Special Education Assessment

Programs offered by the schools or available through public or private agencies that assess children who have been referred for the presence of a disability in order to determine their eligibility for special education and related services, and to make an informed decision about their educational placement and instruction. Information about a student's skills and needs is drawn from many sources including parents, teachers and specialists, and by using a variety of assessment approaches such as observations, interviews and testing, and methods such as dynamic assessment or ecological assessment. Included are evaluations which measure the student's social-emotional growth; independent living skills; sensorimotor, language and intellectual functioning; hearing and visual acuity; articulation and fluency; and other factors which have an effect on the student's ability to learn.