User:KTD96HRD8/sandbox

The evaluation
After the referral process, the district will begin the evaluation. The law requires a comprehensive and nondiscriminatory school evaluation involving all areas of suspected disability. Testing can be done in numerous places but it is most common in schools: Elementary schools, Middle Schools, High Schools, and Universities.

Testing must be in the native language of the child (if feasible). It must be administered by a team of professionals, which must include at least a general education teacher, one special education teacher, and a specialist who is knowledgeable in the area of the child's disability. Testing must be administered one-to-one, not in a group. Any tests or other evaluation materials used must be administered by professionals trained and qualified to administer them; i.e., psychological testing must be conducted by a psychologist trained to administer the specific tests utilized. Teachers also document any interventions they have already been using in the classroom. In addition, teachers will use formal tests such as DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills),DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment), WJ III (Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement) or the WIAT (Wechsler Individual Achievement Test) to see if they are on grade level or below. Anything a teacher or committee member can bring with them to help see the student's whole academic picture (e.g. grades) is extremely helpful.

In addition to testing, an observation of the child either in school or in a comparable situation is required for an initial evaluation, and often at later stages as well. It is through the observation that the child can be assessed while interacting with his peers and teachers. To insure objectivity and cross-referencing, this observation must be conducted by a person other than the child's classroom teacher. The observation need not be done exclusively in the child's classroom, especially when the child's suspected area of disability may become manifest in larger settings, such as the lunchroom, hallways or gym.

For children over twelve years of age, vocational testing is required. This requirement is in keeping with the spirit of the IDEA 1997 Amendments that encourage preparation of children for useful employment. The vocational testing should identify areas of interest and skills needed to attain employment after graduation from school. During the testing process, the parent is free to provide any privately obtained evaluative material and reports. Experts may include professionals such as psychotherapists, psychiatrists, neurologists, pediatricians, medical personnel, and tutors. Professionals who have been working with the child over time can often provide the district with a long-term view of the child's needs.

Sports programs
Schools must provide students with disabilities appropriate access to school-sponsored extracurricular activities such as playing on sports teams. This is sometimes done by providing separate programs, such as a wheelchair division for racing, and other times done by having the student with disabilities play alongside students without disabilities. Schools are not required to place unqualified athletes on teams selected through tryouts, and they are not required to change any essential rules of the sports. There are schools that have partnerships with The Special Olympics, a sports organization specifically for students the Special Needs; and sometimes, schools will send their athletes to help out with Special Olympics sports events.

The Future of Special Education
A large percentage of Special Needs students have a diagnosis that is more severe than dyslexia, but less severe than Cerebral Palsy. Most schools in the United States have programs that specifically help individuals with mild intellectual disabilities (dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, hearing impairment, etc.); however, fewer schools have programs that help individuals with extreme intellectual disabilities or mid-level intellectual disabilities (autism, down syndrome, etc.). More universities across the country have been expanding their special education programs to allow students with the mid to higher level intellectual disabilities to participate in college programs and classes. Such programs are attempting to teach Special Needs students to live and take care of themselves, while also giving them the education required to apply for careers that interest them.

The most difficult aspect of these programs is the grading criteria, as traditional college grading is too demanding for this group of students. Such programs are working toward having classes that have a fixed grading criteria specifically for the students with intellectual disabilities.

These programs allow Special Needs students to take classes along side traditional students as well as taking classes that teach life-skills so that the students are more capable of taking care of themselves upon finishing the program. Most of these programs have traditional students that work with the Special Needs students to ensure they are keeping up with their work and not having any problems.