Specific Learning Disabilities
Forest Lake Area Schools provides services to students who meet Minnesota State criteria for a specific learning disability.
Students diagnosed with SLD may have difficulties learning due to a processing disorder in math, reading, organization, oral expression or oral or written language comprehension. Instruction by a licensed SLD Teacher takes place in the general education setting or the student is pulled out of the classroom and instruction is provided individually or in small groups.
Students with SLD need unique instruction in order to develop the basic skills necessary for learning. In addition, accommodations are offered that allow the student to be successful in the general education setting when that is appropriate.
Students diagnosed with SLD may have difficulties learning due to a processing disorder in math, reading, organization, oral expression or oral or written language comprehension. Instruction by a licensed SLD Teacher takes place in the general education setting or the student is pulled out of the classroom and instruction is provided individually or in small groups.
Students with SLD need unique instruction in order to develop the basic skills necessary for learning. In addition, accommodations are offered that allow the student to be successful in the general education setting when that is appropriate.
Specific Learning Disability
Minnesota Rule Chapter 3525.1341
Subpart 1. Definition.
"Specific learning disability" means a condition within the pupil affecting learning, relative to potential and:
A. manifested by interference with the acquisition, organization, storage, retrieval, manipulation, or expression of information so that the pupil does not learn at an adequate rate when provided with the usual developmental opportunities and instruction from a regular school environment;
B. demonstrated by a significant discrepancy between a pupil's general intellectual ability and academic achievement in one or more of the following areas: oral expression, listening comprehension, mathematical calculation or mathematics reasoning, basic reading skills, reading comprehension, and written expression; and
C. demonstrated primarily in academic functioning, but may also affect self-esteem, career development, and life adjustment skills. A specific learning disability may occur with, but cannot be primarily the result of: visual, hearing, or motor impairment; cognitive impairment; emotional disorders; or environmental, cultural, economic influences, or a history of an inconsistent education program.
Subp. 2. Criteria.
A pupil has a specific learning disability and is in need of special education and related services when the pupil meets the criteria in items A, B, and C. Information about each item must be sought from the parent and must be included as part of the evaluation data. The evaluation data must confirm that the disabling effects of the pupil's disability occur in a variety of settings.
A. The pupil must demonstrate severe underachievementin response to usual classroom instruction. The performance measures used to verify this finding must be both representative of the pupil's curriculum and useful for developing instructional goals and objectives. The following evaluation procedures are required at a minimum to verify this finding:
1. evidence of low achievement from, for example, cumulative record reviews, classwork samples, anecdotal teacher records, formal and informal tests, curriculum based evaluation results, and results from instructional support programs such as Chapter 1 and Assurance of Mastery; and
2. at least one team member other than the pupil's regular teacher shall observe the pupil's academic performance in the regular classroom setting. In the case of a child served through an Early Childhood Special Education program or who is out of school, a team member shall observe the child in an environment appropriate for a child of that age.
B. The pupil must demonstrate a severe discrepancy between general intellectual ability and achievement in one or more of the following areas: oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading skills, reading
comprehension, mathematical calculation, or mathematical reasoning. The demonstration of a severe discrepancy shall not be based solely on the use of standardized tests. The team shall consider these standardized test results as only one component of the eligibility criteria. The instruments used to assess the pupil's general intellectual ability and achievement must be individually administered and interpreted by an appropriately licensed person using standardized procedures. For initial placement, the severe discrepancy must be equal to or greater than 1.75 standard deviations below the mean of the distribution of difference scores for the general population of individuals at the pupil's chronological age level.
C. The team must agree that it has sufficient evaluation data that verify the following conclusions:
1. the pupil has an information processingcondition that is manifested by behaviors such as: inadequate or lack of expected acquisition of information, lack of organizational skills, for example, following written and oral directions; spatial arrangements; correct use of developmental order in relating events; transfer of information onto paper; visual and auditory memory; verbal and nonverbal expression; and motor control for written tasks such as pencil and paper assignments, drawing, and copying;
2. the disabling effects of the pupil's information processing condition occur in a variety of settings; and
3. the pupil's underachievement is not primarily the result of: visual, hearing, or motor impairment; developmental cognitive disabilities; emotional or behavioral disorders; environmental, cultural, or economic influences; or a history of inconsistent educational programming.
STAT AUTH: MS s 14.389; 120.17; L 1999 c 123 s 19,20
HIST: 16 SR 1543; 17 SR 3361; L 1998 c 397 art 11 s 3; 24 SR 1799; 26 SR 657
Current as of 10/12/07