Hypothetical
Consider this hypothetical scenario: A middle school student was evaluated for special education services. She scored average on the WISC-V, and her academic skills were within normal limits. Direct test data was consistent with standardized state testing.
No problem, right? What services would an IEP possibly provide this student? Academically, she’s solid. Cognitively, she’s well-equipped to learn.
Well…
What if this student was on a modified schedule because of self-regulation trouble and left school at 11:30 AM each day? In the evaluation, parent and teacher BRIEF2 showed significant executive dysfunction across multiple settings. A systematic classroom observation also showed a high degree of off-task behavior.
What about now? What services could an IEP provide this student?
In this hypothetical, ten minutes before the case conference, the prospective teacher of record said, “Well, she’s not eligible. She has an average IQ. What would we work on with an IEP?”
Adverse Impact on Education: Two Parts
IEP eligibility meetings can absolutely stall when standardized testing shows average cognitive and academic scores, but the student functionally collapses during transitions, leaves assignments blank, forgets to turn in work, and/or relies on adult prompting to begin tasks. Teams might conclude: “Their scores are in the average range, so they don’t qualify for special education.” This conclusion – and the conclusion of the hypothetical TOR described above – ignores how IDEA separates academic achievement from classroom functioning.
Academic impairment is about subject-specific skills using standardized tests, benchmark assessments, and grade-level curriculum metrics. This measures what knowledge a student has learned compared to their age and/or grade.
Functional impairment measures daily execution of skills (production), which can include things like emotional regulation, behavior regulation, adaptation to demands and environments, and cognitive regulation (like task initiation and working memory). This measures what a student actually does while in school, and we assess it using things like school records, rating scales, and direct observation.
IDEA and Indiana Article 7 defines educational performance as including academic performance and functional performance. Some students may have significant impact on academic performance but do fine functionally. Some students may have significant impact on functional performance but be on track academically. Some students may struggle in both areas.
Some teams may understand IEP eligibility as only related to cognitive and academic skills, but this would be missing a very crucial piece of IDEA and student success: functional deficits that make classroom learning and progress difficult. Kind of like having so much trouble with executive functioning that a middle school student has been moved to a modified day, despite average intellectual and academic skills.
Takeaway
When a hypothetical teacher asks, “What would we work on with an IEP?”, the answer may be teaching self-monitoring strategies, organizational skills, self-regulation skills, or social skills, among many other areas. Adverse educational impact includes functional performance, and specially designed instruction can be far more than curriculum for reading, writing, or math skills.
What kind of specially designed instruction does your district use for functional impairments? Reach out to me to share!
Thanks for reading,
x Emily
