Any form of impairment or a combination of impairments, be it cognitive, mental, intellectual or physical is called a disability. Disabilities substantially affect the life of a person suffering from them and in extreme conditions can destroy the presence of such a person and his or her loved ones lives as well. For a better and comfortable life to be achieved for a person with a disability, it is essential to identify the impairment as early as possible so that the necessary support systems will be put in place. Some cases of disability require more attention as compared to other forms of disability. Intellectual disability, for example, needs to be identified early on in the affected person’s life.
The government and non-profit organizations have been responsible for taking care of people with disabilities. Through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, the government identifies children suffering from different forms of disabilities and put them through specialized education programs. The respective education programs are usually tailored to the particular disability that has been identified in a child following expert assessment. Analyzing, the Special Education Regulations in Georgia, this paper identifies disabilities that require assessment of intelligence to establish the eligibility of a child for special education services.
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"Special Education Regulations in Georgia".
Intellectual Disability (ID) is any form of impairment that affects the intellectual functioning of a person. Intellectual disability refers to significantly subaverage mental functioning which exists concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior. Such deficiencies will adversely affect the education of a child regarding performance and progress. However, Intellectual disability does not include conditions that are primarily caused by physical impairment, traumatic brain injury or cultural influences.
Evaluation and assessment of children are done through some intelligence tests which are conducted by a qualified professional. This test is done on the children on an individual basis, and upon completion, a group of skilled specialists and the parents of the child determine whether the child has any disability. These evaluation tests include and not limited to standard IQ tests for checking intellectual functioning and standardized adaptive behavior measures normalized on the general population.
After the successful conduction of tests, the results determine the eligibility and placement of the child. A child may be categorized as having an intellectual disability when a comprehensive evaluation indicates deficits in both mental functioning and adaptive behavior. Concerning the reports obtained from the tests, the child is placed in one of four categories of DI and then put through a program suitable for that category. Another form of impairment that requires assessment of the intelligence of a person is Specific Learning Disability (SLD). It is defined as a disorder in one or more of the psychological processes involved in understanding or usage of language both written and spoken. It also includes conditions of perceptual disability, brain injury, dyslexia and developmental aphasia.
The Evaluation and assessment processes are done through a collection of data on the child’s strengths and weaknesses in regards to areas such as, performance, achievement or both, relative age which include the state-approved grade-level standards and intellectual development. This data will be obtained mostly from the academic records and teacher observations from the school of the child. After a successful evaluation, if a child is confirmed to be suffering from Specific Learning Disorder, they are put in a unique education program that will help them maintain their strengths and improve on their weaknesses. Apart from the two mentioned disabilities above, there exist other forms of impairment that require the assessment of intelligence before a child is eligible for placement in a unique education program.
