UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS

WITH SPECIFIC LEARNING

DISABILITIES
PART II
 IDENTIFICATION

• RTI IS TO ENSURE A STUDENT IS NOT IDENTIFIED AS HAVING A DISABILITY BECAUSE OF

DIFFICULTIES DUE TO INADEQUATE INSTRUCTION.

• THE IDENTIFICATION PROCESS BEFORE RTI OFTEN RESULTED IN A “WAIT-TO-FAIL” SITUATION

• COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE SPECIAL EDUCATION AND GENERAL EDUCATION HAS BEEN A
LONG TIME GOAL OF MANY SCHOOL REFORM EFFORTS.
 ASSESSMENTS

• THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF ASSESSMENTS WE WILL DISCUSS IN THIS CLASS:

• A) SCREENING ASSESSMENTS
• B) PROGRESS MONITORING ASSESSMENTS
• C) ACHIEVEMENT TESTS/ IQ TESTS
 SCREENING ASSESSMENTS

• THESE ASSESSMENTS ARE QUICK AND EFFICIENT MEASURES OF OVERALL ABILITY AND CRITICAL
SKILLS
• TYPICALLY ADMINISTERED TO ALL STUDENTS TO GATHER INITIAL BASELINE
• THESE ASSESSMENTS HELP TO IDENTIFY STUDENTS WHO DO NOT MEET OR WHO EXCEED
GRADE LEVEL EXPECTATIONS
• RESULTS CAN BE USED AS A STARTING POINT FOR INSTRUCTION OR TO INDICATE A NEED FOR
FURTHER EVALUATION
SCREENING MEASURES FOR GRADES 1 THROUGH3
Name Skill Administration Time
Test of Word Reading Word Identification 5-10 minutes
Efficiency Fluency
(TOWRE)
Woodcock-Johnson Word Identification 5-10 minutes per test
Diagnostic Reading Fluency
Battery
Dynamic Indicators of Oral Reading Fluency 2 minutes per probe
Basic Early Literacy Skills
(DIBELS)
System to Enhance Oral Reading Fluency 1 minute per form
Educational Performance
(iSTEEP)
Test of Silent Word Silent Word Reading 10 minutes per protocol
Reading Fluency Fluency
(TOSWRF)
 PROGRESS MONITORING ASSESSMENTS

• BRIEF ASSESSMENTS GIVEN PERIODICALLY TO DETERMINE WHETHER STUDENTS ARE MAKING

ADEQUATE PROGRESS
• DATA SHOULD BE COLLECTED, EVALUATED, AND USED ON AN ONGOING BASIS FOR THE
FOLLOWING PURPOSES:
• TO DETERMINE RATE OF STUDENT’S PROGRESS
• TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INSTRUCTION
• TO ANALYZE GAPS BETWEEN BENCHMARKS AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
• USED FOR DATA FOR IEP GOALS
PROGRESS MONITORING FORM EXAMPLE
 ACHIEVEMENT TESTS AND IQ TESTS

• AN INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT(IQ) IS A SCORE DERIVED FROM SEVERAL STANDARDIZED TESTS TO

ASSESS HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
• ACHIEVEMENT TEST IS A TEST OF DEVELOPED SKILLS OR KNOWLEDGE. THE MOST COMMON
TYPE OF ACHIEVEMENT TEST IS A STANDARDIZED TEST DEVELOPED TO MEASURE SKILLS
LEARNED IN A GIVEN GRADE LEVEL
 COMMON IQ TESTS

• ADMINISTERED BY A SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST

• WISC- WESCHSLER INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR CHILDREN
• KABC-III- KAUFMAN ASSESSMENT BATTERY FOR CHILDREN
• KBIT- KAUFMAN BRIEF INTELLIGENCE TEST
• SB5- STANFORD-BINET INTELLIGENCE SCALE 5TH EDITION
• STANFORD-BINET INTELLIGENCE SCALES FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD
 COMMON ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

• WOODCOCK READING MASTERY TEST (WRNT-III)

• GRAY ORAL READING TEST (GORT-5)
• COMPREHENSIVE TEST OF PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING
• TEST OF WORD READING EFFICIENCY
• KEYMATH-3 DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT
• TEST OF MATHEMATICAL ABILITIES (TOMA-3)
• WECHSLER INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT TEST
• HTTPS://WWW.UNDERSTOOD.ORG/EN/SCHOOL-LEARNING/EVALUATIONS/TYPES-OF-
TESTS/TYPES-OF-TESTS-FOR-READING-WRITING-AND-MATH
 SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES

• RESEARCH CONTINUES TO CONFIRM THAT WE TEACH STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

TO “LEARN HOW TO LEARN.”
• IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE GENERAL AND SPECIAL EDUCATORS COLLABORATE EFFECTIVELY IN
ORDER TO DEVELOP A SET OF TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR THE STUDENT
 TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR STUDENTS WITH PERCEPTUAL
DIFFICULTIES
• AVOID VISUAL CLUTTER ON PAPERS AND ON THE BOARD
• DO NOT PRESENT TWO PIECES OF INFORMATION TOGETHER THAT MAY BE PERCEPTUALLY
CONFUSING.
• FOR EXAMPLE:
• DO NOT TEACH THE SPELLING OF IE WORDS (BELIEVE) AND EI WORDS (PERCEIVE) IN THE SAME DAY
 TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR STUDENTS WITH
PERCEPTUAL DIFFICULTIES
• HIGHLIGHT THE IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW MATERIAL
• FOR EXAMPLE:
• UNDERLINE OR USE BOLD LETTERS TO DRAW A STUDENT’S ATTENTION TO THE SAME SOUND
PATTERN PRESENTED IN A GROUP OF READING OR SPELLING WORDS
• MOUSE
• HOUSE
• ROUND
 TEACHING WORD-ANALYSIS SKILLS

CONTEXT CLUES:
• CONTROL THE READING LEVEL OF MATERIALS USED SO THAT STUDENTS ARE PRESENTED WITH
FEW UNFAMILIAR WORDS
• FOR BEGINNING READERS, PRESENT ILLUSTRATIONS BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER THE TEXT
SELECTION HAS BEEN READ
 TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION

• QUESTIONS CAN BE ASKED BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER READING TO HELP STUDENTS ATTEND
TO IMPORTANT INFORMATION
• TEACHERS CAN PROVIDE GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS ON THE TEXT TO HELP FOCUS STUDENTS’
ATTENTION ON KEY MATERIAL N THE TEXT
 TEACHING WRITING

• USE GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS TO HELP ORGANIZE THOUGHTS

• USE CUPS AS A PROOFREADING STRATEGY
• EVALUATE CONTENT AND MECHANICS SEPARATELY
 STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING MATHEMATICS

• INTRODUCE NEW SKILLS BEGINNING WITH CONCRETE EXAMPLES AND LATER MOVE TO MORE
ABSTRACT CONCEPTS
• BE SURE TO MODEL PROBLEMS AND ASK QUESTIONS TO CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING
 VIDEO

• HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=52ST5EUTHG4
• HTTPS://WWW.TEACHINGCHANNEL.ORG/VIDEOS/MODELING-STRATEGY-GETTY#VIDEO-
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