The Special Educator's Comprehensive Guide to 301 Diagnostic Tests, Revised and Expanded Edition - Softcover

Pierangelo, Roger

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0787978132 ISBN 13: 9780787978136

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 2006

Synopsis

This important resource is an update of the best-selling book The Special Educator's Resource Guide to 109 Diagnostic Tests. The greatly expanded second edition contains 301 new and enhanced tests, which are vital to understanding assessment in special education. Designed as an easy-to-use, hands-on resource, the book is filled with practical tools, information, and suggestions. Step-by-step, this practical guide explores the various stages of evaluation, interpretation, diagnosis, prescription, and remediation.

About this title

About the Author

Roger Pierangelo is the co-Executive Director of the National Association of Special Education Teachers, vice president of the National Association of Parents with Children in Special Education, and co-executive director of American Academy of Special Education Professionals. He is a full-time associate professor in the Department of Special Education and Literacy at Long Island University. He has been an administrator of special education programs, served for eighteen years as a permanent member of committees on special education, has over thirty years of experience in the public school system as a regular education classroom teacher and school psychologist, and is a consultant to numerous private and public schools, the Parent-Teacher Association, and Special Education Parent-Teacher Association groups. He has also been an evaluator for the New York State Office of Vocational and Rehabilitative Services and a director of a private clinic. He is a New York State licensed clinical psychologist, certified school psychologist, Diplomate Fellow in Forensic Psychology, and a Diplomate Fellow in Child and Adolescent Psychology. Dr. Pierangelo earned his B.S. from St. John's University, M.S. from Queens College, Professional Diploma from Queens College, Ph.D. from Yeshiva University, and Diplomate Fellow in Forensic Psychology from the International College of Professional Psychology. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, New York State Psychological Association, Nassau County Psychological Association, New York State Union of Teachers, and Phi Delta Kappa. George Giuliani is the co-Executive Director of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, National Association of Special Education Teachers, and president of the National Association of Parents with Children in Special Education. He is a full-time associate professor at Hofstra University's School of Education and Allied Human Services in the Department of Counseling, Research, Special Education, and Rehabilitation as the director of the special education program at the graduate school. He earned his B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross, M.S. from St. John's University, J.D. from City University Law School, and Psy.D. from Rutgers University, the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, and is a Diplomate Fellow in Forensic Psychology and a Diplomate Fellow in Child and Adolescent Psychology. Dr. Giuliani is also a New York State licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist, and he has an extensive private practice focusing on children with special needs. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, New York State Psychological Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, Suffolk County Psychological Association, Psi Chi, and the Council for Exceptional Children. Dr. Giuliani has been involved in early intervention for children with special needs and is a consultant for school districts and early childhood agencies. He has provided numerous workshops for parents and teachers on a variety of psychological and educational topics. Dr. Roger Pierangelo is the author of The Special Educator's Survival Guide, The Special Educator's Book of Lists, and 301 Ways to Be a Loving Parent; and coauthor with Dr. George Giuliani of Special Educator's Complete Guide to 109 Diagnostic Tests; Assessment in Special Education: A Practical Approach; Transition Services in Special Education: A Practical Approach; Learning Disabilities: A Practical Approach to Foundations, Diagnosis, Assessment, and Teaching; Why Your Students Do What They Do-and What to Do When They Do It-Grades K-5; Why Your Students Do What They Do-and What to Do When They Do It-Grades 6-12; Creating Confident Children in the Classroom: The Use of Positive Restructuring, and What Every Teacher Should Know About Students with Special Needs; and The Big Book of Special Education Resources.

From the Back Cover

For anyone involved in the special education process, this book provides a comprehensive practical guide to the most frequently used and helpful tests for diagnosing suspected disabilities of all kinds—intellectual, perceptual, language, achievement, psychosocial, and social maturity—from the early childhood years through adolescence.

This important resource is an update of the best-selling book Special Educator's Complete Guide to 109 Diagnostic Tests. The greatly expanded second edition contains explanations of 301 new and enhanced tests, which are vital to understanding assessment in special education. Designed as an easy-to-use, hands-on resource, the book is filled with practical tools, information, and suggestions. Step-by-step, this practical guide explores the various stages of evaluation, interpretation, diagnosis, prescription, and remediation. You'll find detailed information on the make-up and purpose of each of the 301 different tests, covering:

• Academic Achievement
• Anxiety and Depression
• Aptitude
• Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder
• Auditory Processing
• Autism
• Behavioral Disorders
• Deaf and Hearing Impairments
• Emotional Disturbance
• English as a Second Language and Bilingual Education
• Gifted and Talented
• Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers
• Intelligence
• Learning Disabilities
• Mathematics
• Mental Retardation
• Neuropsychology
• Occupational Therapy
• Personality
• Psychological
• Reading
• Speech and Language
• Visual Processing
• Written Language

The book provides a thorough explanation of the most commonly used diagnostic tests. It is an essential resource for any professional involved in the assessment of children with special needs.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Special Educator's Comprehensive Guide to 301 Diagnostic Tests

By Roger Pierangelo George Giuliani

Jossey-Bass

Copyright © 2006 Roger Pierangelo
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7879-7813-6

Chapter One

Introduction to Assessment

Although children with disabilities have unique differences, the reality is that they may share many common features and characteristics. In particular, students with disabilities normally require some form of special education services. Before making a determination about special services offered to students with disabilities, a complete and comprehensive evaluation must be done (Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2006a).

According to the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (1999), assessment in educational settings serves five primary purposes:

Screening and identification: To screen children and identify those who may be experiencing delays or learning problems Eligibility and diagnosis: To determine whether a child has a disability and is eligible for special education services and to diagnose the specific nature of the student's problems or disability IEP development and placement: To provide detailed information so that an individualized education program (IEP) may be developed and appropriate decisions may be made about the child's educational placement Instructional planning: To develop and plan instruction appropriate to the child's special needs Evaluation: To evaluate student progress

* Defining Assessment

Often special educators mistakenly use the terms assessment and testing interchangeably. Although these terms may appear to be synonymous, they are not. Testing is just one part of the assessment process (Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2006a). Assessment in special education involves gathering information about a student's strengths and needs in all areas of concern (Friend & Bursuck, 2006). A comprehensive assessment completed by school professionals may address any aspect of a student's educational functioning (Huefner, 2000).

* Purpose of Assessment

Following a referral for a suspected disability of a child and with written parental or guardian permission, an individual evaluation is conducted. This means that both formal and informal types of assessment will be given. The results of these comprehensive assessment measures will help determine the most practical educational goals and objectives for the student. Furthermore, this assessment will assist, among other information, in determining the least restrictive educational setting (Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2006a).

Assessment plays a critical role in the determination of six important decisions (Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2006a):

Evaluation decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information on a student's strengths, weaknesses, and overall progress. Diagnostic decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information on the specific nature of the student's problems or disability. Eligibility decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information of whether a child is eligible for special education services. IEP decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information so that an IEP may be developed. Educational placement decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information so that appropriate decisions may be made about the child's educational placement. Instructional planning decisions: Information collected in the assessment process is critical in planning instruction appropriate to the child's special social, academic, physical, and management needs.

* Classifications Under IDEA 2004

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004), Public Law (P.L.) 108-446, is the federal law that protects those in special education. Under IDEA 2004, there are thirteen separate categories of disabilities. Children are eligible to receive special education services and supports if they meet the eligibility requirements for at least one of the disabling conditions listed in P.L. 108-446 and if it is determined that they are in need of special education services (Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2006a).

IDEA 2004 states that the purpose of IDEA is:

(1) (A) to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living; (B) to ensure that the rights of children with disabilities and parents of such children are protected; and (C) to assist States, localities, educational service agencies, and Federal agencies to provide for the education of all children with disabilities; (2) to assist States in the implementation of a statewide, comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary, interagency system of early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families; (3) to ensure that educators and parents have the necessary tools to improve educational results for children with disabilities by supporting system improvement activities; coordinated research and personnel preparation; coordinated technical assistance, dissemination, and support; and technology development and media services; and (4) to assess, and ensure the effectiveness of, efforts to educate children with disabilities ... The Special Educator's Comprehensive Guide to 301 Diagnostic Tests

Under IDEA 2004, C.F.R. Section 300.8, the term child with a disability means a child evaluated in accordance with Sections 300.304-300.311 as having mental retardation, a hearing impairment including deafness, a speech or language impairment, a visual impairment including blindness, serious emotional disturbance (hereafter referred to as emotional disturbance), an orthopedic impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, an other health impairment, a specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, or multiple disabilities, and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services.

The definitions of disabling conditions under IDEA 2004 are listed below:

Autism: A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected because the child has an emotional disturbance. Deafness: A hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Deaf-Blindness: Concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational problems that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness. Emotional Disturbance: A condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child's educational performance: (A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors. (B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers. (C) Inappropriate types of behaviors or feelings under normal circumstances. (D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression. (E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. (ii) The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance. Hearing Impairment: An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section. Mental Retardation: Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child's performance. Multiple Disabilities: Concomitant impairments (such as mental retardation-blindness, mental retardation-orthopedic impairment, etc.) the combination of which causes such severe educational problems that the problems cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-blindness. Orthopedic Impairment: A severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g., club foot, absence of some member), impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures). Other Health Impairment: Having limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems, such as a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Specific Learning Disability: A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. Such term includes conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. Such term does not include such learning problem that is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; of mental retardation; of emotional disturbance; or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage. Under IDEA 2004, when determining whether a child has a specific disability, a local education agency shall not be required to take into consideration whether a child has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability. Speech or Language Impairment: A communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Traumatic Brain Injury: An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment or both, and that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma. Visual Impairment: An impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes both partial and sight blindness.

* How Students Are Identified for Assessment

There are normally three ways in which a student may be identified for assessment of a suspected disability (Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2006a):

1. School personnel may suspect the presence of a learning or behavior problem and ask the student's parents for permission to evaluate the student individually. This may have resulted from a student's scoring far below his or her peers on some type of screening measure and thereby alerting the school to the possibility of a problem. 2. The child's teacher or teachers may observe serious symptoms in academic, social, emotional, or physical areas in the classroom that create concern. 3. The child's parents may notice or suspect symptoms that may need attention and bring their concerns to the attention of the school personnel.

* General Evaluation Provisions Under IDEA 2004

Under IDEA 2004, all evaluations must abide by the following requirements:

1. A child must be evaluated in all areas related to the suspected disability, including, if appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional functioning, general intelligence, academic performance, communicative status, and motor abilities. In addition, the evaluation must be sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the child's special education and related services needs, whether or not they are commonly linked to the disability category in which the child is classified. 2. No single assessment procedure may be used as the sole criterion for determining whether a child has a disability and for determining an appropriate educational program for the child. 3. Evaluation materials must be technically sound and may assess the relative contribution of cognitive and behavioral factors, in addition to physical and developmental factors. 4. Evaluation materials and procedures must be appropriate to determine the nature and extent of a learning impairment and directly assist in identifying areas of educational need. 5. Evaluation materials and procedures must be validated for the specific purpose for which they are to be used. 6. Evaluation of a child who may have limited English proficiency should assess the child's proficiency in English as well as the child's native language to distinguish language proficiency from disability needs. 7. Evaluation materials and procedures used to assess a child with limited English proficiency must be selected and administered to ensure they measure a potential disability and need for special education rather than English language skills. (Continues...)

Excerpted from The Special Educator's Comprehensive Guide to 301 Diagnostic Testsby Roger Pierangelo George Giuliani Copyright © 2006 by Roger Pierangelo. Excerpted by permission.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0787978132
• ISBN 13: 9780787978136
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 506