Early identification plays a crucial role in providing timely support to students with learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, in order to overcome their reading difficulties. However, there is significant variability in the methods used for identifying dyslexia. This study aimed to explore and understand the practices of dyslexia identification…

Purpose: Several studies have demonstrated that dynamic assessment can be a less biased, valid approach for the identification of language disorder among diverse school-age children. However, all prior studies have included a relatively small number of participants, which is generally not adequate for psychometric research. This is the first…

Dysgraphia is a specific learning disability in the area of written language that is frequently under-identified in the school setting due to inconsistent application of dysgraphia assessment. The problem addressed in this study was the inconsistency in dysgraphia assessment processes, in Texas public school systems, that contribute to an…

Due to lack of consistency among diagnosis practices of students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in the state of Texas, as well as other legal matters regarding diagnoses of SLD, there is a divide among eligibility criteria for students around the state. Currently, the three models that have received the most attention of SLD…

Early identification of ASD allows for clinical intervention through mental and behavioral health supports, potentially providing individualized services in the educational setting. This article highlights the research-to-practice gap that exists within evaluations for ASD in schools. Lack of training, variability in assessment guidelines,…

Students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) represent roughly five percent of U.S. public school students aged 3-21. Current federal policy outlines guidelines for identification of SLDs, while ultimately leaving specific procedures to the determination of state and local education agencies. Research into how the method used in…

Purpose: The intent of this article is to explain the complexity of the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) in multilingual (ML) children and adolescents and to offer strategies for speech-language pathologists charged with diagnosis of language impairment in these children.…

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify and describe the assessment models school psychologists use to identify African American students with SLDs in three of the K-12 school districts in Riverside County. A second purpose of this study was to determine how school psychologists within three districts of Riverside County…

Previous studies of K-12 dyslexia legislation have described broad trends in legislative content, such as the presence or absence of screening and intervention requirements. This study uses document analysis to provide a finer-grained description of the laws to highlight critical variation in policy that will directly affect (a) the number and…

Specific learning disabilities (SLD) identification has consistently been shown to be problematic; however, research has largely focused on SLD identification using test scores only. The present study, therefore, examined SLD identification decisions across identification methods and student evaluation data levels, including test scores,…

Speech, reading, and writing are the basic forms of linguistic communication. Therefore, it is very important to diagnose any problems with them as early and completely as possible, particularly in children with special needs. One of the methods that focuses primarily on the diagnosis and therapy of such learning difficulties is the one developed…

This guide was developed by the Louisiana Department of Education to help parents navigate the complex system that oversees special education in Louisiana's public schools. Each school year, local education agencies (LEAs) are required to provide parents a copy of the procedural safeguards. These safeguards are used to inform parents of the…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires 95% participation in state achievement testing. Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities participate in states' alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS). A growing number of these students are also English learners (Christensen et al., 2018).…

The number of students identified under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) with an emotional disturbance (ED) has remained remarkably stable over the last 30 years. During this time, approximately 1% of the school-aged population has been identified as disabled under the criteria set forth in IDEA (Kim, Forness, & Walker,…