Timeless Evaluation & Assessment in a Changing World

 

What all practitioners should know:

IDEA’s Referral and Placement "CHECKLIST"

• Purposes of evaluation

• IDEA’s definition of “child with a disability”

• Identifying children for evaluation

• Giving parents notice

• Parental consent

• Timeframe for initial evaluation

• Scope of evaluation

• Review of existing data

• Variety of approaches and sources

• Consider language, communication mode, and culture

• Evaluating for specific learning disabilities

• Determining eligibility

• Disagreeing with evaluation results

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IDEA’s Definition of a “Child with a Disability”

IDEA lists different disability categories under which a child may be found eligible for special education and related services. These categories are:

• Autism

• Deafness

• Deaf-blindness

• Developmental delay

• Emotional disturbance

• Hearing impairment

• Intellectual disability

• Multiple disabilities

• Orthopedic impairment

• Other health impairment

• Specific learning disability

• Speech or language impairment

• Traumatic brain injury

• Visual impairment, including blindness.

Excerpts retrieved from https://www.parentcenterhub.org/evaluation/

 

What Tests Are Used?

Diagnosing a learning disability in public schools requires several types of tests. The IDEA requires that a diagnosis of a learning disability is not made on the basis of a single test. Common tests used to diagnose a learning disability include intelligence tests, achievement tests, visual-motor integration, and language testing. This list includes some of the more common tests used in the diagnosis of a learning disability. Other tests not listed here may also be used depending on the evaluator's preferences and the child's needs.

Intelligence Tests - Intelligence tests (often called IQ tests) most commonly used to diagnose a learning disability include the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WIPPSI), Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Other common intelligence, or cognitive, tests include the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test, Differential Abilities Scales (DAS), the Woodcock Johnson Test of Cognitive Abilities, and the Comprehensive Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (CTONI). Findings from these tests can help pinpoint areas of strength and weakness; armed with this kind of information, schools can often suggest educational options or offer special support where it's needed.

 

Achievement Tests - Common achievement tests used to diagnose a learning disability include the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement (WJ), the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT), the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT), and the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (KTEA). These tests focus on reading, writing, and math. If your child has fallen behind in a particular academic area, schools can offer remedial support, tutoring, and other tools to help your child catch up.

 

Visual Motor Integration Tests - Visual motor integration tests are supplementary tests that many evaluators use to support a learning disability evaluation. Common visual motor integration tests include the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test and the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration. Findings from these tests may help to determine if your child's brain is properly connecting visual cues to motor coordination. In other words, is she able to draw what she sees? If she is having a difficult time integrating visual and motor skills, it will be very tough for her to learn to write or draw properly without special support.

 

Language Tests - Commonly used language tests used in the diagnosis of learning disabilities include the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF), Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation, the Test of Language Development. These tests explore your child's ability to understand spoken and written language and to respond verbally to questions or cues.

Excerpt retrieved from https://www.verywellfamily.com/learning-disability-tests-in-public-schools-2161894

 

***Considering NEW TRENDS (Center for Exceptional Children) "Life-Centered Education" Transition Resources

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LCE Assessment Instruments

The LCE assessment instruments are critical to the success of the curriculum, as they enable you to:

• Establish present levels of student competency

• Determine IEP (Individual Education Program) goals and objectives

• Guide program planning and instructional content

• Measure student progress toward instructional goals

LCE includes three types of field-tested assessment instruments - competency rating scale, knowledge battery, and performance battery.

LCE Competency Rating Scale

The LCE Competency Rating Scale (CRS) provides a valuable method for assessing each student's competency level through observation and interviews using a person who knows the student well, such as a teacher or parent. This informal and brief assessment process offers a relatively high degree of validity, and it may be used at all instructional levels.

LCE Knowledge Battery

The LCE Knowledge Battery is a criterion-referenced test designed as a pre- and post-assessment instrument to identify the students instructional needs.

The LCE Knowledge Battery consists of a 468-item multiple-choice test covering all LCE objectives within each sub-competency. And teachers may choose which sub-competency sections to test students' knowledge levels and instructional needs.

LCE Performance Battery

The LCE Performance Battery goes beyond ascertaining students' knowledge of the LCE competencies, and actually assesses students' ability to apply the LCE competencies in their lives. It consists of two alternate forms for each of the 20 competency units. Most items are performance-based and composed as open-ended questions, role-playing scenarios, card-sorting exercises and other hands-on activities.

Excerpt and image retrieved from https://www.cec.sped.org/Publications/LCE-Transition-Curriculum/Assessment-Instruments

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