The latest revision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal law that governs special education, offers another approach for assessing called a "Response to Intervention" (RTI). It is currently designed primarily for the elementary school grades. RTI has three steps. If a student is struggling academically, the first step is for the classroom teacher to try additional approaches to help the student master the expected material. If the student still does not make progress, a second level of intervention is tried. A support teacher with special training in addressing learning problems assists the classroom teacher and works individually with the student. Should the student still not make progress, the third level of intervention is initiated. An individualized education program (IEP, explained later) is written and the student is assigned to special education. Ideally, assessments such as psycho–educational testing are done to clarify the reasons for the difficulties before deciding what programs or services are needed. For example, difficulties resulting from specific LDs, intellectual level, bilingual issues, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, emotional problems, or other causes may each require a different intervention. Based on these test results, an IEP is prepared and the child is provided the necessary special education services.I'm unsure what this means for the evaluation portion. The more I'm reading, the more I'm concerned about not doing rigorous evaluation in order to understand where the block in her learning process is. Is she having integration trouble? Where are the weaknesses, and strengths? How can we find the best way to approach her learning NOW, rather than taking a process of trial and error which might make her all the more frustrated?
I also found a page on legal rights of parents/children regarding educational needs when one is learning disabled. One thing that is of particular interest to me is this:
If parents disagree with the results of an evaluation, they have the right to obtain an independent educational evaluation (IEE). An IEE is conducted by qualified people who are not employed by the school. The school district must provide parents with a list names of possible examiners. The district must either provide the IEE at no cost to the parents or initiate a due process hearing to show that its evaluation was appropriate. If the result of the hearing is that the district's evaluation is appropriate, parents still have the right to obtain an IEE, but not at school district expense.It applies if you don't agree with their findings, but does it apply if you don't agree with their methods?
If parents obtain an independent educational evaluation on their own and it meets the school's criteria, those results must be considered by the IEP team. The results of an IEE must be considered by the IEP team in planning.
I'll keep looking, I haven't found the answer to that yet, obviously.