Let’s Talk About: Eligibility

The entire purpose of the eligibility process is to determine “whether the child has a disability and the nature and extent of the special education and related services that the child needs.” 

The evaluation of the child must be individualized, meaning that the procedures and methods of evaluation must address their unique needs (rather than using a general assessment for all students). 

What are some indicators of a student who may have a suspected disability?

• The student’s rate of progress is not what is expected

• The level of performance is significantly discrepant from his/her peers

• The student has a physical or health condition affecting educational performance

• The student’s behavior or interpersonal interactions are adversely affecting educational performance

• The student’s response to classroom accommodations and modifications has not been successful. 

There are typically three ways in which a student is identified for an eligibility evaluation. 

1. The student’s classroom teacher may identify concerns

2. The student’s parents may indicate concerns and request their child be evaluated. This is a parent’s legal right. I have included a link to my free Evaluation Request Letter if needed.

3. Other school personnel or private professionals may suspect an issue and ask the child’s parents for evaluation permission.

You may hear the phrase “Child Study Team” (CST) or “Student Study Team” (SST). The CST/SST helps teachers meet the needs of individual children in their class who are having difficulty in the educational setting.  The team makes recommendations for non-special education interventions with the hope the interventions enable the child to be successful in the General Education setting. This process is sometimes used before beginning the comprehensive evaluation for Eligibility. 

Written parental consent must be obtained before any evaluations or testing can be initiated. Parental consent has three criteria:

1. The parent is fully informed of all information relevant to the testing.  The paperwork must be in the parent’s native language (even sign language and Braille if needed).

2. The parent must understand and agree in writing to conduct the testing. The consent must describe what will be done, including gathering any records. An oral agreement is not legally sufficient for parental consent. The consent must be in writing. 

3. The parent must understand that they can revoke their consent anytime. 

Once the school receives the parental consent, the initial evaluation must be conducted within 60 days. The evaluation must be performed before any action is taken concerning an initial special education placement. 

Let’s talk about the actual testing done as part of Eligibility.  IDEA defines 6 standards that must be met for an evaluation to occur. All 6 standards must be met for the evaluation to meet federal guidelines. 

• Standard 1: When considering eligibility for special education, the evaluation must be done by a multidisciplinary team. Various assessment tools and strategies to gather information (functional and developmental). This includes information provided by the parent. This team includes a general education teacher, a school psychologist, a special education teacher, a speech and language pathologist, and the parents.  When appropriate, the team can include medical personnel, a social worker, a school counselor, a school nurse, an Occupational Therapist, and/or a Physical Therapist.

• Standard 2: All testing materials and procedures used for the evaluation must be selected and administered so it is not racially or culturally discriminatory. 

• Standard 3: All test and evaluation materials are validated for their specific purpose. The testing must have validity (does it measure what it's supposed to) and reliability (consistency of results) scores.

• Standard 4: Tests and evaluation materials must be administered by trained personnel in conformance with the test instructions. 

• Standard 5: No single procedure can be used as the sole criterion for determining an appropriate educational program for the student. The assessment must be comprehensive, using various tools and strategies to gather relevant information. The evaluation is dependent on the student's suspected disability. The components of the comprehensive evaluation must include individual psychological evaluation (general intelligence, instructional needs, learning strengths and weaknesses, and social-emotional dynamics); thorough developmental, social, and academic history; a physical examination (for vision, hearing, and overall health); and classroom observations of the student in their current educational setting; educational evaluation; behavioral assessment; portfolio assessment; and interviews with the teachers, parents, and student (as appropriate). Speech and language evaluations, OT evals, and PT evals can be completed when appropriate.

• Standard 6: All tests must be given in the child’s native language, and all reports must be written in the parent’s native language. 

Once the evaluation process is completed, the eligibility committee (which the parents are a part of) will have a meeting to discuss the results of the evaluations and the school’s recommendations. The parent receives a copy of the eligibility report. (Feel free to ask for this report a few days before the meeting. Having it early will allow you to read through it, make a list of questions, and generally be more familiar with what the testers are explaining). This is the meeting we know as an “Eligibility.” There are 12 categories of eligibility: 

1. Autism spectrum disorder

2. Deafblind

3. Deaf/hard of hearing

4. Emotional and behavioral disorder

5. Intellectual disability (mild, moderate, severe, profound)

6. Orthopedic impairment

7. Other health impairment

8. Significant developmental delay

9. Specific learning disability

10. Speech-language impairment

11. Traumatic brain injury

12. Visual impairment

(I will write a blog for each of these categories individually.) If a determination is made that the child has a disability and the disability adversely affects educational performance. Therefore, the child needs special education services, and an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) must be developed within 30 days. If a child is not found eligible, the eligibility report should clearly explain why. 

Per IDEA, a child receiving special education services must be reevaluated every three years. This is called a Triennial Review.

All parents have the right to refuse services (or the evaluation). Be aware the district may then begin “due process” procedures. (Due Process will be covered in another blog). 

The next 12 blogs will cover each of the eligibility categories. Be patient with me… I usually get two blogs weekly, so it will be a while before I get through them all. As always, reach out with any questions you may have. I’m happy to help.