Multidisciplinary Team and Parental Participation in Assessment Process

Question 1

Purpose of MDT

Answer 1

identification of students with suspected disabilities through the development of a district-based team

Question 2

Role of MDT

Answer 2

to work as a single unit in determining the possible cause, con- tributing behavioral factors, educational status, prognosis (outcome), and recommendations for a student with a suspected disability

Question 3

What must be done to ensure the MDT complies with IDEA?

Answer 3

1. Assessment materials and other evaluation materials are selected and administered so as not to be discriminatory on a racial or cultural basis.
2. Assessment materials are provided and administered in the language and form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally, unless it is not feasible to so provide or administer.
3. Tests and other assessment materials have been validated for the specific purpose for which they are used.
4. Tests and other assessment materials are administered by trained personnel in conformance with the instructions provided by the producer of the tests and other assessment materials, except that individually administered tests of intellectual or emotional functioning shall be administered by a credentialed school psychologist.
5. Tests and other assessment materials are selected and administered to best ensure that a test administered to a pupil with impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills produces test results that accurately reflect the pupil’s aptitude, achievement level, or any other factors the test purports to measure and not the pupil’s impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills, unless those skills are the factors the test purports to measure.
6. No single procedure is used as the sole criterion for determining an appropriate educational program for an individual with exceptional needs.
7. The pupil is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability including, where appropriate, health and development, vision, including low vision, hearing, motor abilities, language function, general ability, academic performance, self-help, orientation and mobility skills, career and vocational abilities and interests, and social and emotional status. A developmental history is obtained, when appropriate. For pupils with residual vision, a low vision assessment shall be provided.
8. Persons knowledgeable of that disability shall conduct the assessment of a pupil, including the assessment of a pupil with a suspected low incidence disability. For instance, if the screening reveals a suspected learning disability, then a learning disabilities specialist becomes part of the team. If the child is suspected of having a hearing impairment, then an audiologist becomes a member of the team. Special attention shall be given to the unique educational needs, including, but not limited to, skills and the need for specialized services, materials, and equipment.

Question 4

What are the objectives of an educational assessment?

Answer 4

1. Help determine the child’s stronger and weaker academic skill areas. The evaluation may give useful information when making practical recommendations to teachers about academic expectations, areas in need of remediation, and how to best present information to assist the child’s ability to learn.
2. Help the teacher gear the materials to the learning capacity of the individual child. A child reading 2 years below grade level may require modified textbooks or greater explanations prior to a lesson.
3. Develop a learning profile that can help the classroom teacher understand the best way to present information to the child and therefore increase the child’s chances of success.
4. Help determine whether the child’s academic skills are suitable for a regular class or so severe that a more restrictive educational setting is required—that is, an educational setting or situation best suited to the present needs of the student other than a full-time regular class placement (resource room, self-contained class, special school, etc.).
5. Use an achievement battery that covers enough skill areas to make an adequate diagnosis of academic strengths and weaknesses.

Question 5

What are the objectives of a psychological assessment?

Answer 5

1. Determine the child’s present overall levels of intellectual ability
2. Determine the child’s present verbal intellectual ability
3. Determine the child’s non-language intellectual ability
4. Explore indications of greater potential
5. Find possible patterns involving learning style—that is, verbal comprehension, concentration, and the like
6. Ascertain possible influences of tension and anxiety on testing results
7. Determine the child’s intellectual ability to deal with present grade-level academic
   demands
8. Explore the influence of intellectual ability as a contributing factor to a child’s past
   and present school difficulties—that is, limited intellectual ability found in retardation