ED SP 3700 Lecture 6: ED_SP_370_-_Chapter_6_Guided_Notes
9 Nov 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Chapter 6
Learners with Learning Disabilities
EDSP 370
• IDEA Definition:
Learning Disabilities
The term “specific learning disability” means a disorder in one or more of the basic
psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language , spoken or written, the
disorder may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do
mathematical calculations.
DISORDERS INCLUDED: Such term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain
injury, minimal brain dysfunction, and dyslexia , and developmental aphasia.
DISORDERS NOT INCLUDED: Such term does not include a learning problem that is
primarily the result of visual, hearing , or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, or emotional
disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
• SC Eligibility Criteria
(a) The child does not achieve adequately for the child’s age or to meet state approved grade
level standards in one or more of the following areas, when provided with learning experiences
and instruction appropriate for the child’s age or state approved grade level standards:
– oral expression,
– listening comprehension,
– written expression,
– basic reading skill,
– reading fluency skills,
– reading comprehension,
– mathematics calculation,
– mathematics problem solving,
• SC Eligibility Criteria
-areas of language deficits.
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(b)(i) The child does not make sufficient progress to meet age or state approved grade level
standards in one or more of the areas identified above when using a process based on the child’s
response to scientific, research based intervention; or
(ii) The child exhibits a pattern of strengths and weaknesses in performance, achievement, or
both relative to age, state approved grade level standards, or intellectual development, that is
determined by the group to be relevant to the identification of specific learning disability, using
appropriate assessments,
• SC Eligibility Criteria
(c) The team determines that its findings are not primarily the results of a visual, hearing, or
motor disability; mental retardation; emotional disturbance; cultural factors ; environmental or
economic disadvantage; or limited English proficiency. (can’t identify a child as having a
learning disability if they are from a different culture background and are not used to the normal
culture)
• SC Eligibility Components
a. Documentation of vision, hearing, and speech language screening conducted within the
past twelve months.
b. Data that demonstrate that prior to, or as part of, the evaluation, the child was provided
appropriate instruction in regular education settings, delivered by qualified personnel.
.
c. Data based documentation of repeated assessments of achievement at reasonable
intervals, reflecting formal assessment of student progress during instruction, which was
provided to the child’s parents.
• SC Eligibility Components
d. A developmental history of the student that includes a summary of his or her
demographic, developmental, educational, and medical history obtained from a parent or
primary caregiver. (school psychologist who does this)
e. Documentation of at least one observation of the student performing in the area(s) of
suspected disability by a member of the evaluation team other than the referring teacher
within the past twelve months.
f. Documentation of the evidence that the student’s learning disability adversely affects his
or her educational performance.
• IQ – Achievement Discrepancy
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• Federal government published regulations on how to identify students with LD (1977)
• Student needed to exhibit a “ severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual
ability”
• Individual states had to decide precisely how they determined whether a student had a
severe discrepancy
• Most states relied on an IQ-achievement discrepancy
– Comparison between scores on standardized intelligence and achievement tests
• IQ – Achievement Discrepancy
• Many states adopted statistical formulas for identifying the discrepancy and many of
these were statistically flawed
• Formulas gave a false sense of precision
• Some professionals objected to using the discrepancy model
– IQ is not a strong predictor of reading ability
– IQ scores of students with LD are subject to underestimation
– Useless in the early elementary grades
• “Wait-to-fail” Model
• Offers an alternative to determining special education eligibility and placement
– Proactive (rather than reactive) model
– Identification is based on diagnostic interpretation, rather than IQ/Achievement
discrepancy
• Requires use of evidence-based intervention with treatment integrity
– Matches the intensity of intervention to the intensity and severity of the learning
and/or behavior problem (i.e., tiers of intervention)
Regular good
instruction
Intervention reg.
classrooms
Test – comparing IQ
and RTI chart in
book
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Disorders included: such term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, and dyslexia , and developmental aphasia. Iq achievement discrepancy: federal government published regulations on how to identify students with ld (1977, student needed to exhibit a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability . Individual states had to decide precisely how they determined whether a student had a severe discrepancy: most states relied on an iq-achievement discrepancy. Comparison between scores on standardized intelligence and achievement tests. Iq achievement discrepancy: many states adopted statistical formulas for identifying the discrepancy and many of these were statistically flawed, formulas gave a false sense of precision, some professionals objected to using the discrepancy model. Iq is not a strong predictor of reading ability. Iq scores of students with ld are subject to underestimation. Useless in the early elementary grades: wait-to-fail model, offers an alternative to determining special education eligibility and placement.
