Child Find,

Assessment and
Evaluation
Process

Next Slid
WHAT IS CHILD FIND?
● Child Find is a continuous network of public awareness events,
infant screening and assessment programs designed to find,
identify and compare all young children with disabilities and their
families seeking special pre-school care as early as possible.
● Child Find covers every child from birth through age 21.
● Parents whose children don’t attend public schools may not know
what kind of help is available. Schools use various methods to
reach those families. Outreach efforts can include local media
campaigns, notices to parents and notices posted in public places.
How do we find the babies, toddlers, and preschoolers?
● Inform hospital, local physicians.
● Interagency agreements with public health and early
intervention.
● Public announcements
● Newspapers
● Posters in school offices
● Flyer at post office
● Grapevine
● Church organizations
Components of the Child Find Program
● Clues that child might have a disability
● Parents tell a special education teacher or principal that they
suspect child has a disability.
● Student is struggling academically, functionally, socially,
and/or emotionally.
A comprehensive Child Find system includes at least seven
major elements:
● Definition of Target Population: The state defines the
criteria that determine which children are eligible for help.
Some states expand the target population to include at-risk
children, not just those who have disabilities or
developmental delays.
● Public Awareness: The state raises public awareness
about children who need help and the services available to
them, targeting parents, caregivers, educators, school staff,
physicians and others.
● Referral and Intake: A child is referred for services;
A comprehensive Child Find system includes at least seven
major elements:
● Screening and Identification: The child is screened for
possible disabilities or developmental delays.
● Eligibility Determination: Results of the screening are
compared to the state’s eligibility guidelines, which must be
consistent with federal regulations.
● Tracking: The state tracks and follows up with children who
are receiving services.
● Interagency Coordination: Some states have multiple
agencies that share responsibilities mandated by IDEA.
Resources must be coordinated to ensure availability of
 Educational
Placement in
Special Education
 Making Placement Decisions for
Services
 Placement decisions are made at least annually by a group of individuals that
includes the student’s parents and others who are knowledgeable about the student,
the meaning of the evaluation data, and the placement options.
 When making placement decisions, the team, which could be the IEP team, should
consider the full range of options that might be appropriate based on the individual
needs of the student and the environment in which the student will most likely make
progress.
 The IEP team must document the reasons for any decision that results in the
student’s services being delivered outside of the general education classroom.
 Factors To Consider

When contemplating each placement option, the IEP team should consider the following.
 Individualization: Based on a student’s unique needs and goals and taking into account parent
and student preferences
 Benefit to the student: The likely academic, behavioral, functional, and social-emotional benefits
 Effect on peers: The effect the student’s presence might have on the education of other students
in the classroom, both favorable and less-favorable (e.g., encouraging the development of
empathy and understanding, effects on instructional time)
 Appropriateness and inclusion: A balance between the delivery of an appropriate education that
will result in the student making progress and being educated with students without disabilities
 Use of supplementary aids and services: How accommodations or modifications (e.g.,
extended time, modified assignments, special equipment) can support the student
 Examples of Placement Decisions
Student: Hannah
Age/Grade: 12 years old/6th
Disability: Learning Disability (dyslexia), ADHD
Challenges
 Reads three years below grade level
 Limited academic vocabulary (written)
 Difficulty with reading comprehension
 Poor time-management skills, struggles to perform tasks within the classroom at the same rate as peers
Placements General education classroom:
 Hannah receives instruction in the general education classroom with accommodations.
 Hannah receives support in the general education classroom from the special education teacher or an
assistant during reading.
Special education classroom:
 Hannah receives specialized reading instruction that targets comprehension skills; she receives this instruction
in a special education classroom (i.e., resource room).
Common assessments in special education
include:
1. Individual Intelligence Tests: As the name suggests,
individual intelligence tests are administered to a student one on
Wechsler Intelligence
one.
Scale for Children (WISC)-
Which measures a student’s
intelligence in a variety of
areas, including linguistic
and spatial intelligence. This
is a norm-based test,
meaning that student
performance is measured
against the performance of
students at various grade
Stanford Binet
Intelligence Scale
(derived from the
Binet-Simon Test): The
school psychologist or
special education team
administers this test,
which, like the WISC, is
also norm-referenced. The
questions are designed to
help educators
differentiate between
students performing below
grade level because of
cognitive disabilities and
those who do so for other
Common assessments in special education
include:
2. Group Intelligence Tests
 Group intelligence and achievement tests
are often administered in the general
education classroom.
 It is through these types of tests that a
teacher might first suspect that a student
has a learning disability.
 These tests have two functions, measuring
academic ability as well as a child’s
cognitive level.
Common assessments in special education
include:
3. Skill Evaluation
 Specialists such as the school speech
pathologist and the child’s general practitioner
use certain diagnostic measures for determining
a child’s gross motor skills, fine manipulative
skills and hearing, sight speech and language
abilities.
 Teachers typically refer parents to a pediatrician
or specialist so that the student can receive a
full physical and evaluation as part of the
process of gathering the evidence necessary to
develop an individual education program (IEP).
Common assessments in special education
include:
4. Developmental and Social History
 The child’s classroom teacher, parents,
pediatrician and school specialists help formulate
this narrative assessment. They may fill out
checklists, answer questions, participate in an
interview or write a report addressing a child’s
strengths, challenges and development (or lack
thereof) over time.
 The focus here is on issues such as the child’s
health history, developmental milestones, genetic
factors, friendships, family relationships, hobbies,
behavioral issues and academic performance.
Common assessments in special education
include:
5. Observational Records:
 Anyone who works with the child can provide
information about the child’s academic performance
and behavioral issues. Daily, weekly and monthly
observational records that show a child’s performance
over time typically fall into the domain of the general
education teacher, as he or she is the individual
working most closely with the child on a regular basis.
 The general education teacher also typically has a
firm notion of how a child’s work and behavior
compare to that of other students of the same age
and grade level.
Common assessments in special education
include:
6. Samples of Student Work
 The general classroom teacher also provides most of
the evidence in this domain. A folder of assignments,
tests, homework and projects can provide a snapshot of
a child’s abilities and challenges in performing grade-
level work.
 A more nuanced portfolio, which may include a research
project, a writing assignment with several drafts or
samples of work throughout a thematic unit, affords the
materials for an in-depth investigation of a child’s
learning style, thought process and ability to engage in
critical thinking tasks.
 Purpose of Assessment
Assessment in educational settings serves five primary purposes:

 Screening and identification: to screen children and identify those who may be
experiencing delays or learning problems
 Eligibility and diagnosis: to determine whether a child has a disability and is eligible
for special education services, and to diagnose the specific nature of the student's
problems or disability.
 IEP development and placement: to provide detailed information so that an
individualized education program (IEP) may be developed and appropriate decisions
may be made about the child's educational placement.
 Instructional planning: to develop and plan instruction appropriate to the child's
special needs.
 Evaluation: to evaluate student progress. (Pierangelo and giuliani, 2006)
Who and what is involved in
assessment?
1. Anyone involved in the child’s life and education might suspect a learning disability
or similar issue and ask specialists to explore it further
2. The first person to conduct an informal assessment is typically the classroom
teacher, though a guardian or pediatrician might start the assessment process. At
this point, the teacher should review student work and conduct more formal
observations of student behavior and performance to note any issues.
3. A classroom teacher or pediatrician might request a referral to a medical specialist,
therapist, psychologist or other specialist to focus on a particular area of concern.
These individuals keep written records of findings, and should also write
descriptions of any discussions concerning the child.
4. The school’s special education department or student study team begins informal
and formal evaluations. They will request that the classroom teacher and other
individuals working with the child submit any evidence gathered.