School psychologists' training provides a variety of skills from which its practitioners may draw, including consultation, intervention, counseling, staff development, and assessment. Despite these broad skills, school psychologists' primary roles involve assessment and assessment-related tasks, generally as related to eligibility determination…

Since the inception of special education, researchers have identified higher proportions of minority students with disabilities than expected. Yet, relatively few studies have considered the contributions of the school context on a large scale to the identification of students with mental retardation (MR), emotional disturbance (ED), and learning…

This study examined how general education teachers perceive the effectiveness of the Response to Intervention (RtI) approach to instruction in identifying students with learning disabilities early. The study also examined how these perceptions impact and influence general education teachers' ability to successfully implement RtI in the classroom.…

The rising numbers of special education referrals have resulted in national debate and subsequent new legislation regarding the methods school districts have traditionally used to identify specific learning disabilities. The 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) now allows the use of a student's response…

Discussed in the first of four articles on Illinois' Project SCREEN (Senf-Comrey Ratings of Extra Educational Need) are the development and contents of the SCREEN test battery to identify primary grade children with learning disabilities. (DB)

The document contains a review of the literature on screening for learning disabilities; a report of a Macomb, Illinois, study testing the Myklebust Learning Quotient method of identifying learning disabilities; and guidelines for learning disability eligibility screening in the Macomb schools. In the introduction, characteristics of the learning…

Designed for regular and special education administrators, diagnosticians, and teachers, the manual describes recommended practices and procedures for identifying and serving LD (learning disabled) children, as required by Illinois state and federal regulations. The manual is divided into the following four topic areas (sample subtopics in…

The study examined the characteristics of children currently classified as learning disabled (LD) in Illinois. Student and teacher checklists were completed and records reviewed for 1349 students (ages 5-20). Results are depicted in table form and summarized according to five major objectives: (1) to determine types of regular education remedial…

The study reviewed application of the Myklebust Learning Quotient Method of identifying learning disabilities (LD) in the Macomb (Illinois) community school district from 1980 to 1987. The learning quotient (LQ) is a ratio of actual achievement to expected achievement. The Macomb program established ability estimates by use of the Wechsler…

This report provides, in textual and tabular forms, information on the role of ethnicity in special education identification and placement in Illinois. Comparison of the ethnic composition of the total public elementary and secondary education population and of students receiving special education services indicated some disproportions. White…

This paper reviews statutes and recommended practices established by the Illinois State Board of Education for the identification of learning disabilities (LD) in culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional (CLDE) students, and reports the findings of a survey on LD bilingual services provided to Hispanic students in the Chicago (Illinois)…