The Special Education Evaluation Process at School

In my last post, I discussed developing intervention plans when you notice a concern with your child at school. Today’s post will discuss the special education evaluation process and what to expect as a parent/caregiver. Where we left off: the child did not make expected progress with the intervention, so you made a request in writing asking for a case study evaluation. The school agreed and scheduled the first meeting as part of the process.

Domain Meetings

The first meeting is a domain meeting, where the school team looks at what information is known about the child, what further questions people have, and then what assessments will be used to get that information. Eight different domains will be looked at to see if information needs to be collected in that area; not all areas are looked at for each case study, it depends on the student’s specific needs. These areas are:

1. Academics: The school team will look at classroom data, intervention data, unit test scores, district test scores, and classwork samples to see how a student is progressing. In many districts, the school psychologist will conduct academic assessments using a standardized test battery to see how a child is doing academically compared to a nationally normed sample of other students. Whatever information is collected, there should be multiple pieces of data so the team is not relying just on classwork or standardized tests to determine if academic areas need remediation. 

2. Functional performance: This area looks at how a student is doing in class, with more of an emphasis on behaviors. School psychologists typically do a classroom observation, speak with the teachers to get a sense of strengths and challenges (academic and behavioral), and, if needed, behavior rating scales. When I give a rating scale to teachers, I want to obtain information about behaviors that could impact a child in school. I also provide a version of the rating scale for parents to complete to get information about the child's behaviors at home. If a child is old enough, I will give a self-report form to get a sense of what they see in themselves. Then, I look at similarities and differences across settings and see what that tells the team. This is also the domain where teams might look at ADHD or autism-type symptoms if those are concerns. If there are significant behavior concerns, a team may decide to do a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) to help develop a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP). This will be a topic for a future post, but in sum, it is information gathering to figure out what a child is gaining by doing an undesirable behavior and then how to use that information to get them to do something you want them to do that fulfills the same function. For me, the most crucial part of this domain is the student interview; I always want the child’s voice to be part of my evaluations.

3. Cognitive: This is the area for an IQ test if one is needed. In my prior practice in schools, we rarely opened this domain unless we were considering an intellectual disability. An IQ score in and of itself does not tell a school much. It would not impact whether or not a child qualifies for a learning disability, for example. Still, the scores from the various subtests could help a team know how a student works with information. As a private practice school psychologist, I can help you to explore this information. As schools only sometimes rely on these measures, valuable information may be missed or lost when solely depending on a school evaluation from the district. 

4. Communication: This is the area for speech/language pathologists. If there are concerns in this area, a speech pathologist would attend the domain meeting. They might look at expressive, receptive, and pragmatic language skills, articulation, and fluency. If there are no concerns, they will not attend, and no information will be collected in this area.

5. Health: In my prior role, school social workers would discuss a student’s health history with the family to see if something could be impacting them at school. 

6. Hearing and Vision: We always want to rule out these when considering eligibility for special education; if a child has difficulty reading, could it be a problem with their eyes? Or do they have trouble paying attention but cannot hear the teacher? Schools want to make sure of these things!

7. Motor: If a child has challenges with gross motor skills (running, jumping, etc.) or fine motor skills (handwriting, tying shoes, buttoning/snapping clothing), then an occupational therapist or physical therapist may be part of the IEP team. OTs do observations to see how a child uses their motor skills and then may recommend testing to see what their visual motor integration skills are like. Additionally, they may look at sensory processing and how that can impact a child in school.

8. Social/Emotional: This critical area is another one for the school social workers. They talk to families about the child, looking at early developmental milestones up to the current school year. They may ask you about family history and whether significant family events affected the student. This is where your voice gets heard in the evaluation, so the more you can share with the school, the more information they can consider. There may also be rating scales in this domain, which would help the team determine if this is an area to be addressed on an IEP.

Is my Child eligible for accommodations?

So that’s a lot. But again, not all domains are looked at for all evaluations; it depends on the child. What’s next? You, the caregiver, would sign consent for the school evaluation as outlined in the domain paperwork. Suppose you are not in agreement with the evaluation components. In that case, you and the school can discuss it further until it is all agreed. Then, once you sign the consent, the school team has up to 60 school days to complete the evaluation and, if eligible, write an IEP. They will schedule a meeting with you where you will review the evaluation components and clinician reports as a team. They must give you drafts of the report and IEP goals three days before the meeting so you have time to review them and can come in with questions. Eligibility categories will be reviewed, and if your child meets the criteria for one or more categories and disabilities adversely affecting their education, they will be eligible for special education. Some schools will have another meeting to review the IEP. In contrast, other schools will do both eligibility and the IEP in one meeting.

This process of domain meetings, evaluation, and eligibility happens every three years once a child is initially made eligible to check up on progress and functioning as they grow. What does the IEP give your child? Specific, measurable goals that a special education teacher is responsible for implementing, plus classroom accommodations, to help them succeed. These goals and accommodations are based on the testing done in the evaluation process.

What if my child is found not eligible for special education services?

This is a possibility, and it is ok! If a child is making progress with the interventions in place, then maybe they do not have a disability and instead need a boost of instruction, but not to the level that they need a special education program to help them be successful. It could also be possible that an evaluation showed a student has a disability, such as ADHD or autism. Still, their academics are at grade level, and they do not need a special education teacher to modify their work. Then, they would be eligible for a 504 plan of accommodations if they need accommodations because of their disability. Either way, whether or not a child qualifies for special education, the evaluation process gathers a lot of helpful information that a school and family can use.

That’s a lot of information, so I’ll leave it there. Next, I’ll talk about whether or not you need a diagnosis for services…the answer may surprise you.