An Emerging Method for LD Identification
Debate over the method used to identify students as learning
disabled (LD) and in need of special education under the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has gained
considerable momentum during the last several years. A barrage of
criticism has been directed at the "ability-achievement
discrepancy" method of LD identification, which requires that
students show a severe discrepancy between their IQ and academic
achievement, through the use of standardized testing. This has
resulted in intense interest in, and urgency for, finding
alternative methods which could be both more timely and more
reliable.
At the forefront of options being reviewed and researched is a
process called "response-to-intervention" or RTI. A major study of
RTI as an alternative method for LD identification is a significant
portion of the work currently being conducted by the National
Research Center on Learning Disabilities (NRCLD), a project of the
U.S. Department of Education. This article briefly describes some
criticisms of the "discrepancy" approach to evaluating a child for
LD, and provides an overview of the RTI process.
(Candace Cortiella (2006))