Understanding Assessment In The Special Education Process

An ideal step-by-step reference for instructors who have not had specific training in assessing students with special needs, Understanding Assessment in the Special Education Process helps educators make the most effective use of available assessment options.

"Short and to the point—a huge advantage! Easy to read and understand, and a great reference. This book is a must-have for every school building in every district!" —Rachel Aherns, Collaborative Resource Teacher Summit Middle School, Johnston, IA Build your knowledge of how the assessment process works! This compact handbook provides general and special education teachers with clear information about the types of assessments that help determine student eligibility for special education services. Written by legal and special education experts, this guide defines disability categories and explains applicable federal regulations as they relate to the assessment process in special education. The authors outline a multidisciplinary approach for comprehensive evaluations based on observation, interviews, and testing. This indispensable resource clarifies the teacher′s role in the referral process and also covers: The components of a professional evaluation report Student behavior during assessment Making presentations to an Individualized Education Program committee An ideal step-by-step reference for instructors who have not had specific training in assessing students with special needs, Understanding Assessment in the Special Education Process helps educators make the most effective use of available assessment options.

This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. Practical, user-friendly, and clearly understandable, this widely popular text gives students and future teachers what they need to understand assessment in the schools, and to use it effectively in practice. A real-world story of the entire process of assessment that has a beginning, a middle, and an end, Pierangelo and Giuliani’s text not only covers validity and reliability, tests most often used in assessment, legal issues, and basic statistical terminology, but also focuses on the practical application of assessment in schools with discussions on interpreting results, diagnosing a suspected disability, writing a professional report, making recommendations from the data, presenting results to parents, and attending eligibility committee meetings. The comprehensive coverage of assessment spans infancy and preschool age through high school and into adulthood and includes combined coverage of formal and informal assessment.

Provides an insider's view of the special education process for parents and teachers This book explores the special education process-from testing and diagnosis to IEP meetings and advocating for special needs children. Step by step the authors reveal the stages of identification, assessment, and intervention, and help readers to better understand special needs children's legal rights and how to become an active, effective member of a child's educational team. Grounded in more than twenty-five years of working with parents and educators, the authors provide significant insight into what they have learned about the special education. This book fills the gap in the literature for the millions of children receiving special education services and the parents who are clamoring for information on this topic. Includes valuable tools, checklists, sample forms, and advice for working with special education students Demystifies the special education process, from testing and diagnosis to IEP meetings and advocating for children New editions covers Response-to-Intervention (RTI), a new approach to diagnosing learning disabilities in the classroom; expanded coverage of autism spectrum disorders and bipolar disorder; and a revamped Resources section.

Unique in its perspective, the fourth edition of Assessment in Special Education covers assessments for every disability type while examining each stage of the assessment process. Unlike other books, it is organized chronologically and moves sequentially through response to intervention, to prereferral strategies, to assessments, to report writing, to development of the IEP. Chapters discuss the most current and reliable assessment measures used in schools to determine all areas of special need from infancy, to school-age and into adulthood. This edition addresses current topics such as IDEIA, curriculum-based assessment, curriculum-based measurement, functional behavior assessments and behavioral intervention plans. Early chapters are devoted to foundational concepts, while later chapters tackle practical topics such as interpretation, diagnosis, report writing, recommendations, parent involvement and eligibility. "

In increasing numbers, general education teachers are faced with the task of educating students with disabilities in their classrooms, and many beginning teachers are not prepared for the diverse classroom that awaits them. The cases in this book are written from the viewpoint of general education teachers, with the goal of providing them with the information and tools to improve their ability to approach this task with confidence. As participants process the cases in this book, they will learn to collect and evaluate data, identify important concepts, apply legal requirements, develop hypotheses, and create or defend arguments. Through introductory materials included in each chapter, the major provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are outlined in easy and understandable terms and illuminated through the cases presented. Discussion questions, links to websites, and suggested activities are included in each chapter.

Assessing Students with Special Needs to Produce Quality Outcomes promotes outcome-based evaluation to guide the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) in selecting appropriate Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals, classroom modifications and accommodations, as well as optimal instructional strategies. It advances the development of assessment-based IEPs to enable the MDT to pinpoint and address specific needs to improve student outcomes. Obtaining data from a variety of perspectives and settings improves the opportunity for identifying overall competencies and needs in preparation for higher functioning in all settings. Assessing Students with Special Needs to Produce Quality Outcomes presents an integrated look at a variety of assessment methods in an easy to read book. FEATURES: Recommends student-centered, strength-based assessment techniques by providing reality-based stories to aid the reader in understanding how the tools of formal, informal, and authentic assessment merge to provide a more complete understanding of the student. Provides special features for linking IEP development and daily instruction to highlight the fundamental relationship between assessment and the IEP. Emphasizes the growing role of technology in the assessment process as identified by IDEA 2004 to utilize assistive technology in evaluation and instruction. Includes innovative, research-based techniques not extensively explored in other assessment textbooks. Explains the impact of cultural diversity on assessment issues and provides specific recommendations for addressing nondiscriminatory, culturally-sensitive evaluation to prepare the reader to meet the needs of a diverse society. Proposes authentic strategies to increase parent, teacher and student participation in the IEP process as mandated by IDEA 2004.