The process for identification of students with a Specific Learning Disability emphasizes the full and individual evaluation as system of data collection that includes multiple methods of assessing student performance with input from parents, teachers, intervention specialists, and special education staff. The purpose of the evaluation is to surround the student of concern with the best and most comprehensive information possible in order to make valid and appropriate recommendations as to the student’s eligibility for special education and, more importantly, educationally relevant recommendations for instructional strategies, supports and services.
The following factors all play a role in determining identification of a specific learning disability: instructional quality, student’s attendance, the student’s rate/level of progress, response to intervention (RTI), cognitive functioning, proficiency of state standards, diagnostic achievement testing, and school wide assessments. Exclusionary factors must be considered before making attributions of a disability within the student. Other factors that could explain the performance patterns and the lack of student response to instruction may be a result of past experiences, sensory, health, language, culture or developmental challenges.
Data which includes assessments, specific evaluations, teacher/parent input, and classroom observations are then analyzed relative to research based profiles of learning disabilities to determine a goodness of fit with existing models of learning disabilities. Areas of strengths and weaknesses or the student’s response to interventions will be considered in determining eligibility.