The Evaluation Process

What happens during an evaluation?

Evaluating your child means more than the school giving your child a test. The school will evaluate your child in all the areas where your child may be affected by the possible disability. This may include reviewing your child’s health, vision, hearing, social and emotional well-being, general intelligence, performance in school, and how well your child communicates with others and uses his or her body.

The evaluation process involves several steps:

A | Reviewing existing information

A team of qualified individuals in the district will collaborate with you to review the information the school already has about your child. You may have information about your child you wish to share as well. The team will review information such as:

your child’s scores on tests given in the classroom or to all students in your child’s grade;
the opinions and observations of your child’s teachers and other school staff who know your child; and
your feelings, concerns, and ideas about how your child is doing in school.

B | Deciding if more information is still needed

The information collected above will help the group decide:

if your child has a particular type of need;
how your child is currently doing in school;
what your child’s educational needs are.

If the information the team collects doesn’t answer these questions, then the school must collect more information about your child.

C | Collecting more information about your child

Your informed written consent is required before the school may collect additional information about your child. The school must also describe how it will collect the information. This includes describing the tests that will be used and the other ways the school will gather information about your child. After you give your consent, the school will begin the evaluations.

How does the school collect this information?

The school collects information about your child from many different people and in many different ways. Tests are an important part of an evaluation, but they are only a part. The evaluation should also include:

the observations and opinions of professionals who have worked with your child;
your child’s medical history, when it relates to his or her performance in school; and
your ideas about your child’s school experiences, abilities, needs, and behavior outside of school, and his or her feelings about school.

The following people will be part of the team evaluating your child:

At least one regular education teacher,

A school administrator who knows about policies for special education, about children with disabilities, about the general education curriculum (the curriculum used by students who do not have disabilities), and about available resources;

Someone who can interpret the evaluation results and talk about what instruction may be necessary for your child;

Individuals (invited by you or the school) who have knowledge or special expertise about your child;

Your child, if appropriate; Representatives from any other agencies that may be responsible for paying for or providing transition services (if your child is age 16 or, if appropriate, younger and will be planning for life after high school); and

Other qualified professionals.

These other qualified professionals may be responsible for collecting specific kinds of information about your child. They may include:

a school psychologist and/or an occupational therapist;
a speech and language pathologist (sometimes called a speech therapist);
a physical therapist and/or adaptive physical education therapist or teacher;
a medical specialist; and
others.

Professionals will observe your child. They may give your child written tests or talk personally with your child. They are trying to get a picture of the “whole child.” For example, they want to understand such aspects as:

how well your child speaks and understands language;
how your child thinks and behaves;
how well your child adapts to changes in his or her environment;
how well your child has done academically;
how well your child functions in a number of areas, such as moving, thinking, learning, seeing, and hearing; and
your child’s job-related and other post-school interests and abilities.

IDEA gives clear directions about how schools must conduct evaluations. For example, tests and interviews must be given in the language (for example, Spanish, sign language) or communication mode (for example, Braille, using a picture board or an alternative augmentative communication device) that is most likely to yield accurate information about what your child knows or can do developmentally, functionally, and academically. The tests must also be given in a way that does not discriminate against your child because he or she has a disability or is from a different racial or cultural background.

IDEA states that schools may not decide a child’s eligibility for special education based on the results of only one procedure such as a test or an observation. More than one procedure is needed to see where your child may be having difficulty and to identify his or her strengths and needs.

In some cases, schools will be able to conduct a child’s entire evaluation within the school. In other cases, schools may not have the staff to do all of the evaluations needed. These schools will have to hire outside people or agencies to do some or all of the evaluation. If your child is evaluated outside of the school, the school must make the arrangements. The school will say in writing exactly what type of testing is to be done. All of these evaluation procedures are done at no cost to parents.

In some cases, once the evaluation has begun, the outside specialist may ask to do more testing. Make sure you tell the specialist to contact the school. If the testing is going beyond what the school originally asked for, the school needs to agree to pay for the extra testing.