Educational Diagnosticians: Recent Episodes
Nazzie Pater-Rov
Dr. Julian Elliott joins to tell us about his new book: The Dyslexia Debate Revisited, co-authored with Elena Grigorenko from the University of Houston, this book gives a summary of the research in dyslexia and proposes that we use the term dyslexia to describe a persistent problem in basic reading skills rather than as a medical diagnosis.
Dr. Nancy Nelson leads the National Center on Improving Literacy to support states and districts to provide the information that leads to evidence-based practices and policies for improving literacy. Check out their website with this link. She and Nazzie talk about assessment for dyslexia, the prevalence of dyslexia, and how the role of the diagnostician is challenged by changes in the way we think about dyslexia.
Joe Torgesen and Richard Wagner, authors of the CTOPP II describe the challenges related to direct assessment of dyslexia and their proposal for using statistics to evaluate risk. Dr. Torgesen shared an article that summarizes the LD summit of 2001 that is mentioned in the discussion. Dr. Wagner also shared an article about the Constellation Model.
Nazzie provides a summary of the book: Identification of Learning Disabilities from Research to Practice, edited by Bradley, Danielson, and Hallahan (2001), which is a compilation of 9 white papers that resulted from the LD Summit of 2001 and led to the reauthorization of IDEA in 2004. She also shares a summary of email conversations with Jim Walsh regarding WBFWR (Way Behind For Whatever Reason), in an attempt to understand the context of his reference to that initialism.
Dr. Steve Elliott is one of the authors of the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS). Check out free resources on his website: https://ssiscolab.com/. He also shares that https://developingchild.harvard.edu/ describes the impact of stress for young children. Elizabeth Shanley also joins to tell us about free training resources from Pearson related to the SSIS. Use this link to get to one of those presentations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fujeO-QhMOA.
For how long do students need to be exposed to tier 1 instruction before an assessment is appropriate? What tools can we use to test children in kindergarten? What should we be looking for in our evaluations? These are all hard questions that diagnosticians on Clubhouse attempt to answer.
Dr. Romig shares the research behind validating the best CBM variables for reliably assessing writing.
Use this link to read one of his journal articles summarizing the reliability of various variables of writing CBM.
He also mentions the 6 +1 rubric for measuring writing that can be reached through this link.
Candace Vielma interviews Dr. Kilpatrick about how understanding how kids learn to read helps us to be better evaluators of reading.
For a copy of Dr. Kilpatrick's book: Use this link.
For his PAST test, use this link.
We all fear the day we have to defend our FIE in court, but Dr. Lackey helps us to keep perspective by giving us things to consider and be confident in our conclusions.
Nazzie summarizes for the group both proposals for items removed and added to the Texas Dyslexia handbook. Aimee Seaberry also adds a summary of the Dyslexia Academies expected to be provided by TEA. Others also joined to comment. Thanks to Lori Melton for offering the perspective of a dyslexia therapist as well.
See this link for the text of the proposed handbook.
The "Specific" in Specific Learning Disability can be confusing. A number of articles attempt to address this topic. Diagnosticians on Clubhouse examine articles by Mather (2023), Pennington (2015), Wadsworth et al. (2010), and Peterson et al. (2021) are reviewed to explore this term.
Citing research in our FIEs can make us look more professional, help us learn about the research behind the assessments we choose, and support our interpretation with evidence. The tool mentioned in this episode can be accessed through this link. Check back by clicking on the link in the future for updates to the link.
Dr. Ysseldyke and Amanda VanDerHeyden share their vision for the role of evaluators in special education. Together they wrote the 14th edition of Assessment In Special and Inclusive Education, the go-to textbook on evidence based assessment practices. They call on evaluators to make a paradigm shift away from a focus on IQ tests and towards a focus on assessment of the basic academic skills. This is a MUST HEAR, if you haven't listened live, or even if you did, you will want to listen again.
https://www.proedinc.com/Products/40006/assessment-in-special-and-inclusive-education14th-edition.aspx
Here's a link to Dr Rasinski's website where you can read more about his books: https://www.timrasinski.com/index.html
He talks with us about his newest book, Artfully Teaching the Science of Reading.
You can purchase the book here: https://www.routledge.com/Artfully-Teaching-the-Science-of-Reading/Young-Paige-Rasinski/p/book/9781032080864
We wonder why RTI doesn't really take place in schools. Maybe it's because people would rather discredit the system rather than commit to actual school improvement? How do we assess in the context of a system that uses RTI by name only? What are the discussions around how to diagnose learning disabilities?
Dr. Schultz from MSU, Dr. Cavin from Tarleton State, Dr. Rueter from UT Tyler, and Becki Robertson from Region 10 join to tell us about some of benefits various programs offer and some of the challenges they are faced with.
CBM may not be the answer to bringing an intervention frame of mind to education, but they certainly are a step in the right direction! Nazzie Pater-Rov discusses reasons for using CBM in our FIEs, misunderstandings about CBM, and the various types of CBM that are available.
Dr. Nathan Clemens describes the concepts presented in his newest edition of a book he co-authored with his late mentor, Dr. Edward Sharpiro. The book, Academic Skills Problems, demonstrates how a good quality academic assessment has the potential to drive intervention.
Collaboration between the diagnostician and the Adapted PE teacher has the potential to add richness to Full Individual Evaluations. Dr. Linda Hilgenbrinck is a leader in her field at a national level.
In this episode we talk to Dr. Deborah Speece, a leading researcher in learning disabilities who later went on to be the commissioner of the National Center on Special Education Research under the Institute of Educational Sciences. She is introduced by Dr. Nathan Jones, the current commissioner.
Dr. Cecil Reynolds joins to tell us about how to prevent dyslexia through early and systematic screening and progress monitoring.
Dr. Ed Schultz tells us about the important features of C-SEP that we need to keep in mind to be sure that we are implementing C-SEP with fidelity.
In their book: Related Services in Special Education: Working Together as a Team, Dr. Bateman and Goran give guidance on making sure that related services are provided with good justification. Dr. Hope McCarroll, OT, gives her reflections as well on how to use our related service specialists to help all students in the school.
Dr. Mehta from TWU tells us about a study she's conducting using imitation therapy to help nonverbal children learn to talk. She also discusses issues around assessing these students.
Dr. Johnson and Dr. Feifer explain that trauma can impact brain neurology. Children who experience trauma over experience changes in their attention and emotional regulation. The slightest triggers can remind them of the trauma that they experienced.
Dr. Russell Skiba joins to talk with us about the way disproportionality is measured, what it says about our society, and how it can be improved.
Some countries around the world have less resources but better outcomes than the US. Disproportionality resulting from inequitable funding in education is a big reason for this outcome.
Dr. Byron McClure joins us to talk about the impacts of disproportionality in special education and how we can make a difference by focusing on what's strong, not what's wrong.
Sarah Holman is tells us how various questions from the referral can help to influence our hypothesis and choose the tests we want to use to verify that hypothesis. We talk about what resources to refer to for a standard referral, how prevalence of referrals and disability identification relate to the quality of systems of supports, and the barriers to receiving good information in our referral.
Robbi Cooper is one of the parents who pushed HB 3928 through the legislature last spring. She joins to tell us why this legislation was important, what the parent advocates hoped to achieve, and all of the work that went into creating the bill.
Dr. Miller uses correlations to create profiles of strengths and weaknesses of WJ IV cognitive and achievement subtests for various ages for each disability area. He answers questions about how he uses scientific statistical methods to achieve the evidence of these patterns. He cautions against not using IQ tests and explains how neuropsychological studies and psycho-educational have started to overlap. He wants us to understand the theory behind the tests we use and go beyond the standard scores to interpret the results.
Dr. Martin Bloomfield from Dyslexia Bytes and Dyslexia Compass tells us about his mission to create discussion and awareness regarding the challenges that various countries and cultures present when faced with the challenge of literacy and dyslexia. Candace Vielma joins to help with the interview.
Representatives from Region 10, Region 11, and clubhouse regulars put our heads together to find a way to summarize the new legal updates resulting from the last legislative session.
12 new courses are available on the TEA website to help you be in the know about DBI and it's role in MTSS. We talk to Deanna Clemens, the Director of Integrated Special Programs at TEA about these.
Tammy says people often don't understand why we decide to be diagnosticians, and we often forget ourselves. Our profession is in a crisis from the increased numbers of referrals. We struggle to focus on the child's story and put too much focus on scores. We've been through a lot of changes and we can go through these changes over time. CSEP was a lead in making the changes that TEA is now making. She'd like to create a book of our stories and why we chose to be diagnosticians.
Dr. Katie Maki does research on the elements that influence our decisions as evaluators and how consistent we are in our decisions.
Dr. Erica Lembke is pioneer researcher, creating CBMs and developing RTI research at the University of Missouri. She tells us about her work with the NCII to bring better RTI to Texas. Texas is one of 9 states taking on the DBI system of interventions and support for our students.
Dr. McGill wrote When Theory Trumps Science in 2016, an article about the lack of statistical reliability for our assessment methods. Since then, he's written similar articles examining the reliability and validity of cognitive assessments for predicting academic performance.
Anise Flowers, Ph. D, has moved on from Pearson learning and now works for Presence. Presence uses telecommunication technology to match evaluators with districts who need evaluations. She tells us about the benefits of the platform and the validity of using it.
Dr. Monica McHale-Small tells us about the position of the Learning Disabilities Association of America's position on identifying a learning disability and the work of the LDA to bring awareness to the issues surrounding learning disabilities.
Dr. Sarah Brasiel joins for Educational Diagnostician Week to tell us about the Institute for Educational Sciences. The organization offers lots of information and services to teachers and evaluators. Because they encourage the science of education, their work provides hope that one day, we will use science to find ways to prevent learning disabilities. In recognition of Educational Diagnostician Week, she wrote a blog about our Clubhouse and the researchers that have been interviewed through this project who have also been awarded grants for research from the IES.
Marnee Loftin is has had the unique position of being the LSSP for the School for the Blind. She tells us about the special considerations we should have when testing children who have significant visual impairments. She also shares her view on co-morbid diagnosis for children who are visually impaired.
Dr. Mark Shinn could be considered one of the Founding Fathers of special education. He led the way in research to find ways to measure progress for children with disabilities. His work on developing CBMs lead to the development of DIBELS and AIMSweb, both of which are widely used in schools today. Together with other pioneer researchers, he and others helped influence the federal IDEA and its revision in 2004. He sees interventions as the tool to closing the gaps between the haves and the have nots, but he feels like strict adherence to giving IQ tests stands in the way of the adoption of intervention practices and therefor our ability to truly realize social justice through education.
Dr. Schultz tells us about the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education report from 2002. The recommendations in this report drove the revision of IDEA in 2004. At the time, SLD identifications were reported to have grown by 300%. The recommendation was to include Response to Intervention. The question here would be, with the lack of focus on good RTI practices, is our rise in referrals a sign that we are Repeating History? Dr. Schultz argues that CSEP is the answer in the context of the state of RTI at this time.
Allison Hollis joins to tell us about all the special considerations when managing a transition assessment.
The Law Dawg tells us about the Texas Legislature and we discuss what we can look forward to in this legislative session.
Dr. Fletcher explains how he attempts to establish that Learning Disabilities are real. Likewise, he also describes the hypotheses in research surrounding subtypes of dyslexia.
Meet our OSEP director. Hear about recent cases heard in courts regarding child find and LRE, and get ready for subtypes of dyslexia!
According to the NAEP published on October 23, 2022, 66% of fourth graders are not reading proficiently to make good scores on college entry exams by the time they get into high school. Covid reflects low scores across the country. This begs to question: are our norms still valid?
Last year the number of AU identifications surpassed the number of OHI identifications. What are some the reasons for rising numbers of AU identifications? Is this a good thing or should be concerned?
So you want to be a contractor? There are a lot of choices today. Join us as we talk with Hannah Paulus from Accountable staffing. Let's keep our profession competitive.
Jack Fletcher argues in his book, Learning Disabilities from Identification to Intervention, that subcategories of learning disabilities are arbitrary, and that based on what we know about learning, Reading Fluency should not be an SLD because all areas of learning require automaticity. Meanwhile, reading fluency across the nation is lacking proficiency. Considering reading fluency in this current climate may be a serious lack of consideration for these trends in general education.
All around Texas, diagnosticians scramble to lock or activate their IEP documents on the last Friday of each October. What do we learn from PEIMS? Listen to find out.
Where did the term stealth dyslexia come from? Hear the opinions of experienced diagnosticians talk about the idea of the twice exceptional child.
The classroom observation is often something we save for the last minute, but new wording in the Texas state regulations sheds new light on the importance of including a good observation in an SLD evaluation.
Dr. Matthew Burns wrote the white papers for the NCLD on the state of methods for identifying SLD across the US in 2019. He included TX as an example of a state that uses PSW, but Texas has since re-written its regulations. Hear his opinion on what he thinks this means for Texas. Dr. Schultz joins the dialogue as well in the argument for IQ tests while Dr. Burns stands strongly against the use of IQ tests to identify children with SLD.
Dr. George Batsche was scheduled to join us from the NCLD to tell us about trends in special education effectiveness, but unfortunately, he lives in Florida and the hurricane hit the night before this episode. Attempts will be made to reschedule.
Deaf and Hard of Hearing is one of the lowest incidence disabilities, but there's a lot to remember for this population.
It might feel redundant and aimless to create a Prior Written Notice after every meeting, but the pesky form does have its purpose.
Learn about the impact of deficit thinking. This thinking has long lasting effects on both behavior and academic success for children. This concept will blow your mind.
Dr. Penny Reed is a pioneer in the field of assistive technology assessments. She wrote the WADI, one of the only tools for assessing assistive technology, developed out of a grant for an assistive technology initiative.
The WADI is considered one of the only assessment tools for reporting on assistive technology needs. Find out how to complete free continuing education credits for assistive technology that can be used toward a college certified credits.
New regulations in Texas allow schools to carry over transfers for summer enrollments with less paperwork and meetings.
Are MDRs and Outcries eating your lunch? $130 Billion is being allocated to improving mental health in schools. Listen in to the ideas that are being considered.
The federal government is asking for people like you and me to give your opinion on how Section 504 should be changed. 130 Billion dollars is being allocated for improving mental health in schools. The idea is that this would happen through 504 plans, but how? Go to the website and give your 2 cents.
American Public Media published a series of investigative articles that revved up the Reading Wars. Despite research that has supported phonics-based programs, Guided Reading programs that depend on the three cuing system continue to be implemented across the nation. The APM articles have created a push to expose the ineffectiveness of these programs. Lucy Calkins and Fountas and Pinnell have been targeted in this campaign. It will be interesting to see how much of an impact this movement will have on improving reading education.
The Meadows Center has a long history of leading the research community to find instructional strategies and interventions to reduce academic risk.
Jeremy Miciak and his colleague, Jack Fletcher, from the University of Houston Texas Center for Learning Disabilities argue that cognitive testing is not necessary for the identification of SLD through an SLD Manual with the TEA logo on it. He argues that cognitive testing through any of the 5 PSW methods are not reliable or valid, and that cognitive testing does not do a good job of effectively guiding instruction. As an alternative, he poses a TCLD or Hybrid Model that incorporates but formal achievement assessments and detailed progress monitoring data.
Dr. Nathan Clemens talks to us about the use of screeners for pinpointing children who need intervention. He explains what makes an assessment a screener, how to compare the quality of screeners, and why we might have some of the screeners we use today. A student of Edward Shapiro, he hopes to continue the message that the assessment of basic skills is the most relevant information needed when determining SLD and guiding instruction.
Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden has done extensive research in Rti, and in the use of CBMs, especially for math calculation skills. She talks about the importance of building calculation fluency, using evidence-based interventions, and the vision of RTi for school improvement.
Dr. Thea Woodruff headed the Building RTI Capacity project and one of the developers of the Reading Academies. She describes all the challenges she has experienced in trying to bring progress monitoring through CBMs and other measures to the schools. She also describes the success stories of some schools who did use the information she taught. She tells us where to find the RTI resources that she helped to compiled, helps us define RTI, the importance of the role of core instruction, and how data should be used to guide instruction.
To have RTi means to have progress monitoring using CBMs and evidence based interventions available for all students. However, most Texas schools lack the kind of RTi practices that were originally intended for school improvement and to prevent specific learning disabilities. What has been happening in Texas regarding the status of RTi? Nazzie Pater-Rov does a search and review of the TEA website and other resources for RTI guidance and resources for RTI practices.
Executive functions play a big role in our ability to attend, empathize, and initiate action to make a change. Join us as we talk with George McCloskey, Ph. D, who has plans to travel around to various Muslim countries.
RTi plays an important role in determining the difference between students who are just EL and students who are both EL and have SLD. Dr. Eric Haas and Dr. Julie Esparza Brown have researched and written about the administrative and instructional techniques that are needed to ensure good evaluation practices for EL students who may also be EL.
Dr. Julie Alonzo is a pioneer of design for Curriculum Based Measures. CBMs were designed to get the best results with the most conservative use of resources. These quick tests not only give us an idea of where a child is performing, but also provide us with a way to track progress over time.
Dr. Cherry Lee developed the Dysgraphia Informal Writing Assessment tool while working at TEA. She tells us how we can use this tool to not only to help us diagnose dysgraphia, but also to track progress.
What have we learned about the neuropsychology of reading disorders? What are the early signs? How do we test for dyslexia? What interventions should we consider?
When recommending interventions, there are gimmicks and there are real solutions. The federal government tells us that we have to use evidence-based interventions. ESSA gives us guidelines for understanding the quality of research outcomes for various intervention programs. The What Works Clearinghouse provides a great searchable sight to sort through what the research says.
The unconventional student has cultural experiences that create very different results for an area we traditionally thought was an innate construct of our cognition. Carl Romstad tells us how our assessments prove this wrong and helps us to consider what these subtests really tell us about a child's cognition. He explains how he is trying to find more reliable ways to assess a child's Fluid Reasoning, even among the most culturally diverse populations.
Dr. Milton Dehn talks to us about the role of Executive Functioning in our Evaluations.
Georgene Moon has served on the board of several professional organizations. She tells us why it is important to be involved in organizations like TEDA, TPED, and NCED.
The authors of CSEP would like to share tips and considerations for making our assessment reports better.
Ashley Arnold answers our questions about the administration and interpretation of the ABAS III.
Who should serve children with dyslexia? On November 15, 2021, Mike Morath received a very important memo from the Office of Special Education that appears to have answered this question.