In Burnaby, the process of giving a student a special education designation is two parts. The first part requires a diagnosis or recognition of other exceptional learning need. Some diagnoses are a result of an assessment done by a school psychologist (such as a Learning Disability or Intellectual Disability), some are made by a community-based or medical specialist (such as Autism Spectrum Disorder or Generalized Anxiety Disorder), and sometimes there is no diagnosis but there is other information gathered by the parents, school and other sources. The next step is to determine whether the information and supports required for the student meet the British Columbia Ministry of Education Special Education designation category. School psychologists designate students for some categories, and other district personnel designate students for other categories.
Special Education categories have been established by the British Columbia Ministry of Education to assist school districts in identifying the needs of students and providing appropriate educational supports for them. These categories are designed to focus on the educational needs of students, rather than the cause of those needs. Identifying (“designating”) students in a Special Education category requires not only careful determination and/or review of the diagnosis, but also of the nature, impact and extent of educational services required. A diagnosis or identification of a special learning need or medical condition does not in itself automatically mean that the student will require special education services significant enough to warrant a designation in a special education category.
All students with designations are required to have an Individual Education Plan (IEP). The IEP must be current for the school year in order to maintain the designation.
Brief Information about Designation Categories and Additional Funding
The Ministry of Education has established a funding model for channeling additional funding to districts with identified special needs. Below are the current twelve (12) designation categories. In most cases, low incidence designations require higher levels of supports and services. Designations A to H are considered “low incidence” and have three levels of supplemental funding, with Level 1 receiving the highest amount. Designations K to R are considered “high incidence”, and do not receive additional funding. It is important to understand that the additional funding is provided to the school district. It is not given directly to the individual school that the student attends or directly to the students themselves.
How does a student receive a designation?
Sometimes students enter the school system and are assigned a Special Education category (designation) early on in their schooling, sometimes even prior to their first day of Kindergarten. These children usually have complex needs that were identified or diagnosed sometime between birth and beginning Kindergarten. A school district specialist or a team of specialists reviews the existing information including medical reports, information from preschool teachers, support workers and therapists, and information from parents to determine which designation category appropriately describes the student’s needs and required supports, so that as much of that can be put into place early on in the school year.
Low incidence designations (category A to H) can also be given at any point in a child’s schooling, as long the appropriate diagnostic information is available. An example is a diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder of a grade 4 student, made by a qualified practitioner following British Columbia standards of diagnosis for Autism. Another example is a student with a diagnosis of Moderate Intellectual Disability made by a school psychologist.
Most children identified in a Special Education category are in the “high incidence” categories (category K to R), and often are not formally identified until attending school for some time. Categories that sometimes arise from assessments by school psychologists or from reviewing private assessment reports include Learning Disability, Gifted, and Mild Intellectual Disability. More information about some of the designation categories are in the next section.
Who is involved in our district when a designation is needed?
In all cases where a school psychologist or other itinerant person is needed to determine whether a designation is appropriate, please contact the appropriate specialist and have all assessment and/or other documentation available for review.
SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS IN BURNABY CAN DESIGNATE THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:
Learning Disability (category Q)
Learning disabilities refers to difficulties that may affect the acquisition, organization, retention, understanding or use of verbal or nonverbal information, despite the individual having at least “average” intellect. In order to determine the presence of a Learning Disability, psych-ed assessments will include measures of cognitive processing and academic functioning. Learning disabilities can also affect other areas besides academics, such as social skills, executive functioning and perspective taking, and might co-occur with other diagnoses.
It is also important to rule out contributing factors such as poor attendance, not having an adequate level of English, recent or ongoing traumas in a child’s life that may affect concentration or comfort level in the assessment, unknown medical conditions, persistence/history of the learning challenges, or lack of opportunity to have some remediation or interventions to see if they respond and improve. This is why the pre-referral process (see Pre-referral Process) is so important, and why the school psychologist has many questions (such as what types of learning supports have already been tried) or requests (such as vision and hearing checks) prior to proceeding to a psych-ed assessment.
The information above is one way to designate a student with a learning disability, and currently the B.C. Ministry of Education is also accepting a Learning Disability diagnosis based on DMS-V criteria.
Gifted (category P)
A student who demonstrates abilities that give evidence of exceptionally high capability in one or more areas with respect to intellect, creativity, or the skills associated with specific disciplines may be considered as gifted. Some may also have accompanying disabilities and should not be expected to have strengths in all areas of intellectual functioning. In the Burnaby public school district, sometimes a student is found to be Gifted through a psycho-educational assessment (Intellectual Giftedness) and meets criteria for a designation of Gifted (P), either alone or in combination with another designation (such as Gifted/Learning Disability or “Twice Exceptional”). A school may also follow a process, with consultation from a teacher from the Advanced Learners teaching team, to designate a student as Gifted, without a psycho-educational assessment or needing a designation from a school psychologist.
Mild Intellectual Disability (category K)
Students with intellectual disabilities have general intellectual functioning well below what is considered an “average IQ”, as well as a similar level of delay in adaptive functioning. Students can experience intellectual disabilities across a range: mild to profound. A diagnosis of intellectual disability should only be made when a student has significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and adaptive functioning. A student with a Mild intellectual disability has intellectual functioning that is 2 or more standard deviations below the mean on an individually administered Level C assessment instrument of intellectual functioning (generally an IQ level between 55-69) and has limitations of similar degree in adaptive functioning appropriate to the student’s age.
Moderate to Profound Intellectual Disability (category C)
A student with a Moderate to Profound intellectual disability has intellectual functioning that is 3 or more standard deviations below the mean on an individually administered Level C assessment instrument of intellectual functioning (generally an IQ level below 55) and has limitations of similar degree in adaptive functioning appropriate to the student’s age.
Physical Disability/Chronic Health (category D)
The school psychologist can review medical documentation to determine whether a student might meet the criteria for Physical Disability/Chronic Health. In some cases, the information is reviewed by a Designation Committee to decide if the criteria for Category D is met.
A student may meet criteria for Physical Disability/Chronic Health based on the need for special educational services due to a nervous system impairment that significantly impacts movement or mobility; a musculoskeletal condition; and/or a chronic health impairment that seriously impacts a student’s education and achievement. A medical diagnosis, by itself, does not determine the need for special educational services by students with physical disabilities or chronic health impairments. Students are only eligible in this category if their functioning and education is significantly affected by their physical disabilities or chronic health impairments. Two students with the same physical disability or medical condition may have very different levels of need.
Some students may have a medical condition, for example a seizure disorder, that is well-controlled with medication and it is unlikely that the child will have a seizure at school, and the child is doing well academically. In such cases, children may require an Emergency Medical Plan just in case a seizure were to happen, but will not require Special Education services or major changes to the curriculum and therefore does not need a Physical Disability/Chronic Health designation.
These designations should also be reviewed annually, since medical and physical needs and interventions can change.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (category G)
In Burnaby SD41 a school psychologist reviews the ASD assessment documentation to determine whether a student can be designated under Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a term used to describe a group of lifelong neurodevelopmental disabilities characterized by the manifestation of behaviour characteristics across several areas of functioning. ASD can affect social relationships, communication/language, range of interests, and sensory responsiveness. The impact of ASD can range from mild to severe, and may improve or change across an individual`s life.
In British Columbia, only certain medical specialists can diagnose ASD.
The Ministry of Education uses the definition of ASD as defined in the Standards and Guidelines for the Assessment and Diagnosis of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in British Columbia. For all children and youth with a documented diagnosis of ASD from another province in Canada who have moved to British Columbia, a confirmation of diagnosis of ASD by a qualified BC specialist should be accepted, provided the confirmation of diagnosis includes a copy of the original assessment and diagnostic report(s). Qualified specialists include paediatricians, psychiatrists, and registered psychologists with broad experience in diagnosing children with autism and developmental disabilities. For more information, please refer to BC Autism Assessment Network here.
CLICK BELOW TO SEE WHICH OTHER DISTRICT PERSONNEL DESIGNATE THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:
Physical Dependent/Multiple Needs (category A)
In Burnaby SD41 a District Learning Support Services teacher designates students who fall in the Physical Dependent/Multiple Needs, usually only after consultation with specialized medical personnel. A student with dependent needs is completely dependent on others for meeting all major daily living needs: feeding, dressing, toileting, mobility and personal hygiene. Without such intense assistance and personal care support, attendance at school would not be possible. Some students are born with conditions or disabilities that make them dependent, others acquire conditions or disabilities, or have a degenerative condition or terminal illness that eventually requires a very high degree of support. The information required for a designation is best obtained through a multi-disciplinary assessment, such as those done through Sunny Hill Hospital.
Deaf-Blind (category B)
In Burnaby SD41 a District Vision Support teacher reviews the medical documentation and designates students who are Deaf-Blind. A student designated as Deaf-Blind has a degree of visual and auditory impairment which, together, results in significant difficulties in developing communicative, educational, adaptive, social and vocational skills. The student’s vision and hearing impairments can range from partial sight to total blindness and from moderate to profound hearing loss. Information about the student’s degree of impairment is best obtained through a multidisciplinary assessment process.
Visual Impairment (category E)
In Burnaby SD41, a teacher of the Visually Impaired reviews documentation to designate. Visual impairment is a generic term that covers a range of difficulties with vision and includes the following categories: blind, legally blind, partially sighted, low vision, and cortically visually impaired. For educational purposes, a student with visual impairment is one whose visual acuity is not sufficient for the student to easily and/or independently participate in everyday activities. The visual impairment interferes with earning and achievement and can result in educational disadvantage without adaptions to the material presentation and environment. Usually there are detailed medical reports related to the student’s vision impairment to help the specialist teacher make the determination of whether criteria for a Visually Impaired designation is met.
Deaf or Hard of Hearing (category F)
In Burnaby SD41 a Teacher of the Deaf or Hard of Hearing diagnose and/or designate a student as Deaf or Hard of Hearing. A student considered to be deaf or hard of hearing is one who has a medically diagnosed hearing loss that results in a substantial educational difficulty. A student who is deaf or hard of hearing has an audiological assessment by an audiologist that affirms a bilateral hearing loss, a unilateral loss with significant speech/language delay, or a cochlear implant. Students with a diagnosis of central auditory processing dysfunction are not considered for this category unless there is an additional diagnosis of peripheral hearing loss. Students in this category receive special educational support from a Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Moderate Behavior Support/Mental Illness (category R)
In Burnaby SD41, School-Based Teams may designate a student as requiring Moderate Behavior Support/Mental Health (Category R). The process of identification and assessment of students with a moderate level of behaviour disorders or mental illness usually begins at the classroom level, although these students are sometimes identified in the community by mental health professionals. To be identified in this category, the behaviours in question should be occurring for a long period of time, and generalize to different settings and individuals in the school. When teachers first notice a problem, they will consult with the parents and attempt strategies to manage the behaviour or support the student in the classroom. If these prove unsuccessful, the teacher may seek assistance from other school-based services or from the school-based team. The teacher’s observations and other information should be incorporated into an identification and assessment process for educational purposes. The school-based team may access other school or district support services, and/or request additional assessment or information from places such as the family’s physician, child and youth mental health services, or other community agencies in the identification and intervention process.
Intense Behavior Support/Mental Illness (category H)
In Burnaby SD41, the District Learning Support Services teacher or District Counsellor, along with the school administrator designate a student as needing Intense Behavior/Mental Illness Support. The beginning of the process of identification may be similar to those students in the Moderate Behavior category, although typically community-based assessment or diagnostic information is also required, along with evidence of school-based support services such as a Functional Behavior Assessment and Safety Plan.
For more specific information about each of the designation categories please visit the Ministry of Education Special Education manual.