Identifying Children with Learning Disabilities: A Comparison of Diagnostic Procedures across School Districts

Abstract

Diagnostic procedures used to identify children (grades K-6) with learning disabilities in 14 school districts were studied and compared. The degree of uniformity in procedures for initial referral, testing, and diagnostic criteria, as well as differences in the selection of testing instruments by various districts were examined. Information was gathered through individual interviews with school personnel involved in the assessment of learning disabled children within each district. Although some similarities existed between districts, uniformity was lacking in important areas such as test selection, extent of testing, and cutoff scores on intelligence and other tests. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the reliability of diagnoses across districts, as well as their meaning for researchers in the field.

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