Is the Learning Difficulty/Disability Assessment Tool and Informal Comprehensive Identification Tool designed for school personnel?
March 5th, 2009Is the Learning Difficulty/Disability Pre-Screening Tool and Informal Comprehensive Identification Tool designed for school personnel, and if so, how would you recommend it get used as part of pursuing a more formal evaluation?
Yes, teachers who use the informal assessment tool will get information on whether their student has visual, auditory, or tactile/kinesthetic processing areas of difficulty. Using the informal assessment tool first helps the teacher to know if they should pursue formal testing as well as know which types of tests should be done.
Often when a student is formally tested, a specific problematic area is not identified. This happened to a student of mine recently. He was turned down for IEP services because formal testing showed his auditory processing area was higher than his grade level. In the meantime he struggled in the classroom as well as at home with homework. His teacher knew how he struggled on a daily basis, but didn’t know why.
After going through the informal assessment tool, his parents and teacher were then able to get the appropriate tests done relating to his specific visual processing problems (which came up through this informal assessment tool). The school did further testing and he then qualified for help. The informal assessment tool helped expedite getting to the root cause of his problems.
Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
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