Lesson 3: Identification and Placement Procedures

One of the most critical and difficult aspects of special education programs is the identification of eligible students. A number of problems arise in deciding which children should receive services. Criteria for verification of a disability may be subjective or subject to change. Instruments used to judge ability, achievement or personality are often less than adequate and may be inaccurate. The decision is critical because the identification of a student as eligible for special education can have a serious long term impact on a student.

Incorrectly identifying students as disabled and failing to identify students who need services are both potential problems. Specific procedures have been established to improve the identification process and to insure fairness. Two of these procedures are the use of the student assistance team and the multidisciplinary evaluation team. The student assistance team seeks to find alternative solutions when students are having difficulty. The student assistance team may be composed of regular teachers, counselors and administrators. School psychologists or special education teachers may also be a part of the student assisstance team. If the student assistance team is not able to solve the problem, the student may be referred for evaluation by the multidisciplinary team. Individuals from a variety of areas including psychologists, teachers, administrators, and other specialists make up the multidisciplinary team. The multidisciplinary team determines whether a student is eligible for special education services based on criteria established by federal and state regulations. Specific procedures and written documentation of the identification process must occur.

Screening and Referral

It is the responsibility of the school to find and identify all students who have disabilities. As part of this responsibility, the school conducts screening activities to find students who might, after further evaluation be verified as having a disability. Hearing screening, vision screening, and group achievement testing are all examples of screening activities. Screening activities include preschool as well as school age children.

A referral is a written request asking for an individual evaluation of a child. Before a student can be evaluated the school must obtain written permission of the parents or an order from the Department of Education. If the child is of school age, a group called the student assistance team must first address the problems and determine that special education is the only viable alternative.

Teachers, counselors, administrators, parents or the student assistance team may make referrals. Once a referral has been made, an individual evaluation of the child must be completed within a reasonable amount of time.

Student Assistance Team

Schools must make every effort to resolve students' problems within regular educational programs. Only when it is not possible to resolve the problem is a student referred for evaluation to determine if they are eligible for special education. Problem solving teams, often referred to as student assistance teams (SAT), are established by schools to assist teachers in coping with learning and behavior problems. Before being referred for a multidisciplinary evaluation, the student assistance team must address the student's and/or the teacher's problem. General education personnel, including teachers, counselors and/or administrators generally are members of the student assistance team. The purpose of the team is to utilize problem solving strategies to help teachers in general education deal with the problem or problems. The student assistance team must document the intervention strategies implemented to assist the student. When the student assistance team has employed all appropriate alternatives without success, they may refer the student for a multidisciplinary evaluation. When a referral occurs, the student assistance team forwards records and information that they have used to the multidisciplinary team.

Multidisciplinary Team

The formal determination of eligibility for special education programs must be made by a team of individuals. This team is referred to as a multidisciplinary team because it consists of members from various professions including teachers, psychologists, physicians, speech-pathologists and others. This team of persons representing a variety of disciplines verifies that a student has a disability. The use of a team approach provides additional validity to the verification process and provides information from an extended range of perspectives. Verification often involves information relating to medical, psychological, educational, and social characteristics of the student as well as information regarding the school environment. The verification process often involves interpretation of assessment data, interpretation of subjective information, and the use of professional judgment to determine eligibility.

For more information on the rules regarding Multidisciplinary teams see Rule 51, Section 006.03.