Diagnosing Minority Children - Tips for Accurate Diagnosis Minority Children

Diagnosing Minority Children - Disproportionality is a growing concern in special education. Annually, many school districts across the country report having higher numbers of racial, ethnic, language, and low income students in IDEA special education programs. If you are the parent or teacher of a racial, ethnic, or language minority child who is being referred for assessment of a possible learning disability, you may be concerned about ensuring your child is appropriately assessed and that an appropriate diagnosis (if any) is made. Parents and educators can both play a roles in ensuring an appropriate assessment is conducted for minority children:

• Learn your parent rights under IDEA.
• Before testing, talk with your child's counselor, principal, or teachers to discuss what strategies can be used with your child before testing is considered. In many districts, schools have teams of teachers, counselors, psychologists, and other necessary staff who can meet with you to develop specific interventions targeted to your child's areas of need. They can assist teachers with implementing those strategies and measuring their effectiveness.
• Talk with your child's evaluation team about appropriate strategies for evaluating English Language Learners.
• Familiarize yourself with early signs of developmental delays and learning disabilities.
• Inform your child's assessment team if he has had health problems, has missed excessive amounts of school, has moved frequently, or has had little formal education prior to assessments.
• Have pre-referral screenings conducted to rule out vision problems, hearing difficulty, language delays, or other problems that could artificially lower test scores before testing.
• Discuss your concerns about how your child's cultural differences might affect test results and how that will be addressed by the school staff testing her.

Related Topic: Learn about under-representation of minorities in gifted education programs.