Learning disabilities in special education

Some students with learning disabilities are eligible for special education services in the United States.

Evaluation for Learning Disabilities

Purposes of evaluation:

# Identify children who have learning problems and may need special education services.

# Determine whether a child is eligible for special education services.
# Establish child's specific performance levels to be used in developing an IEP (Individual Education Plan).
# Assist in identifying instructional strategies that may help child to learn skills more efficiently.
# Measure progress the child is making to determine whether the interventions are working.

Qualifying for Special Education Services

Discrepancy Model

Although the discrepancy model has dominated the school system for many years, there has been substantial criticism of this approach (eg, Aaron, 1995, Flanagan and Mascolo, 2005) among researchers. One reason for this has been that diagnosing on the basis of the discrepancy does not predict the effectiveness of treatment. Low academic achievers who do not have a discrepancy with IQ (ie their IQ scores are also low) appear to benefit from treatment just as much as low academic achievers who do have a discrepancy with IQ.

Responsiveness to Intervention

An alternative approach specified in IDEA 2004 is a method known as Responsiveness to Intervention. Under this model, children who are having difficulties in school are identified early - in their first or second year after starting school. They then receive additional assistance such as participating in a reading remediation program. The response of the children to this intervention then determines whether they are designated as having a learning disability. Those few who still have trouble may then receive designation and further assistance. Sternberg (1999) has argued that early remediation can greatly reduce the number of children meeting diagnostic criteria for learning disabilities. He has also suggested that the focus on learning disabilities and the provision of accommodations in school fails to acknowledge that people have a range of strengths and weaknesses and places undue emphasis on academics by insisting that people should be propped up in this arena and not in music or sports.

Qualifying for the various categories of specific learning disabilites

Tracking Student Progress

* Using objectively measurable criteria is critical
* Present Levels of Performance
* Goals and objectives in IEP
* Curriculum-based assessment
* other

Instructional Strategies

Modifications

Accommodations

Poor academic achievement may be treated with a variety of methods. Although the underlying processing difficulty is usually considered to be a lifelong disorder, academic skills themselves can improve. Effective treatment involves multi-modal and appropriately tailored teaching and compensatory strategies/tools such as

* special seating assignments * alternative or modified assignments * modified testing procedures * electronic spellers and dictionaries * word processors * talking calculators * audio books * Text-to-Speech (TTS) Software * note-takers * readers * proofreader

See also

*special education
*learning disability
*IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)
*FAPE
*Least Restrictive Environment