Students in the BC curriculum are required to perform an assessment. The assessments are to help identify if anyone will have a learning disability. It can be in the form of a curriculum-based assessment, standardized achievement tests and/or portfolis of student work. Initially the assessment are used to update the portfolios of the students, but they are also there to help for early identification and early intervention.
First, to identify that a student has a learning disability, you will need to meet the following criterias:
1. persistent difficulty learning and
2. average or above average cognitive ability and
3. weakness in coginitive processing.
The assessments tests are designed to help us identify students with learning disabilities.
Persistent in learning includes the following:
- oral language skills development difficulties in listening, speaking and understanding (comprehension)
- learning skills that are needed for academic use, such as learning letters and numbers for reading and mathematics
- lack of executive functioning
- lack of social cues
However, it does not include:
- not attending school regularly
- cultural or linguistic differences
- sensory deficits
- social emotional needs
- other health related problems
After the assessment process, the parents can decide the next steps for their child. Below is a chart that compromises a flow of which directions lead to certain paths.
