Identifying Students with Disabilities

Each local educational agency and public school academy in Michigan is required to publicly post the process used to determine the existence of a Specific Learning Disability (SLD).

Consistent with this requirement, Allendale Public Schools reports the following:

For grades kindergarten through 5th grade, in the area of Basic Reading, Allendale Public Schools is beginning the implementation of a Response to Scientific, Research-Based Intervention process for literacy intervention.

For determination of a SLD, a Pattern of Strengths and Weaknesses (PSW) process is used for students in kindergarten through 12th grade for the skill area of Basic Reading. This process is also used across all other areas of SLD, kindergarten through 12th grade, which includes: Oral Expression, Listening Comprehension, Written Expression, Reading Comprehension, Reading Fluency, Math Calculation, and Math Problem Solving.

It is noted that regardless of the process used, all schools must follow all of the regulatory requirements in the IDEA, the MARSE, and Michigan laws, policies and procedures for special education.

For more questions and answers about identifying students with disabilities, see Michigan Criteria for Determining the Existence of a Specific Learning Disability