Frequently Asked Questions
(faqs) about Special Education
Please let us know other
questions you might want answered here
What are the various categories
of special education?
This varies a bit from State to State,
but the Federal guidelines (which all States must follow)
identifies the following categories:
You can find out how your State interprets
these guideline by contacting your local public school special
education department.
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How is a child identified for
special education services?
Any child or student aged 3 - 21 can be
referred for a special education evaluation through their local
public school. This referral can be made by anyone familiar with
and concerned about the child (parent, teacher, physician, etc.).
This referral is then reviewed by the school's special education
department to determine what, if any assessment needs to be done
in order to determine possible special education eligibility. In
some cases there may already be enough information to determine or
rule-out special education eligibility. In other cases additional
assessment will be recommended. The parent must be notified of any
referral which is made regarding their child. In addition,
parental consent is required for special education assessment
and/or services.
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I think my child has a
problem in school - what should I do first?
When you believe that your child is struggling in school, the first step in sorting things out is to consult with your child's teacher about what kinds of problems are being observed in the classroom and how your child's academic and/or social progress compares with that of the other students. Frequently, what a parent views as an apparent problem is really very normal and consistent with the progress of other students. In that case, it may be wise for parent and teacher to 'keep an eye on the situation' but not necessarily pursue any type of formal evaluation process just yet.
It is very important to understand that special education services are intended for 'handicapped' students who NEED specialized instruction and intervention in order to receive an appropriate education. So if your child is already achieving at a level comparable to his/her peers (even if you think he/she should be doing better) a formal special education evaluation is probably not necessary or appropriate.
On the other hand, if the teacher shares your concerns and feels that your child is not currently gaining an appropriate education, chances are he or she already has some thoughts about a possible cause. After all, the classroom teacher should be considered your educational 'expert' and has probably dealt with just about every possible childhood issue, syndrome, or condition. So respect and rely upon this expert to help you support your child.
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Are there other school 'experts' that I can consult at no cost?
While your child's classroom teacher should be considered your first line of defense, there are also other educational experts available for support and consultation. Whether or not your child is attending a public school, if there is concern (by you or the classroom teacher) that your child may have a need for special education services, the special education professionals of your local public school district are available to you and your child at no cost.
So before you even think about spending hundreds of dollars consulting with professionals in private clinics outside of the school district, you should first contact your local special education department and discuss your concerns and/or those of the classroom teacher. This can either be accomplished over the phone or in a more formal meeting. In either case, be prepared to provide the special education professionals with any available documentation (test scores, grades, work samples) to support your concerns. Aside from the fact that this consultation is free, your local special education professionals are also in the very best position to not only determine the appropriateness of conducting an evaluation, but also can clarify for you what possible special education services could be available to your child.
Even if both you and the classroom teacher see a problem, the special education professionals may decide that an evaluation is not appropriate at the current time. This primarily occurs when they feel that there is already enough information available to determine that your child would not be eligible for special education services at this time. If this is their decision, be sure to ask them to clarify exactly how they arrived at that decision and what, if anything, they might recommend to you and/or the classroom teacher so that you can best support your child.
If the special education professionals determine that an evaluation (testing) is necessary and appropriate, be sure that they clarify for you exactly what type of testing they would recommend, when and where it can be completed, and how/when the results will be shared with you.
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Where can I have my child tested?
If your primary concern is whether or not your child is eligible for special education services, then the best thing to do is simply follow the direction of your local special education professionals in determining if testing is needed and where it should be done. Almost always, special education testing is best done by the special education professionals at your local public school who are trained specifically to determine eligibility for special education services and to provide appropriate educational intervention. Any testing provided by your local public school is provided at no cost to you.
Of course a parent also has the right to seek an evaluation
outside of the school at their own expense. The school or State
department of special education may be able to direct you to various evaluation options or you can check your local 'Yellow Pages'
under 'Educational Consultants and Services'. If an evaluation is
conducted outside of the school, these findings must be considered
when determining possible special education eligibility. It should
be noted, however, that private agencies that conduct
psychological or educational evaluations often do not fully understand
State and/or Federal special education criteria and rarely can determine eligibility for special education services. It is also quite
possible for such an agency to identify some type of psychological
or learning disorder (such as ADHD, depression, dyslexia, etc.)
even when the child does not meet eligibility for special
education services (see below).
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My child has dyslexia (or dysgraphia, dyscalculia, nonverbal LD - NVLD, central auditory processing disorder - CAPD, etc.) but the
school says he doesn't qualify for special ed - how can this
be?
The term 'dyslexia' describes a
generalized reading disorder. Similar terms include dysgraphia
(writing), dyscalculia (math), nonverbal learning disability (NVLD), central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), etc. Often these are terms used by
agencies outside of the public school to describe learning
and/or cognitive processing difficulties which a child may be experiencing. Unfortunately,
these 'diagnoses' do not have any clear or consistently used
criteria to identify how significant the problem may be.
In contrast, special education laws provide very strict criteria
for identification of various handicapping conditions such as
Specific Learning Disability. Special education services are
intended for only the most severely handicapped students. So it is
quite possible (and really not very unusual) for a student to
demonstrate symptoms of dyslexia (or other diagnosis) without meeting the eligibility
requirements for special education services. When a student has such a
documented 'handicap' which does not meet special education
eligibility requirements, the school should consider the
possibility of a section
504 plan. Also see a
comparison between 504 and special
ed.
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My child has learning problems
and behavioral problems - what category of special ed might he
fit?
Learning and behavioral difficulties
often go hand-in-hand. Many children with learning disabilities
exhibit behavior problems due to their frustration in school. On
the other hand, a student with an emotional disturbance (sometimes
referred to as an emotional/behavioral disorder) will often have
learning problems due to the interference of their behavior. It is
the responsibility of the special education assessment team (which
includes the parent) to determine the real underlying cause of the
educational and/or behavioral difficulties. In addition, the
category 'Other Health Impairment' may be a consideration if the
learning and/or behavioral difficulties are directly related to an
underlying health or medical condition (such as an attention
deficit disorder - ADD or ADHD). In some cases, a single special
education category can be determined. In other cases the
assessment team will decide that 2 or more categories are needed
to clearly and correctly identify the child's areas of need.
Regardless of the category or categories chosen, the Individual
Education Plan (IEP) should be written to address all areas of
educational need.
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My child has an attention deficit
disorder - is that a category in special ed?
This is an area of confusion for many parents (and
even some schools). Technically, there is not a specific category
of special education for students with ADD or ADHD. And
specifically, ADD/ADHD in and of itself is not necessarily
considered a form of 'learning disability'. However, when the
ADD/ADHD significantly interferes with a child's education, it is
quite possible for him/her to meet eligibility criteria within one
of the following categories:
Other Health Impairment is generally the most
appropriate category for such a student, however, depending upon
the specific educational and emotional/behavioral characteristics
observed, the other 2 categories may also be considered. If it is
found that your child's needs are not severe enough to qualify for
special education services, the school should also consider the
possibility of a section
504 plan.
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Federal Categories of Special
Education
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(1) Autism
-
(i) Autism means a developmental
disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal
communication and social interaction, generally evident
before age 3, that adversely affects a child's educational
performance. Other characteristics often associated with
autism are engagement in repetitive activities and
stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or
change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory
experiences. The term does not apply if a child's
educational performance is adversely affected primarily
because the child has an emotional disturbance, as defined
in paragraph (b)(4) of this section.
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(3) Deafness means a
hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired
in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or
without amplification, that adversely affects a child's
educational performance.
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(5) Hearing impairment means
an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating,
that adversely affects a child's educational performance but
that is not included under the definition of deafness in this
section.
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(6) Mental retardation means
significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning,
existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and
manifested during the developmental period, that adversely
affects a child's educational performance.
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(7) Multiple disabilities
means concomitant impairments (such as mental
retardation-blindness, mental retardation-orthopedic
impairment, etc.), the combination of which causes such severe
educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special
education programs solely for one of the impairments. The term
does not include deaf-blindness.
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(8) Orthopedic impairment
means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a
child's educational performance. The term includes impairments
caused by congenital anomaly (e.g., clubfoot, absence of some
member, etc.), impairments caused by disease (e.g.,
poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.), and impairments from
other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures
or burns that cause contractures).
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(9) Other health impairment
means having limited strength, vitality or alertness, including
a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results
in limited alertness with respect to the educational
environment, that
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(i) Is due to chronic or acute health
problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes,
epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning,
leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, and sickle cell
anemia; and
(ii) Adversely affects a child's
educational performance.
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(11) Speech or language
impairment means a communication disorder, such as stuttering,
impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice
impairment, that adversely affects a child's educational
performance.
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(12) Traumatic brain injury
means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external
physical force, resulting in total or partial functional
disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely
affects a child's educational performance. The term applies to
open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or
more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention;
reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving;
sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial
behavior; physical functions; information processing; and
speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are
congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by
birth trauma.
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(13) Visual impairment
including blindness means an impairment in vision that, even
with correction, adversely affects a child's educational
performance. The term includes both partial sight and
blindness.
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Return to the LDinfo Web Site to find out about any of the following topics (and more):
Learning disabilities - what
is a learning disability (LD or SLD)?
Dyslexia: Dyslexia is a reading
disability or reading disorder
Dysgraphia Dysgraphia is a writing
disability or disorder
Dyscalculia Dyscalculia is a math
disability or disorder
What is an attention deficit disorder (ADD,
AD/HD, ADHD)?
Gifted LD: Can a student be gifted and
LD?
Emotional/Behavioral issues
and LD: Do LD students experience behavior problems or
depression?
Section 504: What is a Section 504
plan?
What is special
education?
What is processing?
What is a severe
discrepancy?
What is a nonverbal learning
disability (nonverbal LD or NLD)?
What is a central auditory
processing disorder (CAPD)?
What is IDEA? |
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