A need for special education services o the student

A need for special education services
o The student shows specific and severe learning
problems despite normal educational efforts
Responsiveness to intervention
 A local education agency may use a process that determines
if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention
as a part of the evaluation procedures

o About 4% of the total school-age population
 recent declines in prevalence could be due to multi-tiered
prevention services or partly the result of category shifting
Causes
 Brain Damage or dysfunction
o In most cases there is no evidence of brain damage
o Assuming a child’s learning problems are caused by a
dysfunctioning brain can serve as a built-in excuse for
ineffective instruction
 Heredity
o There is growing evidence that genetics may account
for at least some family linkage with dyslexia
 Biochemical imbalance
o Most professionals give little credence to biochemical
imbalance as a cause
 Environmental factors
o Impoverished living conditi ons early in a child’s life
and poor instruction probably contribute to achievement
deficits
o Many students’ learning problems can be remediated by
direct, intensive and systematic instruction
Assessment
---Five forms of assessment are frequently used:
 Standardized tests (aptitude and achievement)
o Used to measure achievement and IQ
 Criterion-referenced tests (skills testing)
o Student’s score compared to a mastery criterion to
identify specific skills in need of instruction
 Informal reading inventories (placement)
o Used to determine student’s reading level
 Curriculum-based measurement (progress and decisions)
o Frequent assessment of a student’s progress in learning
the objections of the curriculum
 Direct daily measurement (progress and decisions)