We Must Do Better: An Interdisciplinary Revision of Specific Learning Disabilities Evaluation Standards

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 1:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Improving Special Education Evaluation and Identification Through an Interdisciplinary Approach (Table 36)

Abstract

This paper presents the new Principles and Standards for Specific Learning Disability evaluations. The product of a yearlong, research-based collaboration between professional ambassadors from the fields of school psychology, cognitive psychology, speech and language pathology, special education, literacy, mathematics education, and medicine, the research-informed standards outline a process professionals can use to develop a comprehensive evaluation and written report that describe: the nature of the specific learning disability; the area and levels of impairment; subject areas and personal areas of strengths; cultural and linguistic diversity of the student; and specific considerations for practitioners to develop individualized interventions designed to meet the unique academic, linguistic, social, emotional, and behavioral needs of the student.

Authors

• Sarah A. van Ingen Lauer, University of South Florida

• David H. Allsopp, University of South Florida

• Monica McHale-Small, Learning Disabilities Association of America