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Topics Lesson II: Identification and Planning for Students with Special Needs

Introduction
In this lesson, you will learn about identifying and planning for students with special
needs and identifying children with disabilities before they enter school. Let us begin by
understanding the meaning of Children with Special Needs and Children with Disabilities.
How to identify children with special needs and types of assessments to be used? How a
student is identified as having a disability?

Learning Outcomes
After studying this module, the graduate student should be able to:
1. Identify students with special needs
2. Identify children with disabilities before they enter school

Content

Children with special needs means with developmental disabilities, mental

retardation , emotional disturbances, sensory or motor impairment, or significant
chronic who require special health surveillance or specialized programs, interventions,
technologies, or facilities. Children who have long –term physical, mental, intellectual
or sensory impairments which may hinder their full effective participation in society on
an equal basis with others.

Children with disabilities means those individuals from birth through age 21
who are evaluated as having mental retardation, hearing impairments including
deafness, speech or language impairments, visual impairments including blindness,
serious emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury,
other health impairments, specific learning disabilities, deaf-blindness, or multiple
impairment, and who, because of those impairments, needs special education and
related services.

The identification of children with special needs is not the only reason why there
are various assessment instruments. Assessment and testing are also crucial for
students who are already in the special education program. Besides monitoring the
advancement of academic performance of special students, these assessment
instruments also help the teachers in modifying the educational objectives of the
students. The result is the creation of more effective, more responsive, and more
dynamic Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). From the perspectives of school
administration and community involvement, the use of various psychological
assessment tests can increase the accountability of everyone involved in the education
of the special student.

Types of Assessments

1. Battelle Developmental Inventory– This type of assessment determines whether the

child, from infancy to primary grade levels, is meeting developmental milestones.
Through the measurement of cognitive, motor, social, and language skills,
developmental delays can be identified.
2. Child Behavior Checklist – This type of assessment relies on the input of the parent
or the guardian and primarily focuses on the child’s behavior, especially one who is
suffering from ADHD or ADD. The assessment, which is applicable for children
from preschool age to young adulthood, is supposed to quantify social competencies.
3. Peabody Developmental Motor Scale – This type of assessment is used to examine
the gross and fine motor abilities of a child. It is applicable only to children from age
zero to eight. The high reliability of the results of this assessment makes it the
preferred test for therapists and psychologists who are treating children with
cerebral palsy.
4. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – This type of assessment measures a person’s
language and comprehension abilities, communication skills, and auditory processes.
Unlike most assessment tests, this type can be used for individuals with a wider
range of ages, beginning from preschool all the way through to late adulthood.
5. Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale – This type of assessment is typically used to
measure a person’s general intelligence. It is administered on individuals between
the ages of 2 and 23. The general intelligence measured also includes the
individual’s memory retention and basic cognitive abilities.
6. Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale – This type of assessment focuses on the social
abilities of an individual, from preschool age to 18 years old. The measurement of
social abilities includes fundamental socialization skills, communication skills, basic
motor skills, and daily living adeptness.

Children with disabilities can be identified as needing special education in various

ways. Typically, initial suspicions that a child has special learning needs come through
a. school referrals
b. concerns raised by the child’s parents, or the health care system (i.e.,
identification by a pediatrician or health care professional).

How a student is identified as having a disability

1. Child is identified as possibly needing special education and related services.

2. Child is evaluated.
3. Eligibility is decided.
4. Child is found eligible for services.
5. IEP meeting is scheduled.
6. IEP meeting is held and the IEP is written.
7. Services are provided.
8. Progress is measured and reported to parents.
9. IEP is reviewed.
 10. Child is reevaluated.

However, reliably identifying a child as having a disability can be extremely

challenging in countries that struggle with community misperceptions of disabilities,
limited resources for conducting screenings and evaluation, and the limited availability
of skilled professionals who are trained to conduct a comprehensive diagnostic
evaluation.

Takeaways

These are the important points you should remember:

The writing of each student's IEP takes place within the larger picture of the
special education process under IDEA. Before taking a detailed look at the IEP, it may
be helpful to look briefly at how a student is identified as having a disability and
needing special education and related services and, thus, an IEP.

Referral or request for evaluation. A school professional may ask that a child be
evaluated to see if he or she has a disability. Parents may also contact the child's teacher
or other school professional to ask that their child be evaluated. This request may be
verbal or in writing. Parental consent is needed before the child may be evaluated.
Evaluation needs to be completed within a reasonable time after the parent gives
consent.

Educational evaluations are also called assessments. This is when the school
puts together information on a student to see if they need special education or related
services. The educational evaluation may be used in many ways. For example:

√ The information helps the school decide if the student has a disability that makes it
hard for him/her to do well in school.

√ It is used to show if the student qualifies for special education services.

√ If the student does qualify for special education, the school will make a plan for
his/her education. This plan is called an individual education program (IEP, often
called an individual education plan) or an individual family service plan (IFSP). The
school needs the information from an evaluation to write the individual plan for the
student.

√ The information from the evaluation can be used to make sure the student is learning
and making progress. It can also be used to change the IEP when needed.

Before starting the evaluation, the school puts together a referral team. The team
should include the parents. The team meets and goes over everything they know about
the student. They talk about any test results. They get up-to-date information from
parents, teachers, and anyone else who works with the student.

If the student is 14 or older, or in the 9th grade or above, the team should also
talk about what the student wants to do when s/he finishes school. This discussion
should include work, higher education, and other adult issues.

This meeting is where you can tell the school all about your child. You can ask
questions and talk about any worries you have. It is a chance for the parents and
teachers to help each other understand what the child needs.

The team decides what information is missing. They figure out what kinds of
tests should be done. They think about what kinds of data will help them understand
the student and how s/he learns.

The team plans everything about the evaluation. Then they send or give you an
evaluation notice. This is the official notice that the school is going to evaluate your
child.

References

http://www.ldonline.org/article/6226/

https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/children-with-special-
needs#:~:text=Children%20with%20special%20needs%20means%20children%20with%
20developmental%20disabilities%2C%20mental,interventions%2C%20technologies%2C
%20or%20facilities.
https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/children-with-
disabilities#:~:text=Children%20with%20disabilities%20means%20children,education%
20and%20related%20services%20and

How to Identify a Special Child - The Use of Assessment Instruments - BrightHub

Education

Learning Activity/ies

Direction: Answer the following questions in 2 – 3 sentences, write your answer on a

separate sheet of paper.
1. How to identify students with special needs?
______________________________________________________________`_________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. What are the steps in identifying students with disabilities? What are the things
that should be considered?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Prepared by: Submitted to:

JOY MAE L. BENDABAL FRANK EMBOLTURA