Series Editors, Alan S. Kaufman and Nadeen L. Kaufman
Essentials of 16 PF® Assessment
by Heather E.-P. Cattell and James M. Schuerger
Essentials of Adaptive Behavior Assessment of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
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Essentials of ADHD Assessment for Children and Adolescents
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Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties
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Essentials of Autism Spectrum Disorders Evaluation and Assessment
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Essentials of Bayley Scales of Infant Development–II Assessment
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Essentials of CAS-2 Assessment
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by James C. Kaufman, Jonathan A. Plucker, and John Baer
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by Nancy Mather and Barbara J. Wendling
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by Barbara J. Wendling and Nancy Mather
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Alan W. Brue and Linda Wilmshurst
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Second Edition
Edited by
Vincent C. Alfonso
Dawn P. Flanagan
This edition first published 2018
© 2018 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Edition History
John Wiley and Sons, Inc. (1e, 2010)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Alfonso, Vincent C., editor. | Flanagan, Dawn P., editor.
Title: Essentials of specific learning disability identification / edited by Vincent C. Alfonso, Dawn P. Flanagan.
Description: Second edition. | Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, 2018. | Includes index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017053859 (print) | LCCN 2017061536 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119313854 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119313861 (epub) | ISBN 9781119313847 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Learning disabilities. | Learning disabled children.
Classification: LCC LC4704 (ebook) | LCC LC4704 .E77 2018 (print) | DDC 371.9/043–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017053859
Cover image: © Greg Kuchik/Getty Images
Cover design by Wiley
According to the calculations of the National Center for Educational Statistics at the US Department of Education (USDOE), and as it has been for decades, the most frequently occurring disability among school-age individuals in the United States is a specific learning disability (SLD). In fact, it accounts for nearly half of all disabilities in the school-age population. It may well then come as a surprise to those who do not work in the field that in spite of the presence of a common definition of SLD, one that has essentially remained unchanged since written into federal law in 1975, there remains very little agreement about the best model or method of identifying students with SLD. Beginning with the first version of the federal law requiring the public schools of the United States to provide a free and appropriate public education to students with disabilities (P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act), the disagreements over the best approach to identification of an SLD have grown. Prior to 2004, the federal regulations for implementation of the various versions of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) required, as a necessary but insufficient condition (except in special circumstances), the presence of a severe discrepancy between aptitude and achievement for a diagnosis of SLD. The 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act's (IDEIA) accompanying regulations (all 307 small-print Federal Register pages of them), which retained the definition of SLD essentially as written in the 1975 law, dropped this requirement, and instead allows schools to use one or a combination of three basic approaches to SLD identification: the severe discrepancy criteria of prior regulations, a process based on the response of a student to evidence-based (aka science) interventions for learning problems (known popularly as the RTI approach), or any other approach the state or local education agency determines to be a scientifically or research-based approach to determination of an SLD.
The vagaries and ambiguities of the federal regulations and the pressure on schools to do what is new, and to do so quickly, led to chaos in the field and fed considerably to a polemic debate about how to determine best an SLD. As if this were not enough controversy, note that the regulations concerning the determination of SLD in school-age individuals (basically K–12) apply only to public schools and private schools that receive federal monies. Colleges and universities, the Social Security Administration, state departments of rehabilitation, the medical community, the courts, and other agencies that are involved in SLD identification and the provision of services and funding for these individuals can, and most do, apply different methods and have different rules for identification of an SLD. What is adopted then as the best method of diagnosis in the K–12 school systems often will be found unacceptable to other agencies, frustrating individuals who carry out such a diagnosis, the students' parents, and the agencies themselves. This has led to considerable litigation over who is eligible for which services and where as well as who is best to provide them. The vagaries of the federal regulations and the potential for extensive litigation in the absence of clear guidance from the USDOE are the primary reasons I so often refer to IDEIA as the “education lawyers' welfare act of 2004.”
The issues of accurate and appropriate models from which to identify individuals with SLD sorely need attention from the academic community of scholars in a format that enables academics and practitioners to understand the many and diverse models being promoted as best practice. The first edition of Essentials of Specific Learning Disability Identification made a practical foray into this arena, and it did so succinctly, without sacrifice of a clear understanding of each model, and represented educational, medical, psychometric, and neuropsychological models in its various chapters. The second edition continues in this vein, following the successful blueprint of the first edition and bringing back leaders in research and in practice to update their works and add information about special considerations in this field.
The opening chapters focus on descriptive efforts of the manifestations of SLD in the academically critical areas of reading, writing, math, oral expression, and listening, though some of the authors emphasize identification and some intervention in these chapters as well. Some argue differences in neuropsychological organization of the brain, others argue specific deficits, and still others continue to call on developmental delay as the essence of an SLD. There is less recognition in certain chapters than one might suppose that SLD is a very heterogeneous group of disorders and that the underlying mechanism is not at all likely to be the same for everyone, although clearly most authors recognize this reality. Nonverbal learning disabilities, a concept rejected in the official diagnostic nomenclature of psychiatry and little recognized in federal legislation but heavily researched, is also covered and covered well by a leading scholar in school and child neuropsychology.
The second part of the work emphasizes models and methods of SLD identification, and herein we also find divergent views. After reading the volume, it is nothing less than striking the number of seemingly sound but incompatible models that are presented, especially knowing how many other models are in existence across the various state education agencies—not to mention the many other governmental agencies and programs using wholly different approaches. Every model presented in the latter half of this work has strengths in the approaches recommended for SLD identification, and each set of authors presents its case well. Nevertheless, the approaches, several of which are highly similar, will identify different children. Some are also just fundamentally incompatible; for example, although most emphasize the absolute necessity for a disorder in one or more of the basic processes underlying learning, at least one dismisses this aspect of the SLD definition as unnecessary even to assess or consider.
As in the first edition, Fletcher and Miciak lead off the chapters focused on diagnostic methods and models with a clear presentation of the RTI model as he and his colleagues perceive of it as best implemented. His well-reasoned approach has much to recommend it, but unfortunately many states have adopted a far more radical RTI-only approach, which, as Fletcher laudably notes, is not just poor practice but inconsistent with the federal regulations. Burns and colleagues follow up on RTI approaches in another coherent presentation of a controversial area. Subsequently, other extensively researched models described in the first edition are presented again here but are updated to reflect a decade of research and are presented generally in clearer terms. For example, Naglieri and Feifer give us a very different model from RTI, one that is more theory-driven than any of the other models but that provides good empirical support for the approach and practical advice on its implementation. Alston-Abel and her colleague treat us to a very accomplished work that takes on the complex issues of diagnosis and treatment of several types of SLD in the face of comorbidities, an issue dealt with poorly by most existing models, particularly RTI-only models. Their case for evidence-based models and ones that emphasize early identification and intervention is well made, along with their case for educating all children better. Flanagan and her colleagues attempt, and accomplish well, an integration of methods that also requires an integration of conflicting theories as well as practice models that may seem incompatible on the surface. Cheramie and colleagues provide a case study illustration of their preferred method, which appears in several prior chapters.
The final part of the second edition deals with special issues encountered by all who engage in the evaluation of students suspected as having an SLD. For example, differentiating cultural and linguistic differences from disabilities in the context of SLD determination is directly addressed with examples. Although this is often talked about, few give us this kind of concrete guidance to avoiding such diagnostic mistakes based on culture and language. We could all benefit still from reading the works of E. Paul Torrance from the 1970s on “differences not deficits” in such a context. Differential diagnosis, as in differentiating SLD from other disorders that may look like SLD in the absence of a comprehensive assessment, is addressed in a highly welcomed addition to the work.
This work presents a strong reflection of the state of the field, updated and with some entirely new views compared to the first edition, and it does a great service by putting theories of the development and etiology of SLD, commentary on interventions, and the dominant models of SLD identification between common covers. The editors have once again done a superb job in selecting authors to represent the viewpoints given and to elaborate with sufficient specificity the identification models, in most cases to the point at which they can be put into place after reading this book carefully. The greatest problem readers will face will be one of deciding which model(s) to follow, because all are appealing. There are authors of chapters in this work with whom I have had scholarly exchanges, and with whom I vehemently disagree on some issues but with whom I find myself in agreement on others. So I must count myself among those who will experience great dissonance in adopting and recommending a specific model of diagnosis for all children suspected of SLD to others based on the models proffered herein. We have much to learn from the disagreements in this work, and it is indeed such disagreements and lack of compatibility of models and methods on which science thrives. I suspect that as our science moves forward, we will continue to find, as we have since the mid-2000s, that all of these models have merit and utility for accurate and appropriate identification of individuals with SLD but not for the same individuals. Individuals with SLD make up a heterogeneous group, and we truly need different models for their accurate identification (aka different strokes for different folks) that are objective and evidence-based, such as provided in this work. Now, if we can just make them all part of a common, coherent system and stop the search for the one answer to the diagnosis of SLD for all students and the one teaching model that educates them all effectively—that will be our greatest progress!
Cecil R. Reynolds
Austin, Texas
In the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series, we have attempted to provide the reader with books that will deliver key practical information in the most efficient and accessible style. The series features instruments in a variety of domains, such as cognition, personality, education, and neuropsychology, as well as special topics, such as identification of SLD. Wherever feasible, visual shortcuts to highlight key points are used, alongside systematic, step-by-step guidelines. Theory and research are continually woven into the fabric of each book, but always to enhance clinical inference, never to sidetrack or overwhelm. This latest volume to the Essentials series covers a wide range of topics related to SLD identification in a manner that is readily accessible to practitioners.
IDEA 2004 and its attendant regulations provided our field with an opportunity to focus on the academic progress of all students, including those with SLD. The last decade was marked by a departure from a wait-to-fail ability-achievement discrepancy model to a response to intervention (RTI) model for SLD identification. In adopting the latter method, the field was encouraged by RTI proponents to give up cognitive and neuropsychological tests and, thus, ignore more than 30 years of empirical research that has culminated in substantial evidence for the biological bases of learning disorders in reading, math, written language, and oral language. When RTI is applied in isolation, it fails to identify individual differences in cognitive abilities and neuropsychological processes and ignores the fact that students with SLD have different needs and learning profiles than students with undifferentiated low achievement. In recognition of this fact, an alternative research approach to SLD identification, known as the pattern of strengths and weakness (PSW) approach, is being used with greater frequency. The PSW approach considers the relations among cognitive abilities, neuropsychological processes, and academic performance in SLD identification. Most (but not all) of the distinguished contributors to this edited book believe that without cognitive and neuropsychological testing, little can be known about the cognitive capabilities, processing strengths and weaknesses, nature of responses, and neurobiological correlates of students who fail to respond to evidence-based instruction and intervention.
This second edition, edited by the esteemed Vincent C. Alfonso and Dawn P. Flanagan, once again offers practitioners state-of-the-art information on SLDs. Part I of this book includes definitions and manifestations of SLD in reading, math, writing, and oral language. A new chapter was added in Part I that covers the latest research on nonverbal learning disabilities. Part II provides practitioners with a variety of research-based methods and models for identifying SLD in the schools and in the private sector. This edition was expanded to include more information on RTI and PSW methods as well as neuropsychological approaches to SLD identification. The overarching theme of this edition of Essentials of Specific Learning Disabilities Identification is that PSW and neuropsychological approaches may be used within the context of an RTI service delivery model, with the goal of expanding (rather than limiting) the methods and data sources that are available to practitioners. Part III of this book focuses on special considerations in SLD identification. New content in this section includes a chapter on differential diagnosis of SLD versus other difficulties as well as a chapter that enhances our knowledge of word reading skills based on the latest reading research. It is our belief, and the belief of the editors of this book, that when practitioners use the approaches described here in an informed and systematic way, they will yield information about a student's learning difficulties and educational needs that will be of value to all, but most especially, to the student with SLD.
Alan S. Kaufman, PhD, and Nadeen L. Kaufman, EdD,
Series Editors
Yale University School of Medicine
We thank Tisha Rossi, executive editor, Purvi Patel, project editor, Susan Geraghty, copyeditor, and Audrey Koh, production editor from John Wiley & Sons, for their encouragement and support of this book and for their assistance throughout the many phases of production. We acknowledge Katherine Palmer and Virginia Cooper for assisting us through every phase of this book and for often dropping everything to respond to our requests in a timely and complete manner. We also extend a heartfelt thank-you to the contributing authors for their professionalism, scholarship, and pleasant and cooperative working style. It was a great pleasure to work with such an esteemed group of researchers and scholars! Finally, we wish to thank Alan and Nadeen Kaufman for their support, guidance, and friendship. They are not only the editors of the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series, but also true leaders in the field.