SLD Eligibility Policy

1. SLD Eligibility Policy

2. Agenda • Review SLD definition • Models of SLD identification • ID’s Revised SLD Eligibility Criteria and Procedures • Questions

3. SLD Definition • A specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. Specific learning disability does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. (34 CFR Sec. 300.8 (c)(10))

4. Models of SLD Eligibility • RTI only • Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses • Blended model ***

5. Overview of ID SLD Policy

6. Two key differences in new criteria

7. Aligns with the federal definition • Consistent with evidence demonstrating that students can have impairments in very specific areas • Allows for evaluation and intervention planning to be more closely aligned to address the particular needs of the student Why the change to SLD?

8. Why aren’t there magic numbers? • Heterogeneity of SLD • Current research evidence is not sufficient to recommend hard cut scores

9. Imperfect Ability to Learn

10. Imperfect Ability to Learn

11. Guidelines for Students who are Culturally & Linguistically Diverse • Preponderance of Evidence – Multiple sources of data converge to indicate that a student’s learning problems are not due to cultural, linguistic or other factors (Prereferral information) • Compiled socio-cultural information – e.g. parental education level, time in country, time in school, mobility • Parent involvement and input • Targeted interventions – multi-lingual instructional support

12. Disorder in a Basic Psychological Process

13. Psychological Processes • Related to the area of academic deficit • In reading, phonological processing, processing speed (rapid automatized naming), orthographic coding, basic auditory and visual perception skills, semantic & oral language processing • In math, the research is less well defined, but working memory, processing speed, number sense, visual perception and attention skills are emerging as important underlying processes

14. Psychological Processes Assist in Identification Assist in Intervention Planning Numerous research based interventions target phonological processing deficits, especially for young children Students with memory issues need structure, repetition, summarization strategies • Phonological Processing • Working Memory

15. Exclusionary Criteria

16. Implementation Timeline

17. 2009-2010 School Year Professional development IEP teams may use either SLD eligibility determination criteria with the expectation that teams will begin to implement the new 2009 SLD criteria Submit one completed SLD eligibility determination per school using new 2009 criteria to the SDE by May 15, 2010 Submitted eligibility determination documents will be reviewed by a trained team and results for that one student will be placed in the Compliance Tracking Tool by June 30, 2010.

18. 2010-2011 School Year Professional development continues All items submitted in the Compliance Tracking Tool for the IEP submitted in May, 2010 will be corrected no later than May, 2011 Beginning August 1, 2010, IEP teams will use the 2009 SLD criteria to determine special education eligibility for all new referrals of students suspected of having a specific learning disability. Additional guidance will be provided for IEP teams to use for three year re-evaluations and other situations where students have already been determined eligible for special education.

19. 2011-2012 School Year Professional development continues IEP teams will use the 2009 SLD criteria to determine eligibility for all students suspected of having a specific learning disability.

20. RTI and SLD Identification Web Resources Idaho Response to Intervention: www.sde.idaho.gov IDEA Partnership’s RTI Collection: www.ideapartnership.org National Association of School Psychologists: www.nasponline.org National Association of State Directors of Special Education: www.nasdse.org National Center for Learning Disabilities: www.ncld.org National Center on Culturally Responsive Systems: www.nccrest.org National Center on Student Progress Monitoring: www.studentprogress.org National Center on Response to Intervention: www.rti4success.org National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities: www.ldonline.org/njcld National Research Center on Learning Disabilities: www.nrcld.org Office of Special Education Programs, IDEA 2004 Building the Legacy: http://idea.ed.gov/ RTI Action Network: www.rtinetwork.org 20

21. References Klotz, M. B., & Canter, A. (2007). Response To Intervention (RTI): A primer for parents, Retrieved July 18, 2008 from www.nasponline.org/resources/handouts/revisedPDFs/rtiprimer.pdf. Lichtenstein, R. (2008). Best practices in identification of learning disabilities. Best Practices in School Psychology V, 17, 2, (pp. 295-317). National Association of School Psychologists. (2007). Position statement on identification of students with specific learning disabilities. Retrieved July 18, 2008 from www.nasponline.org/about_nasp/positionpapers/SLDPosition_2007.pdf. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. Q and A: Response to Intervention (RTI) and Early Intervening Services (EIS). Retrieved July 18, 2008 from http://idea.ed.gov. 21

22. Questions?Jacque Hyattjshyatt@sde.idaho.gov