordance with a normalstatistical curve (bell-shaped), and thus the tests are artificial tools to rank individuals.
3. IQ tests lead to the classification of more African American students than white students in dead-end classes for students with mild tomoderate disabilities [(No. C-71-2270 RFP (1979) and No. 80-4027 DC No. C-71-2270 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit(1984)].
GEORGIA STATE CONFERENCE OF BRANCHES OF NAACP v. STATE OF GEORGIA (1984).
In Georgia State Conference of Branches of NAACP v. State of Georgia, a U.S. court of appeals ruled that African American children schooled inthe state of Georgia were not being discriminated against solely because there was a disproportionate number of them in classes for lowachievers. The court explained that there was no evidence of differential treatment of African American and other students.Overrepresentation of African American children in classes for the mentally retarded by itself was not sufficient to prove discrimination(Sattler, 2008).
DANIEL R. R. v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION (1989).
Daniel R. R. is one of the crucial cases opening the door to increased inclusion of children with disabilities in regular education classes. Thecourt noted that Congress showed a strong preference favoring mainstreaming—that is, educating the student in the regular educationclassroom with supports. Ironically, the court determined that it was not appropriate to include the child in this case in full-time regulareducation. However, the court’s analysis of the least restrictive environment requirement, especially its interpretation of what is meant byproviding supplementary aids and services in the regular classroom, has been followed by a number of other courts (Hager, 1999, p. 6).
In determining whether it is appropriate to place a student with disabilities in regular education, the student need not be expected to learnat the same rate as the other students in the class. In other words, part of the required supplementary aids and services must be themodification of the regular education curriculum for the student, when needed. The court in Daniel R. R. v. State Board of Education noted,however, that the school need not modify the program “beyond recognition.” Also, in looking at whether it is “appropriate” for the child tobe in regular education—in other words, whether the student can benefit educationally from regular class placement—the school mustconsider the broader educational benefit of contact with nondisabled students, such as opportunities for modeling appropriate behaviorand socialization (Hager, 1999, p. 6).
GERSTMEYER v. HOWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (1994).
Although Howard School District had been told that a child needed an evaluation before entering the first grade, the evaluation was notdone prior to the child’s entering the first grade. The parents sent their child to private school and the evaluation was only done 6 monthsafter the initial referral. The parents sued the district for the costs of private schooling and tutoring caused by the delay. In Gerstmeyer v.Howard County Public Schools, the court ruled in favor of the parents and made Howard School District reimburse them for all associatedcosts (Taylor, 2009, p. 10).
1.3 LANDMARK COURT CASES IN SPECIAL EDUCATION
The first federal laws designed to assist individuals with disabilities date back to the early days of the nation. In 1798, the Fifth Congresspassed the first federal law concerned with the care of persons with disabilities (National Information Center for Children and Youth withDisabilities, 1996). This law authorized the Maine Hospital Service to provide medical services to seamen with disabilities or those whowere sick. By 1912, this entity had become known as the Public Health Service. However, prior to World War II, there were relatively fewfederal laws authorizing special benefits for persons with disabilities. Those that existed were intended to address the needs of warveterans with service-connected disabilities. This meant that, for most of our nation’s history, schools were allowed to exclude—and oftendid exclude—certain children, especially those with disabilities.
In 1948, only 12 percent of all children with disabilities received some form of special education. By the early 1950s, special educationservices and programs were available in school districts, but often undesirable results occurred. For example, students in special classeswere considered unable to perform academic tasks. Consequently, they went to special schools or classes that focused on learning manualskills such as weaving and bead stringing. Although programs existed, it was clear that discrimination was still as strong as ever for thosewith disabilities in schools.
Legislation and court cases to prevent discrimination in education first came to notice in 1954 with the famous case Brown v. Board ofEducation of Topeka, Kansas. In Brown, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal practice under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S.Constitution to arbitrarily discriminate against any group of people. The Court then applied this principle to the schooling of children,holding that a separate education for African American students is not an equal education. In its famous ruling, separate but equal wouldno longer be accepted (347 U.S. 483).
Brown set the precedent for future discrimination cases in education. People with disabilities were recognized as another group whoserights had been violated because of arbitrary discrimination. For children, the discrimination occurred because they were denied access toschools due to their disabilities. Using Brown as their legal precedent, students with disabilities claimed that their segregation and exclusionfrom school violated their opportunity for an equal education under the
Fourteenth Amendment
of the U.S. Constitution—the EqualProtection Clause. If Brown prohibited segregation by race, then schools should not be able to segregate or otherwise discriminate byability and disability.
In the 1960s, parents began to advocate for better educational opportunities for their children. Around the same time, many authoritiesbegan to agree that segregated special classes were not the most appropriate educational setting for many students with disabilities. By theend of the 1960s, landmark court cases set the stage for enactment of federal laws to protect the rights of children with disabilities andtheir parents. Some of the most significant court cases in special education, in their order of occurrence, include:
HOBSON v. HANSEN (1967).
In Hobson v. Hansen, a U.S. district court declared that the District of Columbia school system’s tracking system was invalid. However, specialclasses were allowed, provided that testing procedures were rigorous and that retesting was frequent (Sattler, 2008).
DIANA v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION (1970).
In Diana v. State Board of Education, California was mandated by the court to correct bias in assessment procedures used with ChineseAmerican and Mexican American students. Diana had three very important holdings that would later influence the enactment of federalspecial education laws:
1. If a student’s primary language was not English, the student had to be tested in both English and his or her primary language.
2. Culturally unfair items had to be eliminated from all tests used in the assessment process.
3. If intelligence tests were to be used in the assessment process, they had to be developed to reflect Mexican American culture (Diana v.State Board of Education, C-70: 37RFT, N.D. Cal., 1970).
PARC v. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA (1972).
A U.S. federal court in Pennsylvania ratified a consent agreement ensuring that schools may not exclude students who have been classifiedwith mental retardation. Also, the court mandated that all students must be provided with a free public education. Both of these holdingswould play a fundamental role in the enactment of future federal special education laws (PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 343 F.Supp. 279, E.D. PA 1972).
WYATT v. STICKNEY (1972).
In Alabama, a federal court ruled that mentally retarded children in state institutions had a constitutional right to treatment (Wyatt v.Stickney, 344 F. Supp. 387, M.D. Ala 1972).
GUADALUPE v. TEMPE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (1972).
In Arizona, a U.S. district court agreed to a stipulated agreement that children could not be placed in educable mentally retarded classesunless they scored lower than two standard deviations below the population mean on an approved IQ test administered in the child’s ownlanguage. Guadalupe v. Tempe Elementary School also stipulated that other assessment procedures must be used in addition to intelligencetests, and that parental permission must be obtained for such placements (Sattler, 2008).
MILLS v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (1972).
This case set forth future guidelines for federal legislation, including the rights of students with disabilities to have access to a free publiceducation, due process protection, and a mandated requirement to provide special education services regardless of the school district’sfinancial capability (Mills v. Board of Education of District of Columbia, 348 Supp. 866, CD. DC 1972; contempt proceedings, EHLR 551:643CD. DC 1980).
PASE (PARENTS IN ACTION ON SPECIAL EDUCATION) v. JOSEPH P. HANNON (1980).
In this case regarding bias in IQ testing, the judge (Judge Grady in Illinois) found that on the IQ tests he examined, only 9 of the 488 testquestions were racially biased. Consequently, IQ tests were found not to be discriminatory. Furthermore, Judge Grady indicated that clinicaljudgment also plays a large role in interpreting IQ test results. He stated: “There is no evidence in this record that such misassessments asdo occur are the result of racial bias in test items or in any aspect of the assessment process currently in use in the Chicago public schoolsystem.” Therefore, the decision in PASE resolved some of the controversy about the use of IQ tests for special education classification. As aresult, the use of intelligence tests was acceptable in psychoeducational assessment as long as they followed all other proceduralsafeguards under federal law (PASE v. Joseph P. Hannon, No. 74 C 3586 N.D. Ill. 1980).
LUKE S. AND HANS S. v. NIX ET AL. (1982).
In the state of Louisiana, all evaluations had to be completed within a 60-day time period. The plaintiffs in this case argued that thousandsof students were not being appropriately evaluated within this time period. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and informed the stateof Louisiana that greater prereferral assessment should be done before a referral is made (Luke S. and Hans S. v. Nix et al, cited in Taylor,2009, p. 9).
BOARD OF EDUCATION OF HENDRICK HUDSON SCHOOL DISTRICT v. ROWLEY (1982).
The parents of Amy Rowley, a deaf student with minimal residual hearing and excellent lip-reading skills, sought the services of a full-timeinterpreter in her regular classes. Amy had been provided with an FM trainer (a teacher of the deaf) for 1 hour per day and speechtraining for 3 hours per week. Even though Amy was missing about half of what was being discussed in class, she was very well adjusted,was performing better than the average child in the class, and was advancing easily from grade to grade.
Based on these facts, the U.S. Supreme Court determined in Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson School District v. Rowley that Amy wasreceiving an “appropriate” education without the sign interpreter. In reaching this opinion, the Court concluded that the obligation toprovide an appropriate education does not mean a school must provide the “best” education or one designed to “maximize” a student’spotential. However, the program must be based on the student’s unique individual needs and be designed to enable the student to benefitfrom an education. In other words, the student must be making progress (Hager, 1999, p. 5).
JOSE P. v. AMBACH (1983).
Plaintiffs filed suit against New York City, complaining about the inappropriate delivery of services. The plaintiffs argued that many studentsin special education were not receiving services in an appropriate time frame. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and stated that fromthe time of referral to evaluation a maximum of 30 days can elapse. The court informed the defendants that all evaluations must be “timelyevaluations” (Taylor, 2009, p. 10).
LARRY P. v. RILES (1984).
In this California case, using IQ tests as the assessment measure for placing African American students in special education as mentallyretarded was found to be discriminatory. Schools in California were mandated by the court to reduce the disproportionate representationof African American students in special education. In Larry P. v. Riles, the court determined that IQ tests were discriminatory against AfricanAmericans in three ways:
1. IQ tests actually measure achievement rather than ability. Because African Americans throughout their educational history have beendenied equal educational opportunities through schools segregated by race, they will inevitably have achievement scores lower than thenorms and thus be discriminated against in testing.
2. IQ tests rest on the plausible but unproven assumption that intelligence is distributed in the population in accordance with a normalstatistical curve (bell-shaped), and thus the tests are artificial tools to rank individuals.
3. IQ tests lead to the classification of more African American students than white students in dead-end classes for students with mild tomoderate disabilities [(No. C-71-2270 RFP (1979) and No. 80-4027 DC No. C-71-2270 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit(1984)].
GEORGIA STATE CONFERENCE OF BRANCHES OF NAACP v. STATE OF GEORGIA (1984).
In Georgia State Conference of Branches of NAACP v. State of Georgia, a U.S. court of appeals ruled that African American children schooled inthe state of Georgia were not being discriminated against solely because there was a disproportionate number of them in classes for lowachievers. The court explained that there was no evidence of differential treatment of African American and other students.Overrepresentation of African American children in classes for the mentally retarded by itself was not sufficient to prove discrimination(Sattler, 2008).
DANIEL R. R. v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION (1989).
Daniel R. R. is one of the crucial cases opening the door to increased inclusion of children with disabilities in regular education classes. Thecourt noted that Congress showed a strong preference favoring mainstreaming—that is, educating the student in the regular educationclassroom with supports. Ironically, the court determined that it was not appropriate to include the child in this case in full-time regulareducation. However, the court’s analysis of the least restrictive environment requirement, especially its interpretation of what is meant byproviding supplementary aids and services in the regular classroom, has been followed by a number of other courts (Hager, 1999, p. 6).
In determining whether it is appropriate to place a student with disabilities in regular education, the student need not be expected to learnat the same rate as the other students in the class. In other words, part of the required supplementary aids and services must be themodification of the regular education curriculum for the student, when needed. The court in Daniel R. R. v. State Board of Education noted,however, that the school need not modify the program “beyond recognition.” Also, in looking at whether it is “appropriate” for the child tobe in regular education—in other words, whether the student can benefit educationally from regular class placement—the school mustconsider the broader educational benefit of contact with nondisabled students, such as opportunities for modeling appropriate behaviorand socialization (Hager, 1999, p. 6).
GERSTMEYER v. HOWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (1994).
Although Howard School District had been told that a child needed an evaluation before entering the first grade, the evaluation was notdone prior to the child’s entering the first grade. The parents sent their child to private school and the evaluation was only done 6 monthsafter the initial referral. The parents sued the district for the costs of private schooling and tutoring caused by the delay. In Gerstmeyer v.Howard County Public Schools, the court ruled in favor of the parents and made Howard School District reimburse them for all associatedcosts (Taylor, 2009, p. 10).
1.5 INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004) an evaluation of a child with a suspected disability must bemade by a multidisciplinary team or groups of persons including at least one teacher or specialist with knowledge in the area of thesuspected disability. These professionals must use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional anddevelopmental information, including information provided by the parent that will assist in determining whether a child has a disability asdefined under federal law (Cohen & Spenciner, 2011). The members of the multidisciplinary team often include the following (Pierangelo &Giuliani, 2009):
• General education teacher
• School psychologist
• Special education evaluator
• Special education teacher
• Speech and language clinician
• Medical personnel (when appropriate)
• Social workers
• School/guidance counselor
• Parents
• School nurse
• Occupational and physical therapists
The roles that each of these people play in the assessment process are discussed thoroughly in Chapter 8.
1.6 CLASSIFICATIONS UNDER IDEA 2004
IDEA 2004 lists separate categories of disabilities under which children may be eligible for special education and related services. Childrenare eligible to receive special education services and supports if they meet the eligibility requirements for at least one of the disablingconditions listed in P.L. 108-446 and it is determined that they are in need of special education services (Gargiulo, 2008).
According to IDEA 2004, Sec. 602(3)(A), a child with a disability is a child
1. with mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments, seriousemotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disability;and
2. who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services
The definitions of the 13 disabling conditions under IDEA 2004 are listed below:

Autism

Deaf–blindness

Developmental delay

:
For children ages 3 through 9, a state and local education agency (LEA) may choose to include as an eligible “childwith a disability” a child who is experiencing developmental delays in one or more of the following areas:
• physical development
• cognitive development
• communication development
• social or emotional development
• adaptive development
It must also be determined that, because of the developmental delays, the child needs special education and related services. Developmentaldelays are defined by the state and must be measured by appropriate diagnostic instruments and procedures.

Emotional disturbance

:
A condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a markeddegree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance:
• An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors
• An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers
• Inappropriate types of behaviors or feelings under normal circumstances
• A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression
• A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems
The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they havean emotional disturbance.

Hearing impairment

:
An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s performance butthat is not included under the definition of deafness in this section. (
Deafness
: A hearing impairment so severe that the child is impairedin processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child’s educationalperformance.)

Mental retardation

Multiple disabilities

Orthopedic impairment

Other health impairment

Specific learning disability

Speech or language impairment

:
A communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or avoice impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Traumatic brain injury

Visual impairment

:
An impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The termincludes both partial and total sight blindness.
1.7 HOW STUDENTS ARE IDENTIFIED FOR ASSESSMENT
There are normally three ways a student may be identified for assessment of a suspected disability (Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2009):
1. School personnel may suspect the presence of a learning or behavior problem and ask the student’s parents for permission toevaluate the student individually
. This may have resulted from a student scoring far below his or her peers on some type of screeningmeasure and thereby alerting the school to the possibility of a problem.
2. The student’s classroom teacher may identify certain symptoms in a child within the classroom that seem to indicate the presenceof some problem
. For example, the student’s work is below expectations for his or her grade or age, or the student’s behavior is sodisruptive that he or she is unable to learn. Further, attempts at intervention strategies suggested by professional staff members havemet with little or no success.
3. The student’s parents may call or write the school or the director of special education and request that their child be evaluated
.The parents may feel that the child is not progressing as expected or may notice particular problems in how their child learns. Whenparents note a problem and request an evaluation, the school must follow through on the assessment process. This is the parents’ legalright.
1.8 PARENTAL CONSENT AND THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS
To protect the legal rights of parents and their children, IDEA 2004 (sec. 300.300) mandates that a school must obtain written permissionbefore any school evaluation for a suspected disability is undertaken. Request for
consent for evaluation
should not be misinterpreted asa decision that a child has a disability. Rather, it is a means of ensuring that parents have both full knowledge of school actions andinvolvement in the decision-making process. It is important that parents fully understand the reasons for an individual evaluation so thatthey feel comfortable with the decisions they must make. This process of parents’ rights is discussed in great detail in Chapter 8.
1.9 COMPONENTS OF A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT
An evaluation for special education should always be conducted on an individual basis. When completed, it is a comprehensive assessmentof the child’s abilities. Under IDEA (sec. 614(2)(B)), no single measure or assessment is used as the sole criterion for determining anappropriate educational program for a child. Further, the child must be assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability, including,where appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, communicative status,and motor abilities. In light of these mandates, a comprehensive assessment should normally include many of the following:
• An individual psychological evaluation including general intelligence, instructional needs, learning strengths and weaknesses, andsocial–emotional dynamics
• A thorough social history based on interviews with parents and student
• A thorough academic history with interviews or reports from past teachers
• A physical examination including specific assessments that relate to vision, hearing, and health
• A classroom observation of the student in the current educational setting
• An appropriate educational evaluation specifically pinpointing the areas of deficit or suspected disability including, but not limited to,educational achievement, academic needs, learning strengths and weaknesses, and vocational assessments
• A functional behavioral assessment to describe the relationship between a skill or performance problem and variables that contributeto its occurrence
• The purpose of a functional behavioral assessment is to gather broad and specific information in order to better understand thereasons for the student’s problem behavior
• A bilingual assessment for students with limited English proficiency
• Auditory and visual discrimination tests
• Assessment of classroom performance
• Speech and language evaluations, when appropriate
• Physical and/or occupational evaluations, when indicated
• Interviewing the student and significant others in the student’s life
• Examining school records and past evaluation results
• Using information from checklists completed by parents, teachers, or the student
• Evaluating curriculum requirements and options
• Evaluating the student’s type and rate of learning during trial teaching periods
• Evaluating which skills have been and have not been mastered, and in what order unmastered skills need to be taught
• Collecting ratings on teacher attitude toward students with disabilities, peer acceptance, and classroom climate
This information can be gathered in a variety of ways. These may include, but are not limited to norm-referenced tests, informal assessment,criterion-referenced tests, standards-referenced tests, ecological assessment, curriculum-based assessment, curriculum-basedmeasurement, dynamic assessment, portfolio assessment, authentic/naturalistic/performance-based assessment, task analysis, outcome-based assessment, and learning styles assessment (Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2009). All of these are discussed in detail in Chapter 2 of thistextbook.
CONCLUSION
Assessment is a complex process that needs to be conducted by a multidisciplinary team of trained professionals and involves both formaland informal methods of collecting information about the student. Although the team may choose to administer a series of tests to thestudent, by law assessment must involve much more than standardized tests. Interviews of all key participants in the student’s educationand observations of student behaviors in the classroom or in other sites should be included as well. To develop a comprehensive picture ofthe student and to develop practical intervention strategies to address that student’s special needs, the team must ask questions and useassessment techniques that will help them determine the factors that are facilitating—and interfering with—the child’s learning.
It is also important that assessment be an ongoing process. As you will see as you read through this book, the process begins even beforethe student is referred for formal evaluation; his or her teacher or parent may have noticed that some aspect of the student’s performanceor behavior is below expectations and, so, requests an official assessment. After eligibility has been established and the IEP developed forthe student, assessment should continue, through teacher-made tests, through ongoing behavioral assessment, or through other methods.This allows teachers and parents to monitor the student’s progress toward the goals and objectives stated in his or her IEP. Thus,assessment should not end when the eligibility decision is made or the IEP is developed; it has continuing value in contributing to the daily,weekly, and monthly instructional decision making that accompanies the provision of special education and related services.
A thorough and comprehensive assessment can greatly enhance a child’s educational experience. The assessment process has many stepsand needs to be appropriately done. Furthermore, no one individual makes all of the decisions for a child’s classification; it is done by amultidisciplinary team. As future special educators, it is your professional responsibility to understand the laws, steps, and variousassessment measures and procedures used in the special education process so that when you enter the school systems, you can have asignificant and positive impact on all those with whom you are involved in special education.
Vocabulary
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Federal antidiscrimination legislation for people with disabilities enacted in 1990.
Analysis: The processing and understanding of patterns in a child’s educational, social, developmental, environmental, medical, andemotional history.
Assessment approach: The way information is collected for making an educational decision.
Assessment: A process that involves collecting information about a student for the purpose of making decisions.
Autism: A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evidentbefore age 3.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas:
In Brown, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal under the FourteenthAmendment of the U.S. Constitution to arbitrarily discriminate against any group of people.
Collection: The process of tracing and gathering information from the many sources of background information on a child, such as schoolrecords, observation, parent intakes, and teacher reports.
Consent for evaluation: A means of ensuring that parents have both full knowledge of school actions and involvement in the decision-making process.

Daniel R. R. v. State Board of Education:
One of the important cases that opened the door to increased inclusion of children withdisabilities in regular education classes.
Deaf–blindness: Simultaneous hearing and visual impairments.
Deafness: A hearing impairment so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information, with or without amplification.
Determination: The determination of the presence of a suspected disability using knowledge of the criteria that constitute each category.
Developmental delay: Experiencing delay in one or more of the following areas: physical development, cognitive development,communication.

Diana v. State Board of Education:
In this case, California was mandated by the court to correct bias in assessment procedures used withChinese American and Mexican American students.
Due process: The right to an impartial hearing if parents do not agree with the decisions made about their child in the assessment process.
Education of All Handicapped Children Act (EHA): The federal law that set forth procedural safeguards for children with disabilities andtheir parents.
Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986: Amended P.L. 94-142, requiring states to provide a free and appropriatepublic education to children with disabilities ages 3 through 5.
Eligibility and diagnosis: The determination by assessment whether a child is eligible for special education services and what classificationthe child will receive.
Emotional disturbance: A disability whereby a child of typical intelligence has difficulty, over time and to a marked degree, with variousemotional and behavioral issues.
Evaluation: The evaluation of a child’s academic, intellectual, psychological, emotional, perceptual, language, cognitive, and medicaldevelopment in order to determine areas of strength and weakness.
Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): The federal law that gives parents and eligible students the right to examine thestudent’s personal file.
Fourteenth Amendment: The equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that all people must have equal protectionunder the law.

Hobson v. Hansen:
A U.S. district court declared that the District of Columbia’s school system’s tracking system was invalid.
IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act): Federal law requiring a timely, comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation.
IDEA ’97 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997): Federal law that strengthened parents’ roles and the least restrictiveenvironment mandate.
IDEA 2004 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act): The federal law that guarantees a “free and appropriateeducation,” including special education and related service programming, to all children and youth with disabilities who require it. IDEA2004 also ensures that the rights of children and youth with disabilities and their parents or guardians are protected (e.g., fairness,appropriateness, and due process in decision making about providing special education and related services to children and youth withdisabilities).
Individualized education program (IEP): The document that sets forth the short-term and long-term goals of each child who is classifiedin special education.
Informed consent: The rights of parents to know exactly what will happen to their children in the process of assessment.
Instructional planning: One of the primary purposes of assessment whereby a plan is developed that is appropriate for a child in specialeducation. The plan should focus on social, academic, physical, and management needs.

Jose P. v. Ambach:
The court in this case ruled that evaluations in or for special education services must be “timely evaluations.”

Larry P. v. Riles:
In this California case, using IQ tests as the assessment measure for placing African American students in special educationas mentally retarded was found to be discriminatory.
Least restrictive environment (LRE): The idea that all children with disabilities should be educated in an environment that is leastrestrictive, ensuring to the extent possible that they will receive their education with children without disabilities.

Luke S. and Han S. v. Nix et al.:
A Louisiana court case in which the court ruled that greater pre-referral assessment should be done beforea referral is made.
Mental retardation: Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior.

Mills v. Board of Education of District of Columbia:
This case set forth future guidelines for federal legislation, including the rights ofstudents to have access to a free public education, due process protection, and a mandated requirement to receive special educationservices regardless of the school district’s financial capability.
Multiple disabilities: The manifestation of two or more disabilities (such as mental retardation and blindness), the combination of whichrequires special accommodation for maximal learning.
Native language: The language that is the primary language for the child and/or his or her parents.
No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB): With passage of No Child Left Behind, Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary EducationAct (ESEA). In amending ESEA, the new law represents a sweeping overhaul of federal efforts to support elementary and secondaryeducation in the United States. It is built on four commonsense pillars: accountability for results, an emphasis on doing what works basedon scientific research, expanded parental options, and expanded local control and flexibility.
Nondiscriminatory assessment: Objective and fair testing practices and procedures for all children.
Orthopedic impairment: Physical disabilities including congenital impairments, impairments caused by disease, and impairments fromother causes.
Other health impairment: Having limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems (e.g., diabetes, asthma,hypoglycemia, attention deficit disorder).

PASE v. Joseph P. Hannon:
Here, the court found that the use of intelligence tests was acceptable in psychoeducational assessment as longas schools followed all other procedural safeguards under federal law.
Reauthorization: The act of amending and renewing a law.
Recommendation: The recommendations concerning educational placement and programs that need to be made to the school, teachers,and parents.
Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act: A civil rights law created to prevent discrimination against all individuals withdisabilities in programs that receive federal funds, as do all public schools.
Specific learning disability: A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in usinglanguage, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematicalcalculations.
Speech or language impairment: A communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voiceimpairment.
Transition services: Services and programs to help students in special education make the transition from high school to college orvocational career.
Traumatic brain injury: An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functionaldisability or psychosocial impairment or both.
Visual impairment: An impairment in vision (including blindness) that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educationalperformance.
Vocational Education Act of 1984 (Perkins Act): Law authorizing federal funds to support vocational education programs.

Wyatt v. Stickney:
In Alabama, a federal court ruled that mentally retarded children in state institutions had a constitutional right totreatment.
Zero reject: All students have the right to a public school education and cannot be excluded because of a disability.

Chapter Objectives

This chapter focuses on the multidisciplinary team (MDT) and parental participation in the assessment process. After reading thischapter, you should be able to understand the following:

■ Multidisciplinary team (MDT)

■ Purpose of the MDT

■ Membership of the MDT

■ Formal referral for a suspected disability

■ Contents of a referral to the MDT

■ Initial referral to the MDT from the school staff

■ Initial referral to the MDT from a parent/guardian

■ Assessment plans, consent for evaluation

■ Assessment options of the MDT

■ Parental participation in the assessment process

■ How to conduct parent intakes and interviews

■ Parent intakes

■ Confidentiality

8.1 PURPOSE OF THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM

As a result of the IDEA 2004 regulations, schools are moving toward a more global approach for the identification of students withsuspected disabilities through the development of a district-based team. This team may be referred to as the multidisciplinary team (MDT),multifactor team (MFT), or school-based support team (SBST), depending on the state in which the student resides. Throughout this text,we refer to this team as the multidisciplinary team. This team usually comes into operation when the local school-based team (child studyteam) has conducted a screening and suspects a disability. Once that is determined, then the MDT takes over. This team is mandated by IDEA2004 so that the child and parents are guaranteed that any comprehensive evaluation be conducted by different professionals to decreasethe possibility of subjective and discriminatory assessment.

The role of the MDT is to work as a single unit in determining the possible cause, contributing behavioral factors, educational status,prognosis (outcome), and recommendations for a student with a suspected disability. The MDT’s major objective is to bring together manydisciplines and professional perspectives to help work on a case so that a single person is not required to determine and assimilate all ofthe factors that affect a particular child. The MDT is responsible for gathering all the necessary information on a child in order to determinethe most effective and practical direction for his or her education. In many states, the MDT’s findings are then reviewed by anothercommittee (sometimes referred to as the eligibility committee, IEP committee, or committee on special education). Its role is to determinewhether the findings of the MDT fall within the guidelines for classification of the student as having an exceptionality and requiring specialeducation services (more on the process of eligibility in

Chapter 18

). In accomplishing this task, the team members employ several types ofassessments and collect data from many sources.

To further comply with IDEA 2004, each local agency must ensure that

a. Assessment materials and other evaluation materials are selected and administered so as not to be discriminatory on a racial orcultural basis.

b. Assessment materials are provided and administered in the language and form most likely to yield accurate information on what thechild knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally, unless it is not feasible to so provide or administer.

c. Tests and other assessment materials have been validated for the specific purpose for which they are used.

d. Tests and other assessment materials are administered by trained personnel in conformance with the instructions provided by theproducer of the tests and other assessment materials, except that individually administered tests of intellectual or emotional functioningshall be administered by a credentialed school psychologist.

e. Tests and other assessment materials are selected and administered to best ensure that a test administered to a pupil with impairedsensory, manual, or speaking skills produces test results that accurately reflect the pupil’s aptitude, achievement level, or any otherfactors the test purports to measure and not the pupil’s impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills, unless those skills are the factorsthe test purports to measure.

f. No single procedure is used as the sole criterion for determining an appropriate educational program for an individual with exceptionalneeds.

g. The pupil is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability including, where appropriate, health and development, vision,including low vision, hearing, motor abilities, language function, general ability, academic performance, self-help, orientation andmobility skills, career and vocational abilities and interests, and social and emotional status. A developmental history is obtained, whenappropriate. For pupils with residual vision, a low vision assessment shall be provided.

h. Persons knowledgeable of that disability shall conduct the assessment of a pupil, including the assessment of a pupil with a suspectedlow incidence disability. For instance, if the screening reveals a suspected learning disability then a learning disabilities specialistbecomes part of the team. If the child is suspected of having a hearing impairment then an audiologist becomes a member of the team.Special attention shall be given to the unique educational needs, including, but not limited to, skills and the need for specialized services,materials, and equipment (IDEA 2004, sec. 614 et seq.).

8.2 MEMBERSHIP OF THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM

Although specific state regulations may differ on the membership of the MDT, the members are usually drawn from individuals andprofessionals within the school and community. Depending on the school in which you work, your role may be different from that ofanother professional with the same title in a different school (i.e., your roles and responsibilities as an educational evaluator in one schoolmay be different from those of an evaluator in another school). Listed here are the general roles and responsibilities of members of amultidisciplinary team:

School psychologist: The role of the school psychologist on the MDT usually involves the administration of individual intelligence tests,projective tests, personality inventories, and the observation of the student in a variety of settings.

School nurse: The role of the school nurse is to review all medical records, screen for vision and hearing, consult with outside physicians,and make referrals to outside physicians, if necessary.

Classroom teacher: The classroom teacher’s role is to work with the local school-based child study team to implement prereferralstrategies, and plan and implement, along with the special education team, classroom strategies that create an appropriate workingenvironment for the student.

School social worker: The social worker’s role on the MDT is to gather and provide information concerning the family system. This maybe accomplished through interviews, observations, conferences, and so forth.

Special education teacher: The roles of the special education teacher include consulting with parents and classroom teachers aboutprereferral recommendations, administering educational and perceptual tests, observing the student in a variety of settings, screeningstudents with suspected disabilities, writing IEPs, including goals and objectives with the team (based on assessed needs), andrecommending intervention strategies to teachers and parents.

Educational diagnostician

: This professional administers a series of evaluations including norm-referenced and criterion-referencedtests, observes the student in a variety of settings, and makes educational recommendations that get applied to the IEP as goals andobjectives.

Physical therapist

: The physical therapist is called on to evaluate a child who may be experiencing problems in gross motor functioning,living and self-help skills, and vocational skills necessary for the student to be able to function in certain settings. This professional may beused to screen, evaluate, provide direct services, or consult with the teacher, parent, or school.

Behavioral consultant

: A behavioral consultant works closely with the team in providing direct services or consultation on issuesinvolving behavioral and classroom management techniques and programs.

Speech/language clinician: This professional is involved in screening for speech and language developmental problems, provides a fullevaluation on a suspected language disability, provides direct services, and consults with staff and parents.

Audiologist

: This professional is called on to evaluate a student’s hearing for possible impairments and, as a result of the findings, mayrefer the student for medical consultation or treatment. The audiologist may also assist in helping students and parents obtain equipment(i.e., hearing aids) that may affect the child’s ability to function in school.

Occupational therapist

: The occupational therapist is called on to evaluate a child who may be experiencing problems in fine motorskills and living and self-help skills. This professional may be used to screen; evaluate; provide direct services; consult with the teacher,parent, or school; and assist in obtaining the appropriate assistive technology or equipment for the student.

Guidance counselor

: This individual may be involved in providing aptitude test information, providing counseling services, working withthe team on consolidating, changing, or developing a student’s class schedule, and assisting the child study team in developing prereferralstrategies.

Parents

: The parent plays an extremely important role on the MDT in providing input for the IEP, working closely with members of theteam, and carrying out, assisting, or initiating academic or management programs within the child’s home (parents’ roles will bediscussed in more detail later in this chapter).

8.3 FORMAL REFERRAL FOR A SUSPECTED DISABILITY

Once the CST determines that a suspected disability may exist, a

formal referral

is made to the multidisciplinary team. A formal referral isnothing more than a form starting the special education process. A referral for evaluation and possible special education services isinitiated by a written request. However, you should understand that people other than the CST have the right under due process to initiate aformal referral for a child with a suspected disability. Depending on state regulations, these could include

• The child’s parent, advocate, person in parental relationship, or legal guardian

• A classroom teacher

• Any professional staff member of the public or private school district

• A judicial officer—a representative of the court

• A student on his or her own behalf if he or she is 18 years of age or older or an emancipated minor (a person under the age of 18 whohas been given certain adult rights by the court)

• The chief school officer of the state or his or her designee responsible for the welfare, education, or health of children

The Contents of a Referral to the MDT

This signed formal referral is usually sent to the MDT so that the team can begin the process of formal assessment. At the same time, thereferral is sent to the chairperson of the eligibility committee (discussed in

Chapter 19

) indicating that a child with a suspected disability willbe reviewed by the committee in the near future. This referral should be in written form and dated. This makes it official and gives a startdate because time lines are involved. A referral from the CST should include a great deal of information to assist the MDT in its assessment.Further documentation as to why a possible disability exists, descriptions of attempts to remediate the child’s behaviors (prereferralstrategies), or performance prior to the referral should all be included. All of these are important, especially the attempts that have beenmade prior to the referral. Remember, the district should try to keep the child in the mainstream, and the documentation it provides at thisstep in the process should ensure that it has done everything possible before beginning the referral process (prereferral options previouslydiscussed in

Chapter 7

Referrals from the CST for a formal assessment are forwarded to the MDT. If the referral is not from the parents, the district must informthe parents in writing immediately that their child has been referred for assessment of a suspected disability. The referral states that thechild may have a disability that adversely affects educational performance. An important point to remember is that a referral to the MDTdoes not necessarily mean that the child has a disability. It signals that the child is having learning and/or behavioral difficulties, and thatthere is a concern that the problem may be due to a disability.

Initial Referral to the MDT from the School Staff

As previously stated, once the CST has determined that a disability may exist, the team must alert the chairperson of the MDT that a childwith a suspected disability is being referred for review. This, in all actuality, begins the special education process. At this time, the team mayfill out a form like the one in

Figure 8.1

Initial Referral to the MDT from a Parent/Guardian

An initial referral to the MDT from the school staff alerts the chairperson of the MDT that the local school has made every attempt toresolve the student’s difficulties prior to the formal referral. The form also informs the chairperson that the parental rights have beenfollowed. In other cases, a student’s parent or guardian may initiate a referral to the MDT for suspicion of a disability under specialeducation laws or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. A fully completed referral form and any relevant information is sent to theappropriate special education administrator. Usually, on the receipt of the parent’s referral, the chairperson of the MDT will send to theparent/guardian an assessment plan (discussed next) and the parent’s due process rights statement. The building principal is also notifiedof the referral. When the possibility of a suspected disability of a child is brought to the school’s attention by the parent, then the formpresented in

Figure 8.2

is filled out and forwarded.

FIGURE 8.1 Initial Referral to the MDT from the School Staff

FIGURE 8.2 Initial Referral to the MDT from a Parent/Guardian

Important Point: If a release for testing (assessment plan) is not secured at a separate meeting, the chairperson of the MDT will mail oneto the parent along with the letter indicating that a referral has been made. However, no formal evaluations may begin until the districthas received signed permission from the parent or guardian.

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8.4 ASSESSMENT PLANS—CONSENT FOR EVALUATION

Prior to any assessment, the MDT must secure an agreement by the parent to allow the members of the team to evaluate the child. Thisrelease is part of the assessment plan and should have the following characteristics:

• Use language easily understood by the general public.

• Be provided in the primary language of the parent or other mode of communication used by the parent, unless to do so is clearly notfeasible.

• Explain the types of assessments to be conducted.

• State that no individualized education program (IEP) will result from the assessment without the consent of the parent.

• State that no assessment shall be conducted unless the written consent of the parent is obtained prior to the assessment. The parentshall have at least 15 days (may vary from state to state) from the receipt of the proposed assessment plan to arrive at a decision.Assessment may begin immediately upon receipt of the consent.

• Note in the copy of the notice of parent rights the right to record electronically the proceedings of the eligibility committee meetings.

• Provide that the assessment shall be conducted by persons competent to perform the assessment, as determined by the school district,county office, or special education local plan area.

• Provide that any psychological assessment of pupils must be conducted by a qualified school psychologist.

• Provide that any health assessment of pupils shall be conducted only by a credentialed school nurse or physician who is trained andprepared to assess cultural and ethnic factors appropriate to the pupil being assessed.

8.5 ASSESSMENT OPTIONS OF THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM

Only when the parents have been informed of their rights, a release has been obtained, and the assessment plan has been signed canassessment begin. The MDT has several evaluation options from which to choose. The MDT most often assesses a child with a suspecteddisability using the evaluations discussed in the following sections.

Academic Achievement Evaluation

An academic achievement evaluation (see

Chapter 9

) is frequently recommended when a child’s academic skill levels (reading, writing,math, and spelling) are unknown or inconsistent. The evaluation will determine strengths and weaknesses in the child’s academicperformance.

THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF AN ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT EVALUATION

• Help determine the child’s stronger and weaker academic skill areas. The evaluation may give useful information when making practicalrecommendations to teachers about academic expectations, areas in need of remediation, and how to best present information to assistthe child’s ability to learn.

• Help the teacher gear the materials to the learning capacity of the individual child. A child reading 2 years below grade level mayrequire modified textbooks or greater explanations prior to a lesson.

• Develop a learning profile that can help the classroom teacher understand the best way to present information to the child andtherefore increase the child’s chances of success.

• Help determine whether the child’s academic skills are suitable for a regular class or so severe that a more restrictive educationalsetting is required—that is, an educational setting or situation best suited to the present needs of the student other than a full-timeregular class placement (resource room, self-contained class, special school, etc.).

• Use an achievement battery that covers enough skill areas to make an adequate diagnosis of academic strengths and weaknesses.

SOME SYMPTOMS THAT MIGHT SUGGEST THE RECOMMENDATION FOR SUCH AN EVALUATION

• Consistently low test scores on group achievement tests

• Indications of delayed processing when faced with academic skills

• Labored handwriting after grade 3

• Poor word recall

• Poor decoding (word attack) skills

• Discrepancy between achievement and ability

• Consistently low achievement despite remediation

In most cases of a suspected disability, the academic achievement evaluation is always a part of the formal evaluation.

Intellectual and Psychological Evaluation

Intellectual and psychological evaluations are appropriate when the child’s intellectual ability is unknown or when there is a question abouthis or her inability to learn (see Chapter 9 and

Chapter 10

). It is useful when the CST suspects a potential learning, emotional, or intellectualproblem. The psychological evaluation can rule out or rule in emotionality as a primary cause of a child’s problem. Ruling this factor out isnecessary before a diagnosis of learning disabled (LD) can be made.

OBJECTIVES OF A PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION

• Determine the child’s present overall levels of intellectual ability

• Determine the child’s present verbal intellectual ability

• Determine the child’s non-language intellectual ability

• Explore indications of greater potential

• Find possible patterns involving learning style—that is, verbal comprehension, concentration, and the like

• Ascertain possible influences of tension and anxiety on testing results

• Determine the child’s intellectual ability to deal with present grade-level academic demands

• Explore the influence of intellectual ability as a contributing factor to a child’s past and present school difficulties—that is, limitedintellectual ability found in retardation

SOME SYMPTOMS THAT MIGHT SIGNAL THE NEED FOR SUCH AN EVALUATION

• High levels of tension and anxiety exhibited in behavior

• Aggressive behavior

• Lack of motivation or indications of low energy levels

• Patterns of denial

• Oppositional behavior

• Despondency

• Inconsistent academic performance, ranging from very low to very high

• History of inappropriate judgment

• Lack of impulse control

• Extreme and consistent attention-seeking behavior

• Pattern of provocative behavior

As with the academic assessment, the psychological evaluation is a normal part of a referral for a suspected disability.

Perceptual Evaluation

A perceptual evaluation (see

Chapter 12

) is suggested when the team suspects discrepancies in the child’s ability to receive and processinformation. This assessment may focus on a number of perceptual areas including:

• Auditory modality: The delivery of information through sound

• Visual modality: The delivery of information through sight

• Tactile modality: The delivery of information through touch

• Kinesthetic modality: The delivery of information through movement

• Reception: The initial receiving of information

• Perception: The initial organization of information

• Association or organization: Relating new information to other information and giving meaning to the information received

• Memory: The storage or retrieval process that facilitates the associational process to give meaning to information or help in relatingnew concepts to other information that might have already been learned

• Expression: The output of information through vocal, motor, or written responses

THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THE PERCEPTUAL ASSESSMENT

• Help determine the child’s stronger and weaker modality for learning. Some children are visual learners, some are auditory, and somelearn well through any form of input. However, if a child is a strong visual learner in a class in which the teacher relies on auditorylectures, then it is possible that his or her ability to process information may be hampered. The evaluation may give useful informationfor making practical recommendations to teachers about how to best present information to assist the child’s ability to learn.

• Help determine a child’s stronger and weaker process areas. A child having problems in memory and expression will very quickly fallbehind the rest of his or her class. The longer these processing difficulties continue, the greater the chance for development ofsecondary emotional problems (emotional problems resulting from continued frustration with the ability to learn).

• Develop a learning profile that can help the classroom teacher understand the best way to present information to the child, therebyincreasing the child’s chances of success.

• Help determine whether the child’s learning process deficits are suitable for a regular class or so severe that a more restrictiveeducational setting is required—that is, an educational setting or situation best suited to the present needs of the student other than afull-time regular class placement (resource room, self-contained class, special school).

Oral Language Evaluation

This recommendation (see

Chapter 13

) usually occurs when the child is experiencing significant delays in speech or language development,problems in articulation, or problems in receptive or expressive language.

SOME SYMPTOMS THAT MIGHT WARRANT SUCH AN EVALUATION

• Difficulty pronouncing words through grade 3

• Immature or delayed speech patterns

• Difficulty labeling thoughts or objects

• Difficulty putting thoughts into words

Occupational Therapy Evaluation

This evaluation (see

Chapter 15

) may be considered by the team when the child is exhibiting problems involving fine motor upper-bodyfunctions. Examples of these would include abnormal movement patterns, sensory problems (sensitive to sound, visual changes, etc.),hardship with daily living activities, organizational problems, attention span difficulties, equipment analysis, and interpersonal problems.

Physical Therapy Evaluation

When the child is exhibiting problems with lower body and gross motor areas, physical therapy evaluation (see Chapter 15) may beconsidered. Examples of these might be range of motion difficulties; architectural barrier problems; problems in posture, gait, andendurance; and joint abnormalities.

8.6 PARENTAL PARTICIPATION IN THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

Once the CST has made a formal referral for assessment to the MDT for a child with a suspected disability, the parents need to be called into provide pertinent background information that will assist in the assessment process. The participation of the parents is crucial to thisprocess.

Although designing, conducting, interpreting, and paying for the assessment are the school system’s responsibilities, parents have animportant part to play before, during, and after the evaluation. There is a range of ways that parents may involve themselves in theassessment of their child. The extent of their involvement, however, is a personal decision and will vary from family to family.

Waterman (1994) lists parental options, responsibilities, and expectations prior to an assessment for a suspected disability:

• Parents may initiate the assessment process by requesting that the school system evaluate their child for the presence of a disability andthe need for special education.

• Parents must be notified by the school, and give their consent, before any initial evaluation of the child may be conducted.

• Parents may wish to talk with the professional responsible for conducting the evaluation to find out what the evaluation will involve.

• Parents may find it very useful to become informed about assessment issues in general and any specific issues relevant to their child(e.g., assessment of minority children, use of specific tests or assessment techniques with a specific disability).

• Parents should advocate for a comprehensive evaluation of their child—one that investigates all skill areas apparently affected by thesuspected disability and that uses multiple means of collecting information (e.g., observations, interviews, alternative approaches).

• Parents may suggest specific questions to the MDT they would like to see addressed through the assessment.

• Parents should inform the MDT of any accommodations the child will need (e.g., removing time limits from tests, conductinginterviews/testing in the child’s native language, adapting testing environment to child’s specific physical and other needs).

• Parents should inform the MDT if they themselves need an interpreter or other accommodations during any of their discussions withthe school.

• Parents may prepare their child for the assessment process, explaining what will happen and, where necessary, reducing the child’sanxiety. It may help the child to know that he or she will not be receiving a “grade” on the tests.

• Parents need to share with the MDT their insights into the child’s background (developmental, medical, and academic) and past andpresent school performance.

• Parents may wish to share with the MDT any prior school records, reports, tests, or evaluation information available on their child.

• Parents may need to share information about cultural differences that can illuminate the MDT’s understanding of the student.

• Parents need to make every effort to attend interviews the MDT may set up with them and provide information about their child.

How to Conduct Parent Intakes and Interviews

There may be times when a member of the MDT is called on to do a

parent intake

, a gathering of pertinent information from a parent. Athorough parent intake is a crucial part of the assessment process. The parents can offer information on a child that is not seen by teachersor other staff members and may have profound effects on the outcome of the assessment. This may involve interviewing the parent toobtain a complete

Family history

. In some cases, this part of the assessment process may be difficult to obtain because of a number ofvariables—parents’ work restrictions, inability to obtain child care for younger siblings, resistance, or apathy.

In many schools, the psychologist or social worker will normally meet with the parents to collect this information. However, it is importantthat all members of the MDT understand the process in case anyone is asked to do the interview. When the interview is arranged, there areseveral things to recognize and consider before a parent meeting.

WHEN CONDUCTING A PARENT INTAKE, YOU SHOULD TRY TO DO THE FOLLOWING:

• Help the parent(s) feel comfortable and at ease by setting up a receptive environment.

• If possible, hold meetings in a pleasant setting, around a table rather than behind a desk. An effort to ease tension should be made, suchas offering simple refreshments or encouraging parents to take brief notes so they feel more in control of your information.

• Never view parents as adversaries even if they are angry or hostile. Any anger or hostility that the parents may exhibit could be adefense because they may not be aware of what the evaluator will be asking or because they may have experienced negative schoolmeetings over the years. Because this may be an opportunity for parents to “vent,” evaluators should listen and strive to understandtheir concerns without being defensive.

• Inform parents every step of the way as to the purpose of meetings and the steps involved in the assessment process. Parents need tobe reassured that no recommendation will be made or implemented without their input and permission.

• Inform parents of the types, names, and purposes of the evaluation instruments chosen by the MDT. Parents need to be reassured thatthe evaluation is looking for a way to help the child.

Reassure parents about the confidentiality of information gathered about their child. They should know which individuals on the team willbe seeing the information and the purpose for their review of the facts. Evaluators should also make every effort to make parents feel freeto call with any questions or concerns they may have.

Goals of a Parent Intake

A parent intake should be done with sensitivity and diplomacy. Keep in mind that although some questions may not be of concern to mostparents, they may be perceived as intrusive by others. The questions should be specific enough to help in the diagnosis of the problem, butnot so specific as to place the parent in a vulnerable and defensive position. There are four main areas usually covered in a parent intake:

Identifying data and family information

: Confirmation of names, addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth; siblings’ names,ages, and dates of birth; parents’ occupations; other adults residing within the home; marital status of parents; and so on.

Developmental history

: Length of delivery; type of delivery; complications if any; approximate ages of critical stages, that is, walkingand talking; hospital stays; illnesses other than normal ones; sleeping habits; eating habits; high fevers; last eye exam; last hearing exam;falls or injuries; traumatic experiences; medications; and any prior developmental testing.

Academic history

: Number of schools attended, types of schools attended, adjustment to kindergarten, best school year, worst schoolyear, best subject, worst subject, prior teacher reports, prior teacher comments, and homework behavior.

4. Social history: The child’s groups or organizations; social behavior in a group situation; hobbies, areas of interest, circle of friends,sports activities. Shown in

Figure 8.3

is an example of a parent intake completed by the school social worker. Here, the intake was donewith the mother of the child, Mrs. Bali Shah.

FIGURE 8.3 Example of a Parent Intake Form

8.7 CONFIDENTIALITY

Information about the child collected through assessment automatically becomes a part of a child’s school records. The school districtshould establish policies regarding confidentiality of information contained in the school record, such as informing the parent and the child(above age 18) of their right to privacy, who has access to the information, and their right to challenge those records should they beinaccurate, misleading, or otherwise inappropriate. To communicate this information to the parent, handouts describing the district’s policyon confidentiality of school records are usually given out on the day of the parent intake.

Because professionals conducting the evaluation are involved in collecting confidential information about a child’s health status andeducational development, it is very important that verbal as well as written accounts of the child’s performance be held in the strictestconfidence. Personnel involved in the evaluation should treat their own impressions and concerns about the children they see in aconfidential manner and should refrain from talking about children and their performance with people not directly involved withconducting the evaluation. If parents ask how their child is doing during the evaluation, explain that the screening results are meaningfulonly after all the testing has been completed and their child’s performance in all areas is recorded. You should also inform them at this timethat they are entitled to receive a complete typed report from the evaluation personnel. The person in charge of evaluation may choose todesignate certain persons responsible for answering specific questions about the evaluation instruments, children’s responses, and reports.

Conclusion

The MDT plays a critical role in the assessment of a child with a suspected disability. An effective MDT works as an interdisciplinary team tomake many of the most important decisions for a child and his or her possible future in special education. By working as a professionalteam, the members of the MDT have the opportunity to help numerous children. An efficient MDT gathers much data and takes significanttime to analyze each child’s potential problems. In the end, its recommendations may be the most important ones for children who are inneed of services.

It is very important to remember that referring a child for a suspected disability could have tremendous impact on his or her life. Becausethis is a formal referral for special education, it has legal implications, and therefore, it is extremely important that the MDT follow allprocedures, complete all necessary forms, and make sure that it complies with the specific time limits required by the state in which thechild resides.

Parents have many rights during the assessment process. Regardless of race, creed, color, socioeconomic status, and so on, all parents areafforded the same legal rights and protections under federal law. The differences arise in the parents’ exercising of their rights. Someparents will be heavily involved in their child’s assessment for a suspected disability, whereas others will show little, if any, interest—onlysigning the release form and never participating or attending any optional sessions for them. Parents need to be aware of their rights. As aspecial educator, there are many ways to make parents comfortable when you meet with them. Remember, most parents are scared andconfused about the entire process. Normally, all they want is for their child to be evaluated so that success, both in and out of school,becomes a future possibility.

Once written consent of the parent or legal guardian is given for assessment, the MDT moves to the evaluation phase of the assessmentprocess. The next several chapters address the various evaluation instruments available to the MDT in the formal evaluation of a child witha suspected disability.

Vocabulary

Academic history: A section of the parent intake form that asks about number of schools attended, types of schools attended, adjustmentto kindergarten, best school years, worst school year, best subject, worst subject, prior teacher reports, prior teacher comments, andhomework behavior.

Audiologist: This professional will be called on to evaluate a student’s hearing for possible impairments, and as a result of the findings, mayrefer the student for medical consultation or treatment. The audiologist may also assist in helping students and parents obtain equipment—that is, hearing aids that may improve the child’s ability to function in school.

Behavioral consultant: A behavioral consultant works closely with the team in providing direct services or consultation on issuesinvolving behavioral and classroom management techniques and programs.

Classroom teacher: The member of the MDT who works with the CST to implement prereferral strategies and plans and implements anyclassroom techniques to help the student.

Developmental history: A section of the parent intake form that asks about length of delivery, type of delivery, complications if any,approximate ages of critical stages (i.e., walking, talking), hospital stays, illnesses other than normal last eye exam, last hearing exam, falls orinjuries, traumatic experiences, medications, and any prior testing.

Educational diagnostician: Administers a series of evaluations including norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests, observes thestudent in a variety of settings, and makes educational recommendations that get applied to the IEP as goals and objectives.

Family history: A description of the family life situation over time.

Formal referral: Once the CST determines that a suspected disability may exist, a formal referral is made. It is nothing more than a formstarting the special education process.

Guidance counselor: This individual may be involved in providing aptitude test information; providing counseling services; working withthe team on consolidating, changing, or developing a student’s class schedule; and assisting the child study team in developing prereferralstrategies.

Identifying data and family information: A section of the parent intake form that asks about confirmation of names, addresses, phonenumbers, dates of birth; siblings’ names, ages, and dates of birth; parents’ occupations; other adults residing within the home; maritalstatus of parents.

Occupational therapist: The occupational therapist is called on to evaluate a child who may be experiencing problems in fine motor skillsand living and self-help skills. This professional may be used to screen; evaluate; provide direct services; consult with the teacher, parent, orschool; and assist in obtaining the appropriate assistive technology or equipment for the student.

Parent intake: A gathering of pertinent information from a parent.

Parents (on the MDT): The parent plays an extremely important role on the MDT in providing input for the IEP, working closely with othermembers of the team, and carrying out, assisting, or initiating academic or management programs within the child’s home.

Physical therapist: The physical therapist is called on to evaluate a child who may be experiencing problems in gross motor functioning,living and self-help skills, and vocational skills necessary for the student to be able to function in certain settings. This professional may beused to screen, evaluate, provide direct services, or consult with the teacher, parent, or school.

School nurse: The member of the MDT who reviews all medical records, screens for vision and hearing, and handles other medicalconcerns.

Previous assignment and answers

This discussion assesses your ability to explain the process by which students are identified for assessment according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

This discussion also supports your achievement of Course Learning Outcome 4 and the MASE Program Learning Outcomes 2 and 6. In addition to reading the Announcements, prepare for this discussion by reading the Required Resources, the Week One Instructor Guidance, and the scenario provided below.

Scenario: In February, Mr. Franklin and you had a new student join your class. Manuel recently moved to your school from another state due his father’s job change. The school’s guidance counselor tells you that she has contacted his previous school regarding his cumulative file but it has not yet arrived. In the six weeks that Manuel has been a part of your Language Arts class, you have noticed that he does not interact much with his peers in class, he has only turned in 25% of his homework assignments, and he has earned 53% – 68% on the classroom assessments that evaluate his level of curriculum mastery.

You have talked with his other teachers to gain insight into how Manuel is doing in their classes and to discover if there are any teaching strategies that they are finding successful. Manuel’s math teacher reports that he is doing an outstanding job and is surprised that he is struggling in your class. She says that he does not interact much with the other students but that her class is not designed for a lot of in-class student interaction. Manuel’s science and social studies teachers both report experiencing behaviors and assessment outcomes similar to those causing you and Mr. Franklin concern. In both of these classes, for example, Manuel does not interact much with the other students in the small group work they do in class. The science teacher mentioned that during labs Manuel conducts his lab experiments with precision and scientific accuracy.

Based on your observations and reports from Manuel’s teachers, Mr. Franklin and you consider further steps to try to better understand Manuel’s learning profile so that that you can make adjustments to meet his needs. As you are considering your next steps for Manuel’s success, you discuss with Mr. Franklin that according to IDEA the school must follow a specific process for the assessment and evaluation of students with disabilities.

Initial Post:
Post a response that:

Explains the process you and Mr. Franklin must follow to identify Manuel for assessment according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA).

· Describes consequences that may result from not following the processes, including, but not limited to, possible harm to Manuel.

· Explains the first step that you must take in order to proceed and why. Include real world examples from your own personal or professional experiences as well as support from the reading to support your writing.

Answer:

he Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) stipulates the procedures to follow to assess the student’s possibility of disability. The assessment should incorporate a significant portion of the stipulated activities. The first requirement is conducting an individual psychological evaluation. According to Pierangelo and Giuliani (2012), this evaluation should include a measure of general intelligence, instructional needs, and learning strengths and weaknesses. The second requirement is adequate social history from interviews with the parent and student. The assessment would need to incorporate an academic history from records as provided by past teachers. The outlined are some of the measures to adopt with Mr. Franklin. However, they are part of a larger process to be followed, as stipulated by IDEA.

Failure to follow the assessment process as required by IDEA may result in inadequate or incorrect information to facilitate decision making. As a result, arrived at solutions may not yield the best results from the student. Characteristically, the developed measures may harm Manuel as they may push him beyond his abilities. The failure to follow the due process may result in the development of techniques that are inappropriate to Manuel’s educational needs.

The first step to take is believing in Manuel’s abilities. According to Recchia (2013), there is a correlation between believes teachers have about students with disabilities and what they teach them. Believing in Manuel’s abilities does not limit his involvement. An example is a classroom scenario where a teacher believes in disabled students and combines them with other students. This setup allows disabled children to learn more than they could have if they were in a classroom of disabled students only. Believing in Manuel could propel him to exceed expectations.

References

Pierangelo, R., & Giuliani, G. A. (2012). Assessment in special education: A practical approach. Boston: Pearson

Recchia, S. (2013). Inclusion in the early childhood classroom: What makes a difference? Teachers College Press

This discussion assesses your ability to describe the purpose of reliability and validity in the design of formal and informal assessments. It also supports your achievement of the Course Learning Outcomes 5 and 6 and the MASE Program Learning Outcome 1. For this discussion, you will continue assuming the role of the special educator collaborating with Mr. Franklin. In addition to reading the Announcements, prepare for this discussion by reading the Required Resources, the Week Two Instructor Guidance, and the scenario provided below.

Scenario: You are talking to Mr. Franklin about your options for informal classroom assessments as you are waiting for Manuel’s cumulative folder to arrive from his previous school site. As described on p. 29 of your text, formal and informal assessments should be both valid and reliable. When you mention this to Mr. Franklin he states that he had been under the impression that only standardized tests could be valid and reliable. He then asks you to help him better understand these concepts so that he can create valid and reliable informal classroom assessments to use for all students.

Initial Post:
Post an initial response that includes the following:

· A description of the concepts of reliability and validity written so that Mr. Franklin can understand and use them. Include a real-world example from your own personal or professional experiences.

· An explanation of the importance of reliability and validity in creating unbiased assessments.

· At least three suggestions that Mr. Franklin can use to create informal assessments that are both reliable and valid. Use the information from Chapter two in Pierangelo and Giuliani (2012).

Guided Response: Review the posts of your classmates and the Instructor. Respond to at least two peers asking questions that will encourage elaboration on information they provided in their initial posts, discussing the examples of reliability and validity they provided, and evaluating the effectiveness of the suggestions they developed for Mr. Franklin about how to create informal assessments that are both reliable and valid. This will help to create a sense of community and extend the conversation while providing you additional opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real world experiences with this topic.

Though two replies are the basic expectation, for deeper engagement and application of the material, you are encouraged to provide responses to any comments or questions others have made (including your Instructor) before the last day of the discussion period. This will deepen the conversation while providing opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real world application.

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Answer:

Validity and reliability are some of the important aspects associated with assessments conducted in classroom setups. Pierangelo and Giuliani (2012) defined validity as the extent to which a test measures what it purports to measure. On the other hand, reliability refers to the degree to which a particular test maintains the same score over several undertaken tests. A test is not reliable if it does not yield a similar result over several times the test is conducted. An example is a bodyweight machine in a pediatrics unit. This scale is valid as it measures the weight of the babies brought to the unit. The scale becomes become reliable if it gives the same score in different measures.

Validity And reliability are important in the development of unbiased assessments. According to Caldwell (2008), validity helps determine the purpose of an unbiased assessment, guiding the assessment’s design to fulfill the purpose. In measuring the content validity, an assessment needs to measure the skills or behaviors taught in a classroom. The author added that educators rely on the assumptions of reliability in measuring students’ performance. In formulating an informal assessment, there are several aspects that Mr. Franklin needs to consider. The first thing is the purpose of the assessment. The determination of the informal assessment’s purpose would help in the designing of an assessment gearing towards the fulfillment of this purpose. The other factor is the skills taught in classrooms. The informal assessment developed by Mr. Franklin need to consider the contents taught t the students. The third suggestion is the consideration of the different students’ abilities. In a classroom setting, students have different cognitive, physical, and emotional abilities. As such, a similar concrete assessment should factor the different abilities.

References

Caldwell, J. (2008). Comprehension Assessment: A Classroom Guide. Guilford Press

Pierangelo, R., & Giuliani, G. A. (2012). Assessment in special education: A practical approach
. Boston: Pearson

Understanding and Using Assessments

This assignment assesses your ability to evaluate the purpose, merits, and limitations of the various types of assessments that are used to guide the planning and development of the IEP. This assessment also supports your achievement of Course Learning Outcomes 1, 2, and 8 and the MASE Program Learning Outcomes 5 and 6.
Helping families understand how to interpret the assessments that are used to discover students’ learning profiles is a key function of your job. There are many technical terms associated with testing and assessment that can seem incomprehensible, intimidating, and unfriendly to parents and others who do not have training in this field. In addition, the reasons you choose and use particular assessments must be transparent to families. For example, you will need to be able to explain why the assessments you have chosen are culturally and linguistically fair for the student who is being assessed and evaluated. This includes both formal and informal assessments, but is particularly important when choosing standardized assessments. In other words, you must be able to justify why your method of assessment is both valid and reliable, given the cultural and linguistic background of the student you are assessing.
Using support from the required readings, the Instructor Guidance, the supplemental information derived from the discussions, and information from the scenario below, create a three-page handout for Manuel’s parents to help them understand the assessments that you will be using to assess Manuel. Include information describing why the assessments you chose are designed to be culturally and linguistically fair.
Scenario: Manuel’s records have finally arrived at the school. Included are his past attendance records, prior teacher reports and referrals, medical history from the nurse’s office, prior academic achievement, and standardized state and district test scores. It seems that Manuel was also struggling academically at his past school, especially in classes that require heavy reading and writing, such as English and Social Studies, and you learn that he had a reading tutor from first through fourth grade. You also notice that he seems to have done consistently better in his Math classes there as well. You and Mr. Franklin have already spoken to his other teachers and his parents regarding your concerns and everyone, including Manuel’s parents, agrees that something needs to be done. His mother is concerned that being labeled as “Learning Disabled” will cause him embarrassment while, his father, who is an engineer, feels that his son’s talents are not being fully expressed.
They go on to explain that although Manuel is fluent in English, prior to moving to his new school, their community was predominately Hispanic and Spanish-speaking and he is bilingual in both English and Spanish. They have heard that the assessments you will use to evaluate his ability will not take this potential language and culture barrier into account.
You decide to create a document for Manuel’s parents to help them understand the difference between informal and formal assessments, how using both types of assessment is known to mitigate bias, the purposes, merits and limitations of standardized assessments, and the how the statistical results from assessments are used in the planning and development of an IEP.

Answer:
Understanding and Using Assessments

Introduction

Learning abilities differ from one student to another, and assessments are instrumental in providing teaching guidance while enabling the teaching strategies that would cover the students’ learning abilities. Salvia and Ysseldyke (2007), as cited by Pierangelo and Giuliani (2012), defined assessments as a process used in the special education that involves collecting students’ information to facilitate decision making. The process involves the determination of the students’ strengths and needs in all their learning aspects. The assessment for the special and exceptional students are different. According to Pierangelo and Giuliani (2012), the exceptional students’ educational and psychological assessment involves collecting information to facilitate decision-making in developing goals, objectives, and teaching strategies. Exploring the formal and informal systems to understand the assessment and impact on Manuel’s learning.

Formal and Informal Assessments

Understanding the various forms of assessments requires one to understand formal, informal assessments. Other assessments are the norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessments. Sacks (2001) defined the formal assessments as involving the testing of the intellectual ability, also known as the learning aptitude, testing of achievement abilities, and other specific skills such as the motor and language skills, auditory discrimination, and the social adjustments. In a classroom setting, the formal assessments determine a student’s understanding of the taught content, facilitating decision making on the next course of action. A teacher may decide to revisit a course component due to the low performance in a formal setting or progress with teaching other aspects when the students yield good results. Examples of the formal assessments are the end of the chapter tests, standardized tests, and continuous assessment tests. A teacher may opt to use a random assessment test that randomly measures students’ understanding of the taught concepts without giving them time to prepare.

On the other hand, the authors noted that informal assessments involve systematic observation, students’ work analysis, interviews, questionnaires, and error analysis. The informal assessments provide a better understanding of the students’ cognitive and behavioral aspects. Studying the behaviors and errors in allocated tasks helps the teacher determine the unique needs a student may have. Informal assessments include asking questions during classroom sessions, asking questions during interactions, and observing behaviors.

Bias during assessments is one of the major hindrances of achieving accurate results during the process. Reducing bias in conducting assessments elicits confidence in the produced results. Paul (2020) observed that assessments should be conducted the same way in all the attempts to reduce bias. Characteristically, the teacher could incorporate computers, which reduce human interactions, further eliminating the possibility of bias and errors associated with the biased thoughts held by involved individuals. McMillan (2013) noted that while reducing bias and other principles apply the formal and informal assessments, there are no clear methods for detecting bias during the informal assessments. The authors highlighted that various scholars had explored the guidelines to use during informal assessments. Manuel’s schools would need to develop guidelines that teachers need to follow while conducting informal assessments. These guidelines need to consider the unique needs of the students and their demographic aspects.

Standardized Assessments

Standardized assessments are commonly used in all educational levels. Reynolds and Fletcher-Janzen (2004) noted that in the standardized assessments, the test questions and instructions are similar for all the examinees. The difference of this assessment from the informal assessment is that the teacher puts in a lot of time in item development, refining, and item selection. The author noted that one of the advantages of this standardized assessment lies in its reliability due to its documentation in a technical manual. Reynolds and Fletcher-Janzen (2004) added that the assessments measure content associated with common mathematics and English programs. This assessment has disadvantages. According to Tischler (2011), standardized assessments are biased towards minority groups. Some of the standardized assessments’ vocabularies and concepts are more familiar to white students than their African-American counterparts. The different ethnic groups that the minority groups belong to mean that they are more accustomed to their ethnic languages than the English language. This difference in language proficiency could interfere in the understanding of assessment questions hence the difference in performance. Criticism associated with the standardized assessments also stems from the secrecy of the companies involved in their preparations. The standardized assessments and the teacher’s opinions can be a subjective means of decision making.

Development of Individualized Educational Programs (IEP)

The statistical terms and concepts provided from the assessment results facilitate the planning and development of an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Validity, reliability, and mean are important statistical concepts informing the formulation of the IEP. Pierangelo and Giuliani (2012) defined validity as the measuring of what a test purports to measure. A valid and reliable assessment provides accurate information to facilitate the development of an IEP program. Mean, median, and mode would provide numerical information to enable the development of an IEP by highlighting the required financial and human resources. On the other hand, frequencies help determine the changes to make on the IEP depending on the different needs of the student population.

References

In McMillan, J. H. (2013). SAGE handbook of research on classroom assessment. SAGE

Paul, P. (2020). The Education of d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children: Perspectives on Language and Literacy Development. MDPI

Pierangelo, R., & Giuliani, G. A. (2012). Assessment in special education: A practical approach
. Boston: Pearson

Reynolds, C. R., & Fletcher-Janzen, E. (2004). Concise Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of the Handicapped and Other Exceptional Children and Adults. Hoboken: Wiley

Sacks, A. (2001). Special education: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO

Tischler, H. L. (2011). Introduction to sociology. Australia: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

Using RTI and a Team Approach in Assessment and Evaluation

This discussion assesses your ability to explain the purpose of using Response to Intervention (RTI) as a pre-assessment and evaluative tool and to explain the multidisciplinary nature of the assessment and evaluation process in special education. This assessment also supports your achievement of Course Learning Outcomes 1 and 3 and the MASE Program Learning Outcome 6.

Initial Post: As you recall from the previous readings, no single procedure is used as the sole criterion for determining eligibility for special education. In addition to a variety of technically sound instruments that are both valid and reliable, a team approach should always be used to make decisions. This team should include both qualified professionals and the student’s parents. As a member of a team, whether it is as part of the Child Study Team or in some other role, the special educator has an important role to play.

One of your roles is to serve as a liaison between families and the school setting. In this capacity you will sometimes need to write a formal letter to a student’s parents with explanations about the assessment and evaluation process. In this discussion you will practice this skill by writing a formal letter to Manuel’s parents. In addition to reading the Announcements, prepare for this discussion by reading the Required Resources, the Week Three Instructor Guidance, and the scenario provided below.

Scenario: Based on the conversations with Manuel’s parents and the other teachers, you and Mr. Franklin decide to implement several Tier One interventions in your classroom. These include conducting a universal screening of reading and writing achievement for all students in the class, changing your instructional strategies to include high interest reading and writing assignments, and the use of a portfolio. You and Mr. Franklin want to build on the earlier meeting you had with Manuel’s parents to help them to feel part of the assessment and evaluation process. You decide to write a etter to inform them about the purpose of RTI and how you plan to use RTI to help in your assessment of Manuel’s learning profile.

Post a response that is formatted as a letter to Manuel’s parents to include the following:

· An explanation of the Response to Intervention (RTI) approach and its purpose as a pre-assessment and evaluative tool.

· A statement with examples describing how RTI has been shown to reduce the likelihood of cultural bias in the assessment and evaluation process.

· A description of the multidisciplinary nature of the assessment and evaluation process with an emphasis on the roles and responsibilities that Manuel’s parents, you, and Mr. Franklin each have in the process.

· A summary of the Tier One Interventions you and Mr. Franklin have implemented so far and your plans for your next steps.

Answer:

REF: RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION (RTI) APPROACH

I wish to inform you about the RTI assessment conducted on your son, Manuel. The RTI approach is essential as it facilitates decision making concerning the general performance of the student. Using this approach on your son would help develop a seamless system for your son’s instruction depending on the assessments’ outcome. Pierangelo and Giuliani (2012) highlighted the National Research Center on Disabilities (NRCLD) 2007 definition of RTI. According to the text, RTI is an assessment and intervention process that undertakes systemic monitoring of the students’ performance. The outcome would help devise the instructional alterations or necessitate an increased intensity of the progress depending on the monitoring data. Kindly note that the RTI approach has a special education with a multitier approach or service delivery. This approach would be benefit your son as it uses a problem-solving framework and scientific research to determine and deal with academic and behavioral difficulties.

The RTI approach is different from the discrepancy model in that the former resolves some of the weaknesses of the latter. The advantages associated with the RTI model provides better assessment results compared to the discrepancy model. These advantages also reduce cultural bias. Unlike the discrepancy model, the RTI intervention provides accurate results for students of all ages. According to LDinfo Publishing (2017), the discrepancy model is not suitable for young students as it does not yield accurate results. The other difference is that while the discrepancy model requires the participants to have attained a particular fail, which is not the case for RTI. The students do not need to fail to a given level to be identified, and action can be taken. LDinfo Publishing (2017) added that the discrepancy model is a time-consuming assessment process. However, that is not the case for RTI, as the approach will require a minimal disruption on Manuel’s educational sessions to undertake the test. Resnick (2009) highlighted that the RTI reduces bias as it collects data for all the students in the classroom instead of those that could be having special education needs.

Sincerely,

Mary Garcia

Mary Garcia

References

LDinfo Publishing (2017). Response to Intervention (RTI) vs the Discrepancy Model.

https://www.ldinfo.com/rti.htm#compare (Links to an external site.)

Pierangelo, R., & Giuliani, G. A. (2012). Assessment in special education: A practical approach. Boston: Pearson

Resnick, B. (2009). What is Response to Intervention (RTI)? Rush Neurobehavioral Center.

What is Response to Intervention (RTI)?

Using RTI to Meet Student Needs

This assignment assesses your ability to analyze social and cultural influences that may impact the assessment process and assessment results. This assessment also supports your achievement of Course Learning Outcomes 5 and 6 and the MASE Program Learning Outcomes 6 and 8.

As a special education professional, it is important to be aware of how social and cultural influences can impact the assessment process. Lack of awareness can lead to charges of discrimination and possible litigation.

Using support from the required readings, the Instructor Guidance, supplemental information derived from outside sources and your discussion, and information from the scenario below, you will (a) use information you have learned about Manuel to complete the

Child Study Team Referral Form

found in the Week Three Instructor Guidance, and (b) write a 3 page report with your recommendations for Tier Two RTI interventions that take Manuel’s social and cultural background into account.

Scenario: Manuel is becoming more and more listless in class and is still not doing well with his assignments. You have noticed though, that he seems to be making friends, as outside of class each morning you notice him joking and talking with a group of boys. They talk about BMX bikes and an online computer game that they all play. You are aware that some of the boys in that group are involved in the school robotics team and you begin to wonder how you could use his newly formed friendships and your insights into his interests to support his language arts skills.

You and Mr. Franklin are also excited about a workshop you just attended with Dr. Janette Klingner who talked about

how to realize the potential of RTI (Links to an external site.)

(Klingner, J, 2011) with culturally and linguistically diverse learners. The Child Study Team has been doing diagnostic work to see if there are other variables within the classroom and/or school environment that may be affecting Manuel’s performance. What the Child Study Team discovers is that Manuel feels embarrassed by his slow reading compared to his classmates and does not see the relevance of classes that are not related to his intended career goal, engineering. The team also notes that Manuel is able to write well, but he often does not finish in-class assignments and tests, and his homework written assignments are very short. The lack of length in his assignments consistently costs him points.

When you talk to Manuel he shows pride when you compliment him on his bilingual ability and ask for his help in translating for a new student from Guatemala. Finally, the team becomes aware that Manuel does not want to be labeled “dumb” and is worried that he will be made fun of if he is pulled out of his regular classes for more intensive support. Manuel’s vision and hearing test were both are normal and his medical exam does not reveal any medical issues.

As a member of the Child Study Team (CST) and taking into account Manuel’s interests and the social and cultural influences that may be affecting Manuel’s school performance, you and the CST are planning your next steps. You and Mr. Franklin discuss what interventions would take into account Manuel’s cultural and linguistic background. You also discuss how to involve Manuel in this process. You wonder what kinds of ethical and legal issues you may need to account for as you make your recommendations and the two of you decide to create a document that explains your recommendations for further RTI Tier Two interventions that will take Manuel’s social and cultural background and experiences into account.

Instructions:
Use the guidelines below for the content and written communication expectations. Before submission, review your assignment using the Grading Rubric to ensure it meets the expectations for distinguished performance. If you have questions about the assignment or the rubric, please contact your Instructor using the “Ask Your Instructor” discussion before the due date.

Content Expectations:
Complete the Child Study Team Referral Form
(Attach the Referral form to the report as an Microsoft Word Document) and write a 3 page report to include the following information.

· Concise introduction describing the purpose of the report.

· Explanation justifying Manuel’s need for more individualized instruction strategies provided in the Response To Intervention Tier Two. Include citations from the textbook and at least one additional outside resource.

· Description of your plan to include Manuel and his parents so they feel like active participants and so that Manuel does not feel “dumb” or singled out.

· A list of at least four recommended interventions with a concise rationale as to the significance of each. Your list with accompanying rationale should show evidence that you took Manuel’s social and cultural background into account, including his current interests and concerns about feeling “dumb.” Each recommended intervention should include at least one reference to a scholarly source.

· The completed Referral Form for Manuel attached as an appendix.

Written Communication Expectations:

· Syntax and Mechanics: Exhibit meticulous use of grammar, spelling, organization, and usage throughout your submission.

· Organization: Use the above listed guidelines for explicit sections/headings within your paper.

· Source Requirement: Reference at least 3 scholarly sources including the course text in order to provide compelling evidence to support your ideas.

· Page Requirement: 3 pages not including the title and references pages.

· Additional Page Requirement: Your submission must include a title and reference page.

· APA format: All in text citations, page format and references must be written in APA 6th edition format.

Using RTI to Meet Student Needs
This assignment assesses your ability to analyze social and cultural influences that may impact the assessment process and assessment results. This assessment also supports your achievement of Course Learning Outcomes 5 and 6 and the MASE Program Learning Outcomes 6 and 8.
As a special education professional, it is important to be aware of how social and cultural influences can impact the assessment process. Lack of awareness can lead to charges of discrimination and possible litigation.
Using support from the required readings, the Instructor Guidance, supplemental information derived from outside sources and your discussion, and information from the scenario below, you will (a) use information you have learned about Manuel to complete the Child Study Team Referral Form
found in the Week Three Instructor Guidance, and (b) write a 3 page report with your recommendations for Tier Two RTI interventions that take Manuel’s social and cultural background into account.
Scenario: Manuel is becoming more and more listless in class and is still not doing well with his assignments. You have noticed though, that he seems to be making friends, as outside of class each morning you notice him joking and talking with a group of boys. They talk about BMX bikes and an online computer game that they all play. You are aware that some of the boys in that group are involved in the school robotics team and you begin to wonder how you could use his newly formed friendships and your insights into his interests to support his language arts skills.
You and Mr. Franklin are also excited about a workshop you just attended with Dr. Janette Klingner who talked about how to realize the potential of RTI (Links to an external site.) (Klingner, J, 2011) with culturally and linguistically diverse learners. The Child Study Team has been doing diagnostic work to see if there are other variables within the classroom and/or school environment that may be affecting Manuel’s performance. What the Child Study Team discovers is that Manuel feels embarrassed by his slow reading compared to his classmates and does not see the relevance of classes that are not related to his intended career goal, engineering. The team also notes that Manuel is able to write well, but he often does not finish in-class assignments and tests, and his homework written assignments are very short. The lack of length in his assignments consistently costs him points.
When you talk to Manuel he shows pride when you compliment him on his bilingual ability and ask for his help in translating for a new student from Guatemala. Finally, the team becomes aware that Manuel does not want to be labeled “dumb” and is worried that he will be made fun of if he is pulled out of his regular classes for more intensive support. Manuel’s vision and hearing test were both are normal and his medical exam does not reveal any medical issues.
As a member of the Child Study Team (CST) and taking into account Manuel’s interests and the social and cultural influences that may be affecting Manuel’s school performance, you and the CST are planning your next steps. You and Mr. Franklin discuss what interventions would take into account Manuel’s cultural and linguistic background. You also discuss how to involve Manuel in this process. You wonder what kinds of ethical and legal issues you may need to account for as you make your recommendations and the two of you decide to create a document that explains your recommendations for further RTI Tier Two interventions that will take Manuel’s social and cultural background and experiences into account.
Instructions:
Use the guidelines below for the content and written communication expectations. Before submission, review your assignment using the Grading Rubric to ensure it meets the expectations for distinguished performance. If you have questions about the assignment or the rubric, please contact your Instructor using the “Ask Your Instructor” discussion before the due date.
Content Expectations:
Complete the Child Study Team Referral Form
(Attach the Referral form to the report as an Microsoft Word Document) and write a 3 page report to include the following information.
· Concise introduction describing the purpose of the report.
· Explanation justifying Manuel’s need for more individualized instruction strategies provided in the Response To Intervention Tier Two. Include citations from the textbook and at least one additional outside resource.
· Description of your plan to include Manuel and his parents so they feel like active participants and so that Manuel does not feel “dumb” or singled out.
· A list of at least four recommended interventions with a concise rationale as to the significance of each. Your list with accompanying rationale should show evidence that you took Manuel’s social and cultural background into account, including his current interests and concerns about feeling “dumb.” Each recommended intervention should include at least one reference to a scholarly source.
· The completed Referral Form for Manuel attached as an appendix.
Written Communication Expectations:
· Syntax and Mechanics:  Exhibit meticulous use of grammar, spelling, organization, and usage throughout your submission.
· Organization:  Use the above listed guidelines for explicit sections/headings within your paper.
· Source Requirement:  Reference at least 3 scholarly sources including the course text in order to provide compelling evidence to support your ideas.
· Page Requirement:  3 pages not including the title and references pages.
· Additional Page Requirement: Your submission must include a title and reference page.
· APA format:  All in text citations, page format and references must be written in APA 6th edition format.
Answer:

Purpose of the Report

The report aims to provide additional details about Manuel to aid in the formulation of an assessment and learning plan that would meet his intellectual needs. This report also provides Manuel’s information as he studied in the previous school while outlining the referral reasons. This information would facilitate decision-making by developing an assessment that considers the student’s unique needs. The development of relevant assessment tools and interventions to use on Manuel would be more accurate through the reliance on the information provided by Manuel’s former school and what has been gathered when working with Mr. Franklin. The decisions made about Manuel would be better informed due to the report. It would also be easy to put into perspectives most aspects that have been observed in Manuel’s behaviors and learning abilities.

The Need for Individualized Instruction Strategies

The benefit of using the Response to Intervention (RTI) strategies is the provisional of plenty and meaningful instructional data for use in the development of well-targeted individualized instructional programs (Pierangelo & Giuliani 2012). The advantages of using the RTI tier two would help facilitate the acquisition of Manuel’s learning needs. According to Pierangelo and Giuliani (2012), tier II focuses on students lagging behind their classroom peers and requiring targeted interventions to accomplish the grade targets. The authors added that tier II aims at hastening learning among students requiring additional interventional support. The intervention could be used in a regular setting and may involve a targeted intervention or a small group of student. RTI Action Network (n.d.) observed that succeeding in the tier II intervention requires a systems approach that ensures the coordination of the purpose, components, and crucial measures ensuring the student’s and school’s success.

Manuel needs the individualized strategy instruction strategy to capitalize on the areas he is lagging on. Manuel has a bilingual ability and performs well on subjects that are in line with his interests. He is also making friends, and he jokes with friends on topics he enjoys, such as the BMX bikes and the computer games they play. Manuel feels embarrassed by his slow reading and disregards the subjects nor related to his career goal, engineering. Despite writing well, Manuel does not finish the in-class assignments and tests, and homework are often short. Manuel’s needs require the individualized instruction strategies that would help improve the weak areas while magnifying the strengths. These strategies could work on Manuel without being taken out of the classroom scenario.

Parental Involvement

The parental involvement is instrumental in ensuring the success of the RTI strategies. Pierangelo and Giuliani (2012) highlighted the parents’ involvement in all steps of the RTI program is essential in ensuring the interventions’ success. The text added that the parents’ inclusion in the team provides an essential decision-making perspective, hence improving the strategy’s effectiveness. Manuel and his parents would need to be involved in the intervention from its start point to the end. This involvement ensures that both are informed about the strategies, and the benefits yielded from their application. Manuel and his parents are more likely to ensure the program’s success when informed of its intention as opposed to when they are left in the dark. The school could consider explaining the intervention and its intentions to Manuel. The explanation would use simplified language that is in line with Manuel’s understanding. On the other hand, the school could write to the parents explaining the strategies and their importance.

It is worth noting that information on the intervention would be provided to Manuel and his parents before the utilization. Providing the information in advance ensures that the involved parties can seek clarification on the interventions while assisting in its implementation. The provision of information on the interventions’ strategies lowers the possibility of resistance towards its implementation. Resistance lowers the interventions’ success due to elevated failure rates. The information provided to the parents should explain the factors considered from the report provided by the former school and the changes that have been denoted so far.

Recommended Interventions

The following are some of the recommended interventions to employ.

1. Team Meeting with Teachers

Pierangelo and Giuliani (2012) observed that this intervention entails the involvement of teachers that have had a previous interaction with Manuel. The authors added that the teachers meet to determine the strategies that could be implemented to yield the best student results. This intervention would be essential in determining Manuel’s information from the previous teachers. Manuel’s past information is essential in putting into perspectives his instructional and behavioral needs.

1. Parent Meetings

Pierangelo and Giuliani (2012) stated that this intervention entails organizing meetings with the parents to determine the student’s motivation and details on the family background. Using this intervention would help determine Manuel’s culture, among other demographic information. The determined information would guide the implementation of the Tier II intervention while avoiding putting Manuel in a disadvantaged position.

1. Medical Examinations

Conducting medical examinations on Manuel helps rule out underlying health conditions that could be the cause of the encountered classroom difficulties.

1. Hearing test

Pierangelo and Giuliani (2012) highlighted that a hearing test should be the first to be administered of none has been undertaken on the student in the last six months to one year. Using this intervention would determine or rule out an association between hearing challenges and Manuel’s incomplete assignments.

References
Pierangelo, R., & Giuliani, G. A. (2012). Assessment in special education: A practical approach
. Boston: Pearson

RTI Action Network. Tier 2 – Targeted Group Interventions.

http://www.rtinetwork.org/essential/tieredinstruction/tier2

Wearing Many Hats

This discussion assesses your ability to explain the special educator’s role in the use of assessment and evaluation results to develop an appropriate IEP for a student. This assessment also supports your achievement of the Course Learning Outcomes 2 and 3 and the MASE Program Learning Outcomes 7 and 8.

In addition to reading the Announcements, prepare for this discussion by reading the Required Resources, the Week Four Instructor Guidance, and the scenario provided below. In particular, you should review the Initial Referral to the Multidisciplinary Team form found on p. 112-113 of your text, the Child Study Team Referral Form
from week three, and

Part I of the Comprehensive Report

found in the Instructor Guidance for this week.

Scenario: In addition to your role on the Child Study Team, you are also a member of the Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team (MDT). This team is preparing to meet because while the Tier Two Interventions have been helpful, Manuel is still struggling with his reading fluency and his writing, and is continuing to fall further behind. The MDT has received the signed and dated formal permission for referral from Manuel’s parents and the school psychologist has conducted an academic achievement evaluation as described in your text. One of your roles as the special education inclusion teacher in your school is to translate the results of all the assessments in a way that is understandable to parents, the child, and to the regular education teacher. Another aspect of your role is to write the Initial Referral to the MDT such as the one described on p. 112 of the text. Finally, in your role as the special education inclusion teacher you are tasked with reviewing the results of all the assessments in order to to help the Manuel, his parents and his other teachers to understand the various strategies that are recommended based on his assessment outcomes.

You have reviewed the RTI data collected to date, including the informal observations of Mr, Franklin and Manuel’s other teachers and samples of his classroom work, and have compared those data to

Part I of the Comprehensive Report

prepared by the school psychologist. That report is located in the Instructor Guidance for this week. The data paint a compelling and congruent picture of Manuel’s current academic functioning. You are now ready to write an Initial Referral for Manuel so that his eligibility for special education services can be determined.

Initial Post: Review the Initial Referral to the Multi-Disciplinary Team form on p. 112 and 113 of your text. Compare the information needed for that form with the Child Study Team Referral Form that you filled out last week for Manuel. Explain the different functions of the two documents and state how they are alike and how they are different. Then, explain how you plan to share the data on the Initial Referral to the Multi-Disciplinary Team form in a way that Manuel, his parents, and Mr. Franklin can understand. Be sure to include an explanation for why you are the one sharing this information with them. Include pertinent professional or personal real world examples to illustrate your points.

Guided Response: Respond to at least two peers with questions about their initial posts that will encourage further discussion about how the Initial Referral to the MDT supports the special educator’s role in applying assessment and evaluation results during the process of developing an appropriate IEP.

The Initial Referral to the Multi-Disciplinary Team form and Child Study Team Referral Form have differences and similarities that act as their strengths and weakness when comparing them. The information needed for the Initial Referral to the Multi-Disciplinary Team Form is more detailed than that of the Child Study Team Referral Team. For instance, while the former explores the student’s background information by examining aspects such as education, family history, and home, the latter does not include the said information. The initial referral form is detailed on the employed interventions as it undertakes a cognitive and achievement assessment. However, the child study team document only has assessments examining the students’ academic and behavioral characteristics. However, the two documents are similar. The duo includes the reasons for referral. Also, they include factors necessitating the students’’ recommendation to the team. These factors are such as reading skills and comprehension.

Information from the assessment is complicated, and Manuel and his parents may not understand. As such, I would need to interpret the results of the assessment in simple and understandable language. I would also avoid the use of jargon and difficult terms to ensure they understand. Their understanding of the information ensures their facilitation in the employed strategies. I would be the one doing the explanation due to my experience in undertaking assessments and explaining them. The different results always have different things to say about the students. The other results I have garnered in the different assessments always had a unique message they send. In my experience, I offer individualized experience, depending on the unique needs of the students.

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assignment

1.3 LANDMARK COURT CASES IN SPECIAL EDUCATION

HOBSON v. HANSEN (1967).

DIANA v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION ( 1970 ).

PARC v. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA ( 1972 ).

WYATT v. STICKNEY (1972).

GUADALUPE v. TEMPE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (1972).

MILLS v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (1972).

PASE (PARENTS IN ACTION ON SPECIAL EDUCATION) v. JOSEPH P. HANNON (1980).

LUKE S. AND HANS S. v. NIX ET AL. (1982).

BOARD OF EDUCATION OF HENDRICK HUDSON SCHOOL DISTRICT v. ROWLEY (1982).

JOSE P. v. AMBACH (1983).

LARRY P. v. RILES (1984).

GEORGIA STATE CONFERENCE OF BRANCHES OF NAACP v. STATE OF GEORGIA (1984).

DANIEL R. R. v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION (1989).

GERSTMEYER v. HOWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS ( 1994 ).

1.5 INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

1.6 CLASSIFICATIONS UNDER IDEA 2004

1.7 HOW STUDENTS ARE IDENTIFIED FOR ASSESSMENT

1.8 PARENTAL CONSENT AND THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

1.9 COMPONENTS OF A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT

CONCLUSION

Vocabulary

1.2 PURPOSE OF ASSESSMENT

Chapter Objectives

8.1 PURPOSE OF THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM

8.2 MEMBERSHIP OF THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM

8.3 FORMAL REFERRAL FOR A SUSPECTED DISABILITY

The Contents of a Referral to the MDT

Initial Referral to the MDT from the School Staff

Initial Referral to the MDT from a Parent/Guardian

8.4 ASSESSMENT PLANS—CONSENT FOR EVALUATION

8.5 ASSESSMENT OPTIONS OF THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM

Academic Achievement Evaluation

THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF AN ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT EVALUATION

SOME SYMPTOMS THAT MIGHT SUGGEST THE RECOMMENDATION FOR SUCH AN EVALUATION

Intellectual and Psychological Evaluation

OBJECTIVES OF A PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION

SOME SYMPTOMS THAT MIGHT SIGNAL THE NEED FOR SUCH AN EVALUATION

Perceptual Evaluation

THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THE PERCEPTUAL ASSESSMENT

Oral Language Evaluation

SOME SYMPTOMS THAT MIGHT WARRANT SUCH AN EVALUATION

Occupational Therapy Evaluation

Physical Therapy Evaluation

8.6 PARENTAL PARTICIPATION IN THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

How to Conduct Parent Intakes and Interviews

WHEN CONDUCTING A PARENT INTAKE, YOU SHOULD TRY TO DO THE FOLLOWING:

Goals of a Parent Intake

8.7 CONFIDENTIALITY

Understanding and Using Assessments

Using RTI to Meet Student Needs

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DIANA v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION (

1970

).

PARC v. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA (

1972

).

GERSTMEYER v. HOWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (

1994

).