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One in five individuals has a learning disability - 80 percent of which are language-based. - NICHD

New Minnesota SLD Manual: What's In It For Me?

The New Minnesota SLD Manual: What’s In It For Me?
by Marcy Pohlman

An excellent resource for students, parents, teachers, tutors and other educators was recently released by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). The revised manual, Determining the Eligibility of Students with Specific Learning Disabilities: A Technical Manual, can be downloaded by chapter here.

The Manual was revised to incorporate changes in the federal and state regulations that were required by the revisions in IDEA 2004, and provides expanded guidance to use problem solving and comprehensive evaluation in instruction to accelerate student learning. The new Manual contains helpful resources, practical tools, and syntheses of research and theory that are relevant beyond Minnesota borders and public schools.

Scientific, research-based interventions (SRBI), response to intervention (RTI), data-based decision making, progress monitoring, assessments, comprehensive evaluations, parental involvement and ethics are some of the topics included. Pages 8-14 in Chapter 2 contain handy charts and chapter summaries.

SLD vs. Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability (SLD) that is neurobiological in origin (See Manual Glossary). If you are confused about the definition of dyslexia, specific learning disabilities (SLD), and the obligation of schools to provide special education for students with dyslexia, Chapter 1 will shed some light on this complicated issue. In short, a diagnosis of dyslexia is not synonymous with SLD eligibility for special education; other qualifying conditions or “eligibility criteria” must be met and documented. But remember, denial of special education eligibility does not absolve a school from responsibility to ensure that a student with dyslexia learns to read and meets grade-level academic standards.

The Appendix at the end of Chapter 1 summarizes the issues in defining SLD and the reasons behind the revisions in the federal IDEA 2004 allowing states to use alternatives to the invalid IQ-Achievement test score discrepancy criteria for SLD identification. The complete Consensus Statement and full reports (not too long) from the referenced 2004 and 2002 Learning Disabilities Roundtables can be found here (2004) and here (2002).

Systems of Research-Based Interventions
Chapters 2 through 7 provide an overview as well as practical quality procedures for systems of intervention that a school district may choose to implement and may choose to use as an alternative to IQ-Achievement severe discrepancy criteria in determining eligibility for special education. In case you haven’t already heard, well designed and faithfully implemented systems of Scientific Research-Based Interventions (SRBI), often referred to as response to intervention (RTI), can assure that students receive the differentiated instruction they need in the general education program, preventing instructional casualties and the harm caused by the wait-to-fail discrepancy model for special education eligibility.

Although not exhaustive, here are some Manual highlights to whet your appetite:
• Pages 2-3 of Chapter 2 describe the federal requirements for informing and involving parents in planning interventions in a system of SRBI. (These are regular ed, not special ed interventions.) Pages 4-23 through 4-29 contain a resource tool for gathering data from parents than can be used in planning and problem solving interventions.
• Interventions, whether pre-referral, SRBI, or specialized instruction, must be research-based. Page 4-8 is a decision tree for determining what this means for selecting and designing interventions, and mentions consumer guides to help with this decision from What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) and the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR).
The urls for the consumer guides aren’t shown in the Manual – try these:
WWC: http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/rigorousevid/index.html
FCRR: http://www.fcrr.org/FCRRReports/guidelines.shtm
• The Appendix at the end of Chapter 4 is a tool adapted from the WWC guide: Checklist to determine if an Intervention is Research Based.
• Pages 7-3 through 7-5 define the 8 areas of SLD (listening comprehension, oral expression, basic reading skills, reading fluency, reading comprehension, written expression, math calculations, and mathematical problem-solving).
• Page 7-8 contains a suggested list of guiding questions to rule out that social/emotional behavior is the primary cause of underachievement. The impact of educational environments or classroom cultures that are not supportive is discussed on page 7-10.

Comprehensive Evaluation
Results of a comprehensive evaluation can have a significant positive or negative impact on a student’s education. Assessment standards that have been developed by professional organizations for psychologists, counselors, teachers, and specialists, to prevent erroneous conclusions and misinterpretation of assessment data must be applied with due care to special education evaluations and instructional decisions. Chapter 11 addresses these critical overarching standards.

Chapters 8 through 11 describe the required and recommended processes for collecting and synthesizing valid and reliable data from multiple sources to determine a student’s learning needs and to address the three criteria for SLD eligibility: inadequate achievement, information processing deficits, and either IQ-achievement discrepancy or inadequate rate of progress in SRBI. There is much indispensible information provided in these chapters, including the following:
• The purpose of a comprehensive evaluation is not just to determine eligibility. The focus should include providing information for planning instruction and supports in regular and/or special education programs. Regulations require that evaluations identify all areas of need, “whether or not commonly linked to the disability category in which the child has been classified”. A student does not have to meet eligibility criteria in all areas of need to receive related special education services. As noted on page 9-11, “Minnesota rule requires teams to identify all the needs connected to the disability as well as any needs that are necessary to help the student gain control over and make progress in the general curriculum.”
• Applying the discrepancy formula is covered in Chapter 9. It is mentioned in this and other chapters that discrepancy between ability (IQ) and achievement (test scores) alone is not sufficient for determining whether or not a student has a specific learning disability. Integrating data gathered from multiple sources and measurement tools is required for the intensive and comprehensive problem-solving necessary for determining SLD eligibility and for planning instruction and supports that are most likely to accelerate learning for mastery of academic standards.
• Data from private tutoring can help develop a complete picture of the student achievement, performance, and learning preferences for identifying areas of need. See pages 8-15, 8-19, 9-10.
• Check the reference section of your library for The Mental Measurements Yearbook and other resources on page 8-20 for understanding the appropriate use and limitations of testing instruments.
• Consideration of independent or external evaluations is addressed on pages 9-49 to
9-51.
• Requirements for the use of team overrides are discussed on page 10-28.
• Re-evaluations are explained in pages 10-28 through 10-30. “Federal law does not require that children meet initial state eligibility criteria during re-evaluation to remain eligible for special education and services.”
• Parents are required members of the evaluation team and their input is a required data source. See pages 10-30 through 10-38 for parent involvement suggestions and helpful tips. Pages 7-25 to 7-26 and the Appendix of Chapter 10 lists suggested questions for collecting input from parents.

Additional training on the SLD Manual content is currently being scheduled around the state.