frequently asked questions - individual evaluation

• Your child's present level of educational performance
• Whether your child has a disability that limits learning in a major way
• Whether your child's intellectual development is considerably above average
• Your child's strengths and weaknesses in all areas of suspected disability
• The special services, instructional techniques, and other interventions that your child needs

The information above is used to make decisions about whether your child is eligible for ese services. The purpose of evaluation is quite simple: to provide a picture of your child that can be used in helping to determine what services your child requires and in developing a plan for those services. Decisions about ese services cannot be made until the evaluation is completed and reviewed by the team.

• Watching your child work or play
• Checking health history and records
• Talking with your child
• Reviewing your child's history

The evaluation may address one or more of the following areas:

• Vision - Assesses functional vision.
• Hearing/Audiological - Assesses how well your child hears, how well the middle ear functions, and how well your child understands speech.
• Communication - Assesses your child's ability to understand others and make him/herself understood.
  Academic/Preacademic/Developmental Achievement - Assesses your child's current reading, spelling, written language, mathematics skills, or readiness/pre-readiness for these skills.
• Intellectual Functioning - Assesses how well your child uses information and solves problems.
• Social/Personality/Emotional Functioning - Assesses how your child perceives and interacts with the world, self, and others. It also reflects how your child adjusts emotionally.
• Psychological Process Functioning - Assesses how your child uses visual, auditory, and motor processing skills in the learning process.
• Adaptive Behavior/Behavioral Functioning - Assesses your child's self-help skills and ability to get along with other people. It also assesses how your child compares socially to students of the same age in school and at home.
• Physical/Motor - Assesses the educational or environmental adjustments needed for your child to participate in the classroom or other school activities because of physical or motor impairments.
• Occupational/Physical Therapy - Assesses whether your child needs assistance in developing fine and gross motor skills to obtain functional performance in an educational setting.

If you would like more information about the test(s) for your child's evaluation, ask the evaluator(s).

• Exceptional Education & Student Services and/or general education teachers
• The school guidance counselor
• School psychologist
• School social worker
• Occupational or physical therapists
• Speech-language pathologist
• Doctors or nurses
• District level ese staff
• Audiologist (hearing specialist)

• Activities outside-of-school
• Home background
• Family relationships
• Child rearing practices
• Developmental milestones
• Medical and psychological histories
• Information about your child in other settings

You are also encouraged to participate in the evaluation process by providing information about your child's problems. Such information helps evaluators decide what tests might be best to evaluate your child. You can also let the school staff know of anything, such as illnesses or other difficulties that may have an effect on your child's performance in school.

You may ask for a copy of the evaluation report for your review and/or an explanation of the results prior to the eligibility meeting. 

• Study the school's evaluation carefully.
• Prepare to explain why you think the school's evaluation is not accurate.
• Ask the guidance counselor or principal at your child's school to talk to you about your questions or concerns about the evaluation.
• Ask the school to do another evaluation or add to the existing evaluation.
• Share your concerns with the ese administration your school district.

• Autistic - Autism is a lifelong neurological disability that affects a person's ability to communicate, understand language, play and participate in social relationships. Autism is classified as a developmental disability because it interferes with the typical rate and patterns of childhood development. The first signs of autism usually appear as developmental delays before the age of three. Diagnoses closely related to autism include Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Asperger's syndrome, and Rett's syndrome. These diagnoses are included in the category of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
• Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing - A student who is deaf or hard-of-hearing has a hearing impairment that gets in the way of how information is processed and communicated to others. The hearing impairment affects developmental skills, academic achievement, vocational-career skills, or social-emotional adjustment. The degree of hearing loss may range from mild to profound. Although deaf or hard-of-hearing students may wear a hearing aid, the aids do not enable them to hear as well as we do.
• Visually Impaired (VI) - A visual impairment is defined as a disorder in the structure and function of the eye that, even with the best correction and treatment, interferes with a student's ability to function in an educational setting.

The degree of visual ability is different among visually impaired students. Partially sighted students (acuity of at least 20/70 with correction) are those who after the best possible adjustments, use their remaining vision for learning. Blind students have no useful vision and rely on tactile or auditory senses for learning. Both groups of students require the use of special materials and/or equipment such as large print, Braille, and tape recorders.

• Dual-Sensory Impaired - Students, who have dual-sensory impairments affecting both vision and hearing, are seriously impaired in their abilities to acquire information, communicate, or function within the environment unless special instruction, materials, adaptations or counseling are provided. Eligibility for this special program may also include students who have a degenerative condition that will lead to a dual-sensory impairment.
• Emotionally Handicapped - The student with emotional handicaps exhibits persistent and consistent maladaptive behavior, even after receiving supportive educational assistance and counseling services. Intellectual, sensory or health factors that get in the way of the student's learning and ability to build and keep social relationships cannot explain such behavioral disabilities.
  
  A serious emotional handicap exists over an extended period of time, and in more than one situation; may result in a general mood of unhappiness or depression; and the student may develop physical symptoms, pains or fears associated with personal or school problems.
• Gifted -Gifted students have superior intellectual development and are capable of high performance. The purpose of education for gifted students is to provide appropriate educational experiences that foster the development of their potential and their unique abilities.
• Hospital/Homebound - A homebound or hospitalized student is
  a student who has a medically diagnosed physical or mental condition that is a chronic illness. Such a condition or illness confines the student to home or hospital and restricts his/her activities for an extended period. A licensed physician qualified to assess the student's physical or mental condition shall make the medical diagnosis. The Hospital/Homebound program follows the regular school curriculum as closely as possible, taking into account the student's physical and mental health.
• Mentally Handicapped - Students with a mental handicap develop at a significantly below average rate and have difficulty in learning and social adjustment. They can and do learn, but they learn slowly and with difficulty. A student with a mental handicap may be eligible in one of three areas. The three areas are based on the student's ability to learn and to be independent and socially responsible.
  1. Educable Mentally Handicapped (EMH) - The measured intelligence and adaptive behavior of an EMH student generally falls below that of other students of the same age and socio-cultural group. The EMH student is a student who is mildly impaired in general intellectual functioning and his/her development reflects a reduced rate of learning.
  2. Trainable Mentally Handicapped (TMH) - The TMH student is a student who is moderately or severely impaired in intellectual and adaptive behavior and whose development reflects a reduced rate of learning. The rate of progress in school compares to the rate of mental development. The mental age is usually one-fourth to one-half of the student's chronological age.
  3. Profoundly Mentally Handicapped (PMH) - The PMH student is a student who is profoundly impaired in intellectual and adaptive behavior and whose development reflects a reduced rate of learning. These students have limited response to most social stimuli and are sometimes unaware of their environment. Communication is often limited and they may display temper tantrums, self-injurious behaviors, and self-stimulation. Many of these children have other serious medical problems.
• Occupational Therapy (OT) - OT is a service for a student with disabilities that will help to develop mental or physical well being in daily living skills, academic learning skills or adaptive social or emotional behaviors.
• Physical Therapy (PT) - PT is treatment for a student with disabilities that will help to maintain, improve, restore, or develop the use of bones, joints, muscles, and nerves.
• Physically Impaired (PI) - The term PI includes students who are orthopedically impaired, students who are other health impaired, and students with traumatic brain injury. The impairment has a negative affect on the student's education performance.
• Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) - The student with a learning disability has near average, or above average intelligence, but may not achieve at that level. Problems with learning are not primarily due to emotional disturbance, physical impairments, environmental disadvantage or lack of previous school experience. The student with a learning disability has the ability to learn, but because of problems such as receiving, organizing, remembering and/or expressing information, he/she may have difficulty in school. Individuals may also have dyslexia, which is difficulty with processing written language.
  
  Students with learning disabilities may have SOME of the following characteristics:
  • Strong in one area (such as math) and a disability in another area (such as spelling and/or reading)
  • Good listening skills, but unable to read the subject material
  • Difficulty remembering multiple-step directions and carrying out an assignment
  • Ability to read on grade level and have good verbal reasoning skills, but unable to do the required written work
  • Strong in mechanical fields, art, music, or sports, but with weaknesses in academic areas
• Speech and Language - Impairments in speech and language can interfere with learning, vocational training, or social adjustment. The Speech and Language services are offered to students who have problems in communicating so that they can be understood, or in listening, so they can understand what others are saying.
  
  Speech and Language programs are designed to assist students with communication problems to function as well as possible and independently. Instruction in communication is provided to improve academic, social, and vocational success.

• Your child is eligible for ese services.
• Your child is not eligible for ese services and does not need special services.
• Your child is not eligible for ese services, but may need some community or general educational support from a source other than ese.
• There is not enough information to reach a decision, and more evaluation is needed.
• Your child may have one of the disabling conditions, but does not need ese services.

• Local educational agency (LEA) representative - This is the legal term for the school district's representative. The LEA representative provides information about the district's available resources that may assist the student in receiving an appropriate education. The principal, the principal's designee, the ese Specialist or Admissions Representative usually serve in this role.
• Evaluation specialist - This person can interpret your child's evaluation results. This could be the school psychologist, audiologist, speech/language pathologist, and/or teacher.
• ese teacher
• General education teacher (if the child is currently, or may be in the future, participating in the general education environment) - The role of the general education teacher is to discuss information regarding the student's performance levels, progress, strengths, and challenges.
• You - Parents must be invited to the eligibility staffing meeting.
  The role of parents is to give and receive information about the child and to participate in making recommendations about eligibility.

Other people who are able to provide important information regarding your child's education may be invited to the eligibility staffing meeting. They may include:

• Guidance counselor
• Therapist(s)
• Local agency representative
• Individuals that you or the school may choose to invite

• Watch your child at home. Make and keep notes on your observations.
• Make an appointment to visit the classroom(s) to watch your child in the instructional setting.
• Read over any records you have and take them with you to the meeting. You may want to make notes for yourself and take them along. Try to have all information and records about your child organized so that you may refer to them during the meeting.
• Ask to look at the records the school has kept.
• Ask to see class work samples and tests (e.g. reading, math, spelling tests and behavior point sheets).
• Talk with your child to get first hand information on how your child feels about school.
• Talk with other people who have worked with your child, such as babysitters, relatives, or daycare staff.
• Think about whether you would like someone to go with you to the meeting, such as a friend or family member. It could be someone who has knowledge about your child that might be of help to you in the decision making process. You could invite a relative who is close to your child or a childcare provider. You may also ask school personnel or someone from another agency that provides services to your child.
• Be ready to share information: what your child does best, what problems your child has at home, how your child helps at home, how your child gets along with other children and with brothers and sisters, and what your child most needs to learn at school. You may want to write this information in a list. Take this list and other notes about your questions or concerns with you to the meeting.

• You may agree to attend at the suggested date and time by signing the form and returning it to the school.
• You may ask to change the suggested date and time to when you can attend within school hours.
• You may ask if you can participate through another method, such as a phone conference call.
• You may tell the school it is very difficult for you to attend at any scheduled school time and that they may go ahead with the meeting without you in attendance. The school will then have the meeting and notify you of the results by sending you completed forms, telephoning you, or by sending the school social worker to visit you with the completed forms.

• Does your child have a disability that makes him/her eligible for ese?
• If your child has a disability, what is your child's disability?
• What special learning needs does your child have because of his/her disability?
• What special behavioral needs does your child have because of his/her disability?
• What assistive technology needs does your child have because of his/her disability?
• For which special programs and related services is your child eligible? 

• Request a local conflict resolution meeting.
• Request formal state mediation.
• File a request for a due process hearing. This is a formal legal proceeding that assigns an impartial Administrative Law Judge to the proceedings.