When completing the Consideration of Disability page, "the Summary of Evaluation Data" must include summaries for each area mentioned in the Areas of Suspected Disability.
Summary of evaluation data:
A student’s performance in school is the product of many factors. Some of the most important ones include: attendance, the teacher’s behavior, and parental attitudes toward education, cognitive abilities, health, academics, self-esteem, motivation, peer relations, and study skills. No evaluation can fully account for all of the factors affecting a particular child’s learning. STUDENT was assessed in all areas of suspected disability and this multidisciplinary evaluation is considered a valid representation of STUDENT’s current levels of functioning in the areas addressed. The major purpose of a Full and Individual Evaluation (FIE) is to determine the presence or absence of a disability condition, describe the student’s current levels of educational performance, and provide information to assist the ARD committee in its deliberations. All decisions pertaining to eligibility, services, and placement are the responsibility of STUDENT’s ARD committee.
34 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) 300.8 (c) (10) (i) identifies a Specific learning disability as a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. Joe meets the criteria for special education services as a student with a specific learning disability under the pattern of strengths and weaknesses model. The data presented supports the conclusion that the student’s underachievement is consistent with criteria for specific Learning disability and is unexpected. The underachievement does occur within an otherwise normal ability profile. According to the processing model, there must be normative cognitive and academic deficits which are correlated.
Anywhere ISD follows the Aptitude-Achievement Consistency Model of SLD identification. This model examines cognitive processing strengths and weaknesses through the Cattel-Horn-Carrol (CHC) theory of intelligence, it creates a profile in which logical and empirical links can be made between cognitive weakness and academic weaknesses, and integrates multiple sources of data collected through the Response To Intervention (RTI) process over time to identify a Pattern of Strengths and Weaknesses (PSW) consistent with SLD. Based upon this method of determining a pattern of strengths and weaknesses in performance, achievement, or both, relative to intellectual development, that is determined by the team to be relevant to the identification of Specific Learning Disability, the following factors were considered.
Is there evidence of achievement weaknesses? Yes
Academically, STUDENT is having significant difficulties in three different areas;
Basic Reading (Standard Score of 84 is low average)
Reading Comprehension (Standard Score of 71 is low)
Broad Written Language (Standard Score of 80 is low average)
This was in contrast to his within normal limits Math Reasoning and Math Computation. Across the board, STUDENT had difficulties with all areas of academic fluency.
Is there evidence of processing weakness related to the achievement weaknesses? Yes
Comprehension Knowledge-manifests in vocabulary accusation, comprehending language or understanding what others say, accessing prior knowledge, and finding the right words in reading and writing.
Short Term Memory (specifically working memory)-manifests in the ability to follow multi step directions oral and written, remembering information long enough to apply it, and rote memorization which will impact all areas of academics.
Processing Speed-manifests in the efficiency of processing information, quickly perceiving relationships, and working within time parameters which is impacting STUDENT’s ability to make progress in basic reading and reading comprehension.
Is there evidence of processing strengths unrelated to achievement weaknesses? Yes
Fluid Reasoning-which supports higher level thinking, extending knowledge through critical thinking, and applying underlying rules or processes to solve problems.
Long-Term Retrieval-which supports learning new concepts, recalling information by association, pared learning (visual and auditory), generating ideas rapidly.
Visual Processing-which supports recognizing patterns, reading maps and graphs, recalling visual information, and attending to visual detail.
Auditory Processing-which supports discrimination between simple sounds, paying attention in the presence of background noise, hearing information presented orally and processing that information.
Have extraneous factors been ruled out as the primary cause for these academic and processing weaknesses? Yes