Evaluation for Children with Special Needs

Evaluation for the Special Needs Child

As Americans there is nothing more important than the education of today’s children. In the classroom, it is vital to discuss the significance and relevance of the special needs children. These children are often misrepresented and passed over for various reasons. It is not only significant, but necessary that we fully understand the education process when dealing with a special needs child. In a recent interview with Christine Short, conducted November 18th, she stated that, “Four County Career Center has around thirty –five percent of its students on an IEP” (Short). Thomas B. Parrish and Jean Wolman report in How is Special Education Funded? Issues and Implications for School Administrators that “Special Education enrollment and consequently overall costs continue to rise with no apparent relief in sight” (57). For students that have fallen through the cracks and have been labeled as problem students, evaluation is needed to determine if they are in need of additional support, such as an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP), or additional testing.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) lists five factors that the IEP team must consider in the development, review and revision of each child’s IEP. The special factors are behavior, English proficiency, blindness or visual impairment, communication needs, and assistive technology (National Dissemination Center for Children With Disabilities). For the consideration of these special factors, the IEP team must consider the use of positive behavioral interventions, the language needs of the child, provide instruction with the appropriate writing and reading material and provide braille if needed, provide direct communications with the child, and consider if the child needs assistive technology devices and services.

In the book The ADD Hyperactivity Workbook for Parents, Teachers, and Kids, written by Harvey C. Parker, he states that the “diagnosis of a special...