Learning Detours

Assessment and Intervention
A learning disability can easily hide itself behind the sometimes boisterous, sometimes distracted behavior that’s common to virtually every child. That can make diagnosis tricky.

The first step for parents who suspect their child might have a learning disability is assessing just what kind of help he or she needs, a process usually initiated by the parents along with a teacher or other educator. A variety of methods are used to gather assessment information, including observations of the child, family interviews, checklists and rating scales, and informal and standardized tests.

These assessments will determine whether a child is eligible for special education services. In fact, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that children have an assessment before receiving special education. And each public school student who receives special education and related services must have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The IEP, written by school personnel, the student’s doctor, and his or her parents or guardians, helps tailor the student’s educational program. (An alternative to an IEP is a 504 plan, a legal document that outlines a plan of instructional services for students in the general education setting, describing the types of accommodations that will be made for a student in school.)

As helpful as these steps are, there are still lots of children with learning disabilities who don’t qualify for special education services. “Special education is a failure-based model,” says PACER’s Richardson. “You don’t get it unless you’ve fallen a certain degree behind.”

Richardson says that a more proactive approach to providing early intervention to students, including those with learning disabilities, is being adopted in response to overhauled IDEA legislation. IDEA 2004 encourages states to adopt Response to Intervention (RTI) models that encourage local educators to focus more on early screening, continual monitoring, and  highly focused instruction. Though RTI hasn’t yet been made part of state-mandated educational models, Minnesota school districts have the option of adopting RTI as part of their learning disability identification process.

Network of Resources
For students who show a documented need, the state’s public schools have numerous programs and services to address learning disabilities, including special education programs; assistive technology; audiology, psychological, and speech-language services; occupational and physical therapy; and the help of social workers.

“Any child with an IEP is entitled to services, but the help they get depends on the nature of the disability, the severity of it, their age, and other factors,” says Lori Boynton, capacity building manager for the Learning Disabilities Association of Minnesota.

In elementary school, those services are determined by a team that generally consists of the child’s parents, classroom teacher, the school’s special education teachers, and someone from the school administration, but can also include therapists used by the family and other concerned parties.

“The law’s very clear that these kids have to be found [by public schools],” says Boynton. “Once there’s a diagnosis and an IEP, it’s driven by an individual child’s needs and how the team will meet those needs. It’s not about what the parent or the school wants, it’s about what the student needs.”

When students turn fourteen, Boynton says, they must begin formulating a transition plan with the help of parents, educators, and others involved in their case. According to federal and state law, that plan must address five areas of the student’s life after high school: community participation, post-secondary or vocational training, independent living, recreation and leisure, and competitive employment.

Meanwhile, a handful of private facilities in the Twin Cities provide supplemental learning and other services for students with learning disabilities, including Edina-based Huntington Learning Center, Sofia Kafes in Burnsville, and Club Z! in Apple Valley. PACER’s website also has links to many valuable resources.

Groves Academy, in its thirty-sixth year, is the area’s best-known school for students with learning disabilities. Luke Lundgren is now a happy, successful seventh-grader at Groves, which has an enrollment of 175 students who have moved from traditional school settings. Despite the expense of sending a student to a school such as Groves (where annual tuition is $17,350), about 30 percent of Groves students receive scholarships.

“Luke has been there since fifth grade, and they absolutely saved his life,” says Leslie Lundgren. “They make sure he’s mastered what they’ve taught him before he moves on, and that’s so important.”

Luke has plans for college, as well as some creative pursuits. “He wants to build a music production studio,” his mom says. “And he has no doubt that he can do it.”