My child is struggling 
Now that my child has 
Candace Cortiella: And what if the school recommends to the parent the need for an evaluation for their child?
Judith Halden: If the school recommends the evaluation, this indicates that they are trying to fulfill their obligation under IDEA. Before agreeing, parents should understand exactly why the school feels the child might have a learning disability. When and if they’re satisfied with the evidence, they would then need to provide written consent for an evaluation to proceed. In other words, the school can’t just say, “We’re going to evaluate your child.” The parent must be involved. And before giving your okay, understand exactly why the school feels as it does and what they’ve seen that indicates a learning issue.
I would also at this point recommend that parents contact the Parent Training and Information Center in their state. These centers can provide information on the evaluation process including important details that can vary from state to state, and that is one of the big pieces to consider. The parent center services are free and parents can find the center that they need by going to www.parentcenternetwork.org.
Candace Cortiella: That sounds like a wonderful resource.
Judith Halden: It is.
Candace Cortiella: So tell us the important aspects of evaluations done by the school that parents need to know about and understand.
Judith Halden: There are actually several aspects. First and very important is that the evaluation is done at no cost to the family if the school does it. A private evaluation is more than likely going to be very costly, so this is an important consideration. Parents should understand that the evaluations are usually performed at school, by school district personnel. They often include multiple people, someone who does the social history by meeting the parents and taking down pertinent information about the child’s early development. There might be several different professionals involved in the evaluation that parents will have to interact with, such as a psychologist, a special education teacher, a speech and language pathologist, and perhaps others (depending on what they areas of difficulty they’re noticing).
The specific areas that are going to be evaluated should be discussed with the parents. There are very detailed requirements for evaluations conducted by the school, and many are designed to ensure the students are given a comprehensive evaluation. Typically, the results of the evaluation will be used to determine if there is a need for special education, so parents should become familiar with the requirements and with exactly what the school proposes for its evaluation.
Another important aspect is that the testing must be completed within a prescribed period of time. This time limit varies by state so parents should check with their Parent Center for this information.
And lastly, parents should be given the results of the evaluation and, since the results can be full of jargon used in the world of educational and psychological testing, knowing this ahead of time will help.
Candace Cortiella: I’ve heard parents express concern about testing records becoming part of the child’s school record. What are your feelings about that?
Judith Halden: These reports are not integrated into the child’s regular school record. In other words, people can’t just go in and look at the record. They are kept in a separate location and are not available to just anyone who opens the child’s attendance or guidance record. People without a legitimate interest in the information would need parental consent to access the records.
Another point that parents need to understand is that some of what might be included in these reports can seem too private to share, like family stressors such as divorce, a medically fragile parent, or an older sibling who is involved with drugs or has other legal issues, etc. These things are often captured and included in social history documents that are shared or reviewed with the committee making the recommendations for your child.
The point is not to exclude them from any report but rather to mention them if they are relevant to the child’s frustrations, and in ways that are not judgmental but rather help plan for the child’s success which is really what this is about.
