Mount Union Area School District

Mount Union Area School District implements a prereferral process; such as and Instructional Support Team or Child Study Team to screen and identify students who may be in need of learning support services. This prereferral team always consists of the parent of the child and teachers involved with the child. The team could also include the counselors, building administrators, bus drivers, specialists, physicians, outside agencies and any other individual having information regarding the individual child. After prereferral interventions have been in place the team determines if there is a need for a psychoeducational evaluation. The team will issue a referral that includes demographic information and any pertinent medical/health information to the Special Education Office. Then the Special Education Office will issue a Permission to Evaluate and Procedural Safeguards to the parent. Once the Permission to Evaluate is received the MUASD will proceed in gathering information as indicated on the Permission to Evaluate. This could involve ability testing, achievement testing, behavioral rating scales, adaptive behavior rating scales and any other information relating to the individual child. Once the school District has the evaluation results gathered, a Multidisciplinary Team is convened by the District's School Psychologist. The team will review all the information and use the information to determine by consensus if the student is a student with Specific Learning Disability. The primary diagnosis of Specific Learning Disability is based on a discrepancy between the student's Aptitude and Achievement as measured by standardized, norm referenced assessments, or by a pattern of strengths or weaknesses relative to age or grade. The District reviews all exclusionary factors that suggest that a student may not be a student with Specific Learning Disability if the primary reason for the students inability to meet age and grade level standards may be related to any of the following: Vision, hearing or motor problems; mental retardation, emotional disturbance; cultural and/or environmental issues; or Limited English proficiency.