4.2: What Assessments Does My Child Need? (overview)
What's in a comprehensive evaluation plan?
The only way to plan for appropriate special education services is to get a comprehensive evaluation of the child, including an accurate picture of their needs and abilities. This is a foundational step!
The assessments comprise the "Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance" (PLAAFP) section of the IEP.
Missing, poor, or inaccurate assessments will lead to a poor IEP. The IEP can only be as strong as the assessments!
Depending on the child's needs, a comprehensive evaluation might examine many different areas, such as how the child's brain works, speaking skills, reading skills, and eyesight (a neuropsychological assessment, a speech assessment, a literacy assessment, and a vision assessment).
The comprehensive evaluation must look at all areas of the child's suspected (not just diagnosed!) disability. This includes health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, communication, and motor abilities. Sec. 300.304 (c) (4)
Not just any disability qualifies for evaluation - the disability must be those defined under the IDEA.
What are the disabilities defined in the IDEA?
They are autism, deaf-blindness, deafness, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other health impairments, specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairment. We'll explain the definition of each disability category in the next lesson.
What are the IDEA disabilities that may be associated with epilepsy or other neurological conditions?
Let's start with the easy one: Other Health Impairment or OHI. The definition of OHI includes "limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli that results in limited alertness within the educational environment." This may mean that the child doesn't have much energy, can't pay attention well, or gets bothered by things around them, affecting how they learn at school. It also includes ongoing health problems like epilepsy or hydrocephalus.
A comprehensive educational evaluation after epilepsy surgery would first include a health evaluation to determine whether the child has a health impairment that falls under the OHI definition of the IDEA. (For more about the Other Health Impairment category, see Parent Center Hub's definition of OHI.)
The health evaluation might also reveal other impairments listed under IDEA, such as having half of the vision, which can happen after brain surgery, or having trouble moving one side of the body.
If you know your child has any of these issues, give the school a letter from their doctor. This will help the school team do their evaluations.