Evaluating Children for Disability

To find out more about these disabilities and how IDEA defines them, you’ll find Categories of Disability under IDEA right to the point. Having a disability, though, does not necessarily make a child eligible for special education. Consider this language from the IDEA regulations:

 

A child with a disability means a child evaluated in accordance with §§300.304 through 300.311 as having [one of the disabilities listed above] and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services. [emphasis added]

 

This provision includes the very important phrase “…and who, by reason thereof…” This means that, because of the disability, the child needs special education and related services. Many children have disabilities that do not bring with them the need for extra educational assistance or individualized educational programming. If a child has a disability but is not eligible under IDEA, he or she may be eligible for the protections afforded by other laws—such as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. It’s not uncommon for a child to have a 504 plan at school to address disability-related educational needs. Such a child will receive needed assistance but not under IDEA.

 

Identifying Children for Evaluation

Before a child’s eligibility under IDEA can be determined, however, a full and individual evaluation of the child must be conducted. There are at least two ways in which a child may be identified to receive an evaluation under IDEA:

 

(1) Parents may request that their child is evaluated. Parents are often the first to notice that their child’s learning, behavior, or development may be a cause for concern. If they’re worried about their child’s progress in school and think he or she might need extra help from special education services, they may call, email, or write to their child’s teacher, the school’s principal, or the Director of Special Education in the school district. If the school agrees that an evaluation is needed, it must evaluate the child at no cost to parents.

(2) The school system may ask to evaluate the child. Based on a teacher’s recommendation, observations, or results from tests given to all children in a particular grade, a school may recommend that a child receive further screening or assessment to determine if he or she has a disability and needs special education and related services. The school system must ask parents for permission to evaluate the child, and parents must give their informed written permission before the evaluation may be conducted.

 

Giving Parents Notice

It is important to know that IDEA requires the school system to notify parents in writing that it would like to evaluate their child (or that it is refusing to evaluate the child). This is called giving prior written notice. It is not enough for the agency to tell parents that it would like to evaluate their child or that it refuses to evaluate their child. The school must also:

• explain why it wants to conduct the evaluation (or why it refuses);

• describe each evaluation procedure, assessment, record, or report used as a basis for proposing the evaluation (or refusing to conduct the evaluation);

• where parents can go to obtain help in understanding IDEA’s provisions;

• what other options the school considered and why those were rejected; and

• a description of any other factors that are relevant to the school’s proposal (or refusal) to evaluate the child.