Guest Author - Diane Miller
If you have gone to your school asking for extra help for your struggling child only to be told that they do not qualify because their IQ, test scores or grades are too high, do not be discouraged. You may have been misinformed.
Special education is a complicated area that is constantly changing. While most teachers and even administrators are required to do some continuing education throughout their career, do not assume that they have received it in all areas. Even those designated as special education teachers don’t necessarily choose ongoing training for issues regarding qualification and testing. Many of them are getting their information from the same places that you are. They are simply repeating what that they have heard along the way. Information that may or may not have come from a reliable source. Information that is subject to their own interpretation based on their own experiences. The result is a lot like the children’s game in which you whisper a phrase into the first person’s ear, who repeats what they heard into the next person’s ear and so on. By the time the last person announces what they have heard the message in no way represents the initial phrase.
Let’s look at some facts about special education and think about it:
· Special education is governed by IDEA (Individuals With Disabilities Education Act), which are laws that were first passed by Congress in 1975. These laws were put in place to ensure that all children receive a free and appropriate public education in spite of any disabilities they may have.
· IDEA defines child with a disability as “a child with mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbances, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments or specific learning disabilities”.
Based on this definition taken directly from the IDEA you can see that many of the disabilities covered by the law, such as hearing and visual impairments, would not necessarily have a negative impact on a child’s IQ or cognitive development yet clearly they may require some additional assistance in order to receive an effective education. Based on what some teachers and administrators are telling parents, these children would not qualify.
The only way for the school to determine if your child qualifies for special education services is by conducting a full evaluation. A full evaluation includes assessments in all areas that could apply to the suspected disability, including educational, speech & language, behavioral and psychological. The laws also go a step further by saying that these decisions should not be based on any single test or a general IQ, so go back. Give your school a written request for a full evaluation. By law, they must give you a written response detailing their plans for evaluation or a refusal to assess with their reason's why.
The school district is always a great place to start when your child seems to be experiencing difficulties. You may sail through smoothly and get wonderful, accurate information that provides you with some effective tools. If not, don’t give up. Although it is not done maliciously, parents are often given misleading information from the very professionals that they are relying on. Know your child’s rights and the laws that govern them. Keep advocating for them and chances are you might just teach the teacher something they didn’t know.
