SEMINAKS I N NEUKOI,O(;Y-VOLUME
1 1, N O . 1 MARCH 1991
Role of the School in Serving Children with Learning Disabilities
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE As a diagnostic category, learning disability (LD) has a relatively brief history, having been employed for not quite three decades. The term "learning disabilities" was first coined in 1963 by representatives from parent groups who met to form a national organization because of their concerns that children with subtle behavioral and learning problems were not receiving appropriate educational services.' Historically, and to some degree presently, this category is one of "diagnosis by elimination," in that the term is applied to children who (1) do not have other handicaps (such as emotional disturbance or mental retardation), (2) have been given adequate opportunities to learn, but (3) nevertheless have difficulty learning. During the mid to late 1960s, increasing recognition of this "new" condition occurred as a result of expanded attention from federal agencies, the publication of professional journals dedicated to the topic of LDs, and the creation of teacher training programs focusing on this handicap.' When the term "specific learning disabilities" was incorporated into the Education of the Handicapped Act of 1975, it was given additional legitimacy as a concept. However, despite the adjective in its name, the definition continues to lack specificity, and problems with understanding, recognizing, and defining the condition have remained.:" In 1969, 120,000 children nationwide were identified by the nation's schools as learning disabled. In 1987, this number had increased more than 15-fold, to a national child count of 1,872,399 children with L D s . ~This disproportionate growth in the population of learning-disabled students rel-
ative to other handicapping conditions resulted in much political and scientific scrutiny. A federal task force was commissioned to study the problem,' and actions undertaken by professional associations and federal agencies were designed to "de-handicap" categories of mild handicaps such as LDs."? At this writing, clear battlelines have been drawn. In some quarters, systematic efforts are under way to eliminate the category of LDs from legislation that makes special education services a req ~ i r e m e n t .Opposing ~ this position are advocacy groups, such as the Learning Disabilities Association (formerly the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities: ACLD), as well as some professionals who feel strongly that children with LDs not only need but are entitled to a specialized educational program.""' Against this backdrop of political jockeying and uncertainty about the future of special education mandates, neurologists continue to treat children with LDs. One aspect of treatment for children with LDs relates to establishing and maintaining relationships with educational agencies, since long-term, educationally based interventions generally are necessary." This article describes the legal responsibilities of school districts in providing services to children with handicaps, including those with LDs, and attempts to clarify terminology and practices commonly used by educational agencies. In addition, the role of the school in accommodating youngsters who, although not clearly handicapped, nevertheless have learning differences, is discussed. I conclude with some suggestions for enhancing medical-educational communication within the context of service to children who have learning difficulties.
Cuyahoga Special Education Service Center, Cleveland, Ohio Copyright 0 1991 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc., 381 Park Averrue South, New York, NY 1001(i. All rights reserved.
Downloaded by: University of British Columbia. Copyrighted material.
Cathy F. Telzrow, Ph.D.
Public Law 94-142, passed by Congress in 1975 and amended at periodic intervals subsequently, provides educational guarantees for children with handicaps. As a result of this legislation, also known as the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA), school districts have several specific legal responsibilities for identifying, evaluating, and providing services to children with handicaps, including those with specific LDs. This section outlines these responsibilities and attempts to clarify definitions and practices that may lead to communication difficulties between medical and educational personnel. IDENTIFICATZON
School districts are required to establish and implement procedures for ensuring that children who are suspected of being handicapped are identified. Two major activities are associated with this process: child identification and multifactored evaluation (MFE).
Child Identification Child identification (sometimes called "child find") refers to specific procedures for identifying and locating children who are suspected of being handicapped. School districts are required to have both in-school and out-of-school child identification procedures. Most school-aged children with LDs are likely to be enrolled in school (contrasted, for example, with some children with severe physical o r mental handicaps), and thus in-school identification procedures probably are more relevant for this population. Examples of in-school identification procedures for children who are suspected of having LDs include curriculum-based screening and referral by trained teachers; perusal of group achievement test results for indication of unique difficulty in specific subject areas, such as reading o r mathematics; and screening of entering kindergarteners by speechilanguage pathologists. All children who are suspected of being handicapped, regardless of age o r the severity of handicap, fall under the child identification requirement. This includes children from birth to age 22 years who reside within the school district. T h e identification of mild disorders such as LDs is sometimes difficult in preschool-aged children. Nevertheless, school districts have a legal respon-
sibility to identify and evaluate suspected handicapped children of all ages, and educational agencies' delaying identification until school age when a parent o r physician has suggested that a handicap may be present in a preschool child is not appropriate.
Multifactored Evaluation 'The second major aspect of child identification relates to the evaluation of children who are suspected of being handicapped to determine whether o r not a handicapping condition in fact is present. T h e requirement for MFE to determine the presence of a handicap incorporates several objectives. In general, this procedure is intended to ensure that children are assessed thoroughly in order to avoid misclassification. Elements of the MFE that are intended to accomplish this objective include: a comprehensive assessment incorporating specific areas o r domains to be evaluated; the involvement of a multidisciplinary team in the assessment; and in the case of specific LDs, determining whether the criteria for identifying this condition have been met. T h e definition of LDs is central to its identification, and, in my experience, lack of consensus about definition is a major source of conflict between medical personnel and educational agencies. For this reason, the following section provides a brief discussion of the definition of LDs within the educational community. Definitions of handicapping conditions outlined in EHA are operationalized by special education regulations promulgated by each state. School districts must use these state and federal educational definitions when identifying and evaluating children who are suspected of being handicapped, including those with LDs. Herein lies the source of some difficulty in communication between neurologists and school districts: EHA recognizes only the condition of specific learning disabilities. This condition is defined as "a disorder in one o r more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding o r in using language, spoken o r written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, o r to d o mathematical calculation^."^' T h e term does not incorporate more general LDs, including those recognized clinically by many neurologists, such as ~lumsiness,~" attention deficit disorders,'%r difficulties managing behavior'" unless these conditions coexist with speczfic LDs. Although it is acknowledged that the more general LDs just mentioned often cause children to have difficulty in school, typically such children are not eligible for special education services.
Downloaded by: University of British Columbia. Copyrighted material.
LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOLS IN PROVIDING SERVICES TO CHILDREN WITH HANDICAPS
Later in this article, the school's role with regard to this population will be discussed. In his analysis of definitions of LDs in different states, Chalfantl identified five common features. These are: (1) failure to achieve (there is significant lack of educational progress); (2) psycho!ogic process (the failure to achieve results from some impairment in cognitive processing); (3) exclusionary status (the condition is not due to other causes, such as mental retardation o r lack of opportunity to learn); (4) significant discrepancy (there is a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and academic achievement); and (5)etiology (there is supporting evidence of minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, developmental aphasia, o r similar disorders). In my experience, two of these definitional features-severe discrepancy and psychologic process-create the most difficult measurement challenges. In many states, the term "severe discrepancy" is operationalized through the use of statistical formula^."^ Although the inclusion of a discrepancy fbrmula may reduce wanton error in diagnosis of L D s , ' ~ . ~some ' types of formulas are statistically inferior to others, and none is foolproof."' Furthermore, states are precluded from exclusive use of statistical formulas in identifying LDs." Additional measurement problems are associated with documenting psychologic processing deficits. I have argued that the determination that the severe discrepancy results from a disorder in psychologic processing demands that diagnosticians be knowledgeable about subtypes of LDs and how these are expressed clinically."' FREE APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDUCATION
T h e federal law mandating service to children who are handicapped requires school districts to provide such youngsters a free appropriate public education (FAPE). Two major components of FAPE-those that specify where the education will occur and how it will be delivered-will be discussed in this section.
Individualized Education Program Children with handicaps are entitled to individually determined intervention programs. School districts are required to utilize data derived from the MFE to develop an individualized education program (IEP) for children with specific LDs. This IEP, which is developed in a conference with school personnel and parents, must incorporate
V0I.UME I I , NUMREK 1
,11AKCH 1991
several elements, which include: (1) a description of annual educational goals and short-term instructional objectives for the student; (2) a statement outlining the special education services the child will receive, including how much time the student is to participate in regular education programs; and (3) a description of the objective criteria to be used for determining pupil progress toward goals and objectives. 'Through its delineation of annual goals and short-term instructional objectives, the IEP specifies the content of special education: what is to be taught. Several guiding principles may be used to determine the content of special education for children with LDs. First, the IEP should target identified pupil needs in the areas of academic deficiency (such as reading, mathematics, and written language)." In addition, several experts recommend that the IEP for children with LDs should incorporate strategy training, since such content focuses directly on the psychologic processing deficiencies of LD students2' and has been shown to enhance achievement."-24 I n addition to describing the special education instruction that the student will receive, the IEP also may include necessary "related services." Kelated services are defined as "developn~ental,corrective, and other support services as are required to assist a handicapped child to benefit from special ed~cation."~"peech therapy, occupational therapy? and work-study services are examples of related services. T h e determination about what if any related services are necessary for an individual student is made during the IEP conference. It is important to emphasize that these related services must respond to identified pupil needs and must be determined to be necessary to enable the student to benefit from special education.
Least Restrictive Environment Federal and state requirements for the provision of special education specify that students with handicaps will be educated with their nonhandicapped peers to the maximum extent appropriate. This concept is known as the principle of the least restrictive environment (LRE). It specifies that children with handicaps will be removed from regular education settings only when the nature o r severity of the handicap makes such removal necessary. T h e LRE principle is a guideline, which must be operationalized for individual pupils by the IEP team. Generally, children with specific LDs receive instruction in regular school buildings rather than
Downloaded by: University of British Columbia. Copyrighted material.
S E h I I N A K S I N NEUKOI.O(;Y
DUE PROCESS PROCEDURES
Federal and state special education rules incorporate due process procedures which safeguard the rights of children who are handicapped and their parents. These safeguards are present throughout the identification, evaluation, and service delivery stages. Four specific due process safeguards will be discussed in this section.
Parent Notification and Consent Parents of children who are suspected of being handicapped must be notified of all due process rights and must give written consent for their children's MFE and placement in special education. School districts are required to give parents of suspected handicapped children a description of the proposed evaluation procedure prior to assessment.
Independent Evaluation Suspected handicapped children are entitled to an independent educational evaluation at no cost to the parent if the parent disagrees with the evaluations provided by the school. The school district must provide parents who request an independent evaluation with information about where such services may be obtained. Furthermore, school districts are required to consider data from independent evaluations provided by the parent at private expense. They are not, however, required to comply with the recommendations resulting from independent evaluations.
Confidentiality School districts are required to implement procedures that permit parents access to student records, while at the same time maintaining the confidentiality of such records. Parents have a right to inspect student records, to obtain copies of any records for a reasonable fee, and to request amendment of student records in cases in which these are believed to be inaccurate or misleading.
Due Process Hearing The due process hearing represents the ultimate procedural safeguard for handicapped or suspected handicapped students and their parents. The due process hearing, which may be initiated by parents, school districts, or other involved parties, provides for testimony of witnesses and review of the case by an impartial due process hearing officer, who renders a decision about the issue or issues in question. Essentially any area of disagreement may be the focus of a due process hearing. Common questions decided by due process hearing officers include eligibility (often between two areas of mild handicap, such as specific LDs and mild mental retardation) and LRE (for example, whether a student should be educated in a special education program or a regular education program with the use of supplementary aids and services).
Downloaded by: University of British Columbia. Copyrighted material.
in special schools where only children with handicaps attend. The special education for students with LDs often occurs only in affected subject areas (reading and language arts, for example), with other instruction occurring in the regular classroom (a process known popularly as "mainstreaming"). Sometimes LD students may receive all instruction in regular education programs and are provided only supplemental support ("tutoring") through the special education program. As already noted, the individual education program for a particular student, including the degree to which the individual will be educated with nonhandicapped peers, is determined during the IEP conference. A number of factors influence the decision about LRE, including the nature and degree of the LD, the pupil's age, and the degree to which the use of compensatory aids is feasible.
THE ROLE OF THE SCHOOL IN PROVIDING SERVICES TO CHILDREN WHO ARE HAVING SCHOOL DIFFICULTY BUT ARE NOT HANDICAPPED As already noted, some students who have been diagnosed "learning disabled" by neurologists or other specialists do not meet the definition of "specific learning disability" as outlined in federal and state educational requirements. Many of these students, while not exhibiting specific disorders in reading, mathematics, or language, nevertheless display a constellation of subtle but real difficulties with attention, memory, motor skills, problem solving, and social behavior, and have significant difficulty in school as a result. Although the legal responsibilities of schools for providing services to children with handicaps outlined in the previous section would not be applicable for this population, there is clearly a role that schools must play for such children.' This section outlines briefly some educational responses that may be appropriate for 53
S E M I N A R S I N NEUKOI.O
1 1, N O . 1 MARCH 1991
Role of the School in Serving Children with Learning Disabilities
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE As a diagnostic category, learning disability (LD) has a relatively brief history, having been employed for not quite three decades. The term "learning disabilities" was first coined in 1963 by representatives from parent groups who met to form a national organization because of their concerns that children with subtle behavioral and learning problems were not receiving appropriate educational services.' Historically, and to some degree presently, this category is one of "diagnosis by elimination," in that the term is applied to children who (1) do not have other handicaps (such as emotional disturbance or mental retardation), (2) have been given adequate opportunities to learn, but (3) nevertheless have difficulty learning. During the mid to late 1960s, increasing recognition of this "new" condition occurred as a result of expanded attention from federal agencies, the publication of professional journals dedicated to the topic of LDs, and the creation of teacher training programs focusing on this handicap.' When the term "specific learning disabilities" was incorporated into the Education of the Handicapped Act of 1975, it was given additional legitimacy as a concept. However, despite the adjective in its name, the definition continues to lack specificity, and problems with understanding, recognizing, and defining the condition have remained.:" In 1969, 120,000 children nationwide were identified by the nation's schools as learning disabled. In 1987, this number had increased more than 15-fold, to a national child count of 1,872,399 children with L D s . ~This disproportionate growth in the population of learning-disabled students rel-
ative to other handicapping conditions resulted in much political and scientific scrutiny. A federal task force was commissioned to study the problem,' and actions undertaken by professional associations and federal agencies were designed to "de-handicap" categories of mild handicaps such as LDs."? At this writing, clear battlelines have been drawn. In some quarters, systematic efforts are under way to eliminate the category of LDs from legislation that makes special education services a req ~ i r e m e n t .Opposing ~ this position are advocacy groups, such as the Learning Disabilities Association (formerly the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities: ACLD), as well as some professionals who feel strongly that children with LDs not only need but are entitled to a specialized educational program.""' Against this backdrop of political jockeying and uncertainty about the future of special education mandates, neurologists continue to treat children with LDs. One aspect of treatment for children with LDs relates to establishing and maintaining relationships with educational agencies, since long-term, educationally based interventions generally are necessary." This article describes the legal responsibilities of school districts in providing services to children with handicaps, including those with LDs, and attempts to clarify terminology and practices commonly used by educational agencies. In addition, the role of the school in accommodating youngsters who, although not clearly handicapped, nevertheless have learning differences, is discussed. I conclude with some suggestions for enhancing medical-educational communication within the context of service to children who have learning difficulties.
Cuyahoga Special Education Service Center, Cleveland, Ohio Copyright 0 1991 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc., 381 Park Averrue South, New York, NY 1001(i. All rights reserved.
Downloaded by: University of British Columbia. Copyrighted material.
Cathy F. Telzrow, Ph.D.
Public Law 94-142, passed by Congress in 1975 and amended at periodic intervals subsequently, provides educational guarantees for children with handicaps. As a result of this legislation, also known as the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA), school districts have several specific legal responsibilities for identifying, evaluating, and providing services to children with handicaps, including those with specific LDs. This section outlines these responsibilities and attempts to clarify definitions and practices that may lead to communication difficulties between medical and educational personnel. IDENTIFICATZON
School districts are required to establish and implement procedures for ensuring that children who are suspected of being handicapped are identified. Two major activities are associated with this process: child identification and multifactored evaluation (MFE).
Child Identification Child identification (sometimes called "child find") refers to specific procedures for identifying and locating children who are suspected of being handicapped. School districts are required to have both in-school and out-of-school child identification procedures. Most school-aged children with LDs are likely to be enrolled in school (contrasted, for example, with some children with severe physical o r mental handicaps), and thus in-school identification procedures probably are more relevant for this population. Examples of in-school identification procedures for children who are suspected of having LDs include curriculum-based screening and referral by trained teachers; perusal of group achievement test results for indication of unique difficulty in specific subject areas, such as reading o r mathematics; and screening of entering kindergarteners by speechilanguage pathologists. All children who are suspected of being handicapped, regardless of age o r the severity of handicap, fall under the child identification requirement. This includes children from birth to age 22 years who reside within the school district. T h e identification of mild disorders such as LDs is sometimes difficult in preschool-aged children. Nevertheless, school districts have a legal respon-
sibility to identify and evaluate suspected handicapped children of all ages, and educational agencies' delaying identification until school age when a parent o r physician has suggested that a handicap may be present in a preschool child is not appropriate.
Multifactored Evaluation 'The second major aspect of child identification relates to the evaluation of children who are suspected of being handicapped to determine whether o r not a handicapping condition in fact is present. T h e requirement for MFE to determine the presence of a handicap incorporates several objectives. In general, this procedure is intended to ensure that children are assessed thoroughly in order to avoid misclassification. Elements of the MFE that are intended to accomplish this objective include: a comprehensive assessment incorporating specific areas o r domains to be evaluated; the involvement of a multidisciplinary team in the assessment; and in the case of specific LDs, determining whether the criteria for identifying this condition have been met. T h e definition of LDs is central to its identification, and, in my experience, lack of consensus about definition is a major source of conflict between medical personnel and educational agencies. For this reason, the following section provides a brief discussion of the definition of LDs within the educational community. Definitions of handicapping conditions outlined in EHA are operationalized by special education regulations promulgated by each state. School districts must use these state and federal educational definitions when identifying and evaluating children who are suspected of being handicapped, including those with LDs. Herein lies the source of some difficulty in communication between neurologists and school districts: EHA recognizes only the condition of specific learning disabilities. This condition is defined as "a disorder in one o r more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding o r in using language, spoken o r written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, o r to d o mathematical calculation^."^' T h e term does not incorporate more general LDs, including those recognized clinically by many neurologists, such as ~lumsiness,~" attention deficit disorders,'%r difficulties managing behavior'" unless these conditions coexist with speczfic LDs. Although it is acknowledged that the more general LDs just mentioned often cause children to have difficulty in school, typically such children are not eligible for special education services.
Downloaded by: University of British Columbia. Copyrighted material.
LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOLS IN PROVIDING SERVICES TO CHILDREN WITH HANDICAPS
Later in this article, the school's role with regard to this population will be discussed. In his analysis of definitions of LDs in different states, Chalfantl identified five common features. These are: (1) failure to achieve (there is significant lack of educational progress); (2) psycho!ogic process (the failure to achieve results from some impairment in cognitive processing); (3) exclusionary status (the condition is not due to other causes, such as mental retardation o r lack of opportunity to learn); (4) significant discrepancy (there is a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and academic achievement); and (5)etiology (there is supporting evidence of minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, developmental aphasia, o r similar disorders). In my experience, two of these definitional features-severe discrepancy and psychologic process-create the most difficult measurement challenges. In many states, the term "severe discrepancy" is operationalized through the use of statistical formula^."^ Although the inclusion of a discrepancy fbrmula may reduce wanton error in diagnosis of L D s , ' ~ . ~some ' types of formulas are statistically inferior to others, and none is foolproof."' Furthermore, states are precluded from exclusive use of statistical formulas in identifying LDs." Additional measurement problems are associated with documenting psychologic processing deficits. I have argued that the determination that the severe discrepancy results from a disorder in psychologic processing demands that diagnosticians be knowledgeable about subtypes of LDs and how these are expressed clinically."' FREE APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDUCATION
T h e federal law mandating service to children who are handicapped requires school districts to provide such youngsters a free appropriate public education (FAPE). Two major components of FAPE-those that specify where the education will occur and how it will be delivered-will be discussed in this section.
Individualized Education Program Children with handicaps are entitled to individually determined intervention programs. School districts are required to utilize data derived from the MFE to develop an individualized education program (IEP) for children with specific LDs. This IEP, which is developed in a conference with school personnel and parents, must incorporate
V0I.UME I I , NUMREK 1
,11AKCH 1991
several elements, which include: (1) a description of annual educational goals and short-term instructional objectives for the student; (2) a statement outlining the special education services the child will receive, including how much time the student is to participate in regular education programs; and (3) a description of the objective criteria to be used for determining pupil progress toward goals and objectives. 'Through its delineation of annual goals and short-term instructional objectives, the IEP specifies the content of special education: what is to be taught. Several guiding principles may be used to determine the content of special education for children with LDs. First, the IEP should target identified pupil needs in the areas of academic deficiency (such as reading, mathematics, and written language)." In addition, several experts recommend that the IEP for children with LDs should incorporate strategy training, since such content focuses directly on the psychologic processing deficiencies of LD students2' and has been shown to enhance achievement."-24 I n addition to describing the special education instruction that the student will receive, the IEP also may include necessary "related services." Kelated services are defined as "developn~ental,corrective, and other support services as are required to assist a handicapped child to benefit from special ed~cation."~"peech therapy, occupational therapy? and work-study services are examples of related services. T h e determination about what if any related services are necessary for an individual student is made during the IEP conference. It is important to emphasize that these related services must respond to identified pupil needs and must be determined to be necessary to enable the student to benefit from special education.
Least Restrictive Environment Federal and state requirements for the provision of special education specify that students with handicaps will be educated with their nonhandicapped peers to the maximum extent appropriate. This concept is known as the principle of the least restrictive environment (LRE). It specifies that children with handicaps will be removed from regular education settings only when the nature o r severity of the handicap makes such removal necessary. T h e LRE principle is a guideline, which must be operationalized for individual pupils by the IEP team. Generally, children with specific LDs receive instruction in regular school buildings rather than
Downloaded by: University of British Columbia. Copyrighted material.
S E h I I N A K S I N NEUKOI.O(;Y
DUE PROCESS PROCEDURES
Federal and state special education rules incorporate due process procedures which safeguard the rights of children who are handicapped and their parents. These safeguards are present throughout the identification, evaluation, and service delivery stages. Four specific due process safeguards will be discussed in this section.
Parent Notification and Consent Parents of children who are suspected of being handicapped must be notified of all due process rights and must give written consent for their children's MFE and placement in special education. School districts are required to give parents of suspected handicapped children a description of the proposed evaluation procedure prior to assessment.
Independent Evaluation Suspected handicapped children are entitled to an independent educational evaluation at no cost to the parent if the parent disagrees with the evaluations provided by the school. The school district must provide parents who request an independent evaluation with information about where such services may be obtained. Furthermore, school districts are required to consider data from independent evaluations provided by the parent at private expense. They are not, however, required to comply with the recommendations resulting from independent evaluations.
Confidentiality School districts are required to implement procedures that permit parents access to student records, while at the same time maintaining the confidentiality of such records. Parents have a right to inspect student records, to obtain copies of any records for a reasonable fee, and to request amendment of student records in cases in which these are believed to be inaccurate or misleading.
Due Process Hearing The due process hearing represents the ultimate procedural safeguard for handicapped or suspected handicapped students and their parents. The due process hearing, which may be initiated by parents, school districts, or other involved parties, provides for testimony of witnesses and review of the case by an impartial due process hearing officer, who renders a decision about the issue or issues in question. Essentially any area of disagreement may be the focus of a due process hearing. Common questions decided by due process hearing officers include eligibility (often between two areas of mild handicap, such as specific LDs and mild mental retardation) and LRE (for example, whether a student should be educated in a special education program or a regular education program with the use of supplementary aids and services).
Downloaded by: University of British Columbia. Copyrighted material.
in special schools where only children with handicaps attend. The special education for students with LDs often occurs only in affected subject areas (reading and language arts, for example), with other instruction occurring in the regular classroom (a process known popularly as "mainstreaming"). Sometimes LD students may receive all instruction in regular education programs and are provided only supplemental support ("tutoring") through the special education program. As already noted, the individual education program for a particular student, including the degree to which the individual will be educated with nonhandicapped peers, is determined during the IEP conference. A number of factors influence the decision about LRE, including the nature and degree of the LD, the pupil's age, and the degree to which the use of compensatory aids is feasible.
THE ROLE OF THE SCHOOL IN PROVIDING SERVICES TO CHILDREN WHO ARE HAVING SCHOOL DIFFICULTY BUT ARE NOT HANDICAPPED As already noted, some students who have been diagnosed "learning disabled" by neurologists or other specialists do not meet the definition of "specific learning disability" as outlined in federal and state educational requirements. Many of these students, while not exhibiting specific disorders in reading, mathematics, or language, nevertheless display a constellation of subtle but real difficulties with attention, memory, motor skills, problem solving, and social behavior, and have significant difficulty in school as a result. Although the legal responsibilities of schools for providing services to children with handicaps outlined in the previous section would not be applicable for this population, there is clearly a role that schools must play for such children.' This section outlines briefly some educational responses that may be appropriate for 53
S E M I N A R S I N NEUKOI.O
