Patterns of strengths weaknesses What to know as

Patterns of strengths & weaknesses What to know as a speech & language pathologist Many Concepts Borrowed from the Ventura County SELPA

CA Ed Code (2014 Update): 3 options for identifying SLD Response to intervention (RTI) Discrepancy model Patterns of strengths and weaknesses (PSW)

The RTI method for identifying SLD does not in itself provide enough evidence to support the presence of an SLD (LDA, 2010). “Response to Intervention” is great as a pre-referral intervention process, but……. . Low achievement alone is not a suitable indicator of SLD (Fiorello et al. , 2006; 2008; 2009). Literature indicates that not every student who fails to respond to quality instruction and intervention possesses neurologically-based processing deficits. Using low achievement as the primary factor for determining eligibility also has the potential to increase the overrepresentation of minority students in special education (CASP, 2014)

Problems with the “Discrepancy Model” 1. “Wait to Fail Model”…. It’s difficult to find a large enough discrepancy at a young age. 2. Many students with learning disabilities have processing deficits that impact the full scale IQ. 3. Many researchers note that this model has led to an overidentification of students, is not developmentally sensitive and is not used consistently among practitioners (LDA, 2010)

Benefits of “Patterns of Strengths of Weaknesses” Addressing the “Wait To Fail” concerns of discrepancy model Requires an assessment that provides answers to why the student is not responding Assessment linked to targeted interventions/strategies

CA Discrepancy Model Discrepancy VS. PSW Model for SLD Identification No Theoretical Basis Poway Unified PSW Model Based on cognitive neuroscience that has shown links between cognitive processing skills and academic achievement (Flanagan et al. , 2013; Hale & Fiorello, 2004; Dehn, 2014 a).

CA Discrepancy Model Discrepancy VS. PSW Model for SLD Identification Full Scale IQ is required in all cases with the exception of African American students. When the full scale IQ is not considered valid, there a variety of approaches to determine the score to use for eligibility purposes. Poway Unified PSW Model Use of Full Scale IQ is not required, but can be utilized. There are times that the full scale IQ is impacted by the student’s processing weakness (LDA, 2010). However, assessment teams must determine that the student has an otherwise normal cognitive ability profile, utilizing the research behind the two adopted assessment approaches.

Discrepancy VS. PSW Model for SLD Identification CA Discrepancy Model Poway Unified PSW Model No identified research-based assessment approaches required within the model Poway unified is choosing to adopt Cross Battery Assessment and Dehn’s Processing Strengths and Weaknesses assessment approaches, both based upon research, to support the eligibility decision (Flanagan et al, 2013; Dehn, 2014 a)

CA Discrepancy Model Discrepancy VS. PSW Model for SLD Identification California Education Code does not specifically state that processing deficit must be related to or linked to the academic achievement deficit. Poway Unified PSW Model the PSW model strongly encourages that the assessment team finds a research-based link between the processing weakness and the academic deficit. PUSD uses the Comprehensive Organizational Matrix of Processing Achievement Relations (COMPARES model) & dr. dehn’s matrix

PSW Model: Requires a comprehensive assessment to determine the WHY: Pattern of strengths Otherwise Normal Cognitive Ability Profile Pattern of Weaknesses Academic Deficit(s) Processing Deficit(s) Link identified between the academic and processing deficit

How do we determine the why? Lets look at what research has shown us.

How does this affect me as an SLP? Testing by various service providers often overlaps Crystalized ability/verbal comprehension; oral language processing; listening comprehension; oral expression Do we all need to test all of these areas? Consider planning out testing ahead with sped team so there is not so much overlap Share results in order to make the eligibility determination

Lets look at some of the overlap- Oral Language processing

Questions? ? ?