Special Needs Handbook | Page 4

Procedure for All Schools to Follow

A child is identified as possibly having a disability and needing special education services, parents may ask or may be asked for their child to be evaluated. Special education referrals may be made for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to academic and/or behavioural concerns.

A check list is sent to every school where classroom teacher identifies the child strengths and weaknesses so as to help the assessors to have a general idea of the appropriate activities and tools for the assessment. The parents is then called and asked to accompany the child to be assessed. The parent/s will also be interviewed to help with the accumulation of information in order to have a full overview of the child.

Every initial evaluation must be approached and designed individually based on the specific concerns and the selection of assessment tools based on the information needed to answer the eligibility questions.

During the evaluation process, the student is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability, which may include the following, but not limited to:

•Cognitive (learning, thinking and problem solving)

•Social and Emotional

•Language and Communication

•Fine and gross motor skills

•Vision

•Self-help Skills

When selecting assessment tools to assist in gathering the evaluation data, the Special Education Needs Evaluation team conducting the evaluation ensures the following requirements are met:

1.Use a variety of tools and strategies.

2.Use technically sound instruments that may assess the relative contribution of cognitive and behavioural factors, in addition to physical or developmental factors.

3.Materials and procedures used to assess a student with limited English proficiency must be selected and administered to ensure that they measure the extent to which the student has a disability and needs special education services, rather than measuring the student’s English language skills.

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S.E.N HANDBOOK