TExES Educational Diagnostician (253)

The chapters follow the order of real work. Chapter 1.1 lays out the eligibility categories used in Texas and the two-part test every eligibility decision must pass. Chapter 1.2 explains Child Find and your role in helping the district meet it. Chapter 1.3 covers risk factors and early warning signs, Chapter 1.4 covers disproportionality and emergent bilingual students, Chapter 1.5 explains how to gather information from many sources, and Chapter 1.6 shows how evaluation results connect to goals and services. The technical side of testing (statistics, test selection, administration and timelines for planning the evaluation) is in Section 2, interpretation and the FIIE report are in Section 3, and the legal rights that surround all of this are in Section 7.

This chapter explains who qualifies for special education and related services in Texas. You will learn the thirteen Texas eligibility categories, the two questions every eligibility decision must answer, and which professionals must contribute to the evaluation for each category. Many test questions hinge on one of these details: a student who has a disability but does not need specially designed instruction, an evaluation that is missing a required professional, or a category that does not exist under Texas rules.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) entitles every eligible child with a disability to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). In Texas, IDEA is carried out through Texas Education Code chapter 29 and the Commissioner's rules in 19 TAC chapter 89. Federal regulations define the disability categories; Texas rules add state-specific criteria and the required evaluation personnel for several categories. When the federal and state rules differ in wording, a Texas district follows both, which usually means following the more specific Texas requirement.

The admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) committee, Texas's IEP team, makes the eligibility decision. The diagnostician does not decide eligibility alone. Your job is to plan and conduct a sound evaluation, help integrate the findings, write the Full and Individual Initial Evaluation (FIIE) report, and explain to the committee what the data show.

Eligibility under IDEA always requires two findings:

The student has a disability that meets the criteria for at least one eligibility category, and

Because of that disability, the student needs special education, meaning specially designed instruction (and, where needed, related services).

Both prongs are required. A student with a diagnosed condition who is learning well with general education supports does not meet the second prong. A student who is struggling for reasons that are not a disability (for example, many missed school days or a lack of appropriate instruction) does not meet the first prong.

Specially designed instruction means adapting the content, methodology or delivery of instruction to address the unique needs that result from the disability and to ensure access to the general curriculum so the student can meet the standards that apply to all students. Accommodations alone, such as extra time, usually do not amount to specially designed instruction.

Classroom Example: Fourth grader Mateo has a physician's diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. With preferential seating, a visual schedule and short movement breaks, he reads and computes on grade level, completes his work and has no discipline referrals. Mr. Nguyen, the educational diagnostician, notes that Mateo's condition could meet the first prong under other health impairment, but nothing in the data shows a need for specially designed instruction. The ARD committee would likely find him not eligible under IDEA, and the campus Section 504 committee should consider whether he qualifies for a 504 plan for his accommodations.

Common Trap: Treating a private evaluation or a physician's diagnosis as automatic eligibility. Outside reports must be considered by the ARD committee, but eligibility is a school decision based on all the data and on both prongs.

Texas uses thirteen categories. Twelve parallel the federal list; Texas combines deafness and hearing impairment into one category called auditory impairment and adds noncategorical early childhood for young children.

Texas Eligibility Categories at a Glance

Memory Aid: Remember the professionals tied to specific categories with "Hear the Doctor, See the Specialist, Feel the Psychologist, Speak to the SLP." Auditory impairment needs a physician and an audiologist; visual impairment needs an eye specialist and a vision teacher; emotional disturbance needs an LSSP, psychologist or psychiatrist; speech impairment needs a speech-language pathologist. Other health impairment and orthopedic impairment both need a licensed physician.

Learning disability. A student may be identified with a learning disability when achievement is not adequate for the student's age or grade-level standards in one or more areas (basic reading skills, reading fluency, reading comprehension, written expression, mathematics calculation, mathematics problem solving, oral expression, listening comprehension), and the team finds either insufficient response to scientific, research-based intervention, or a pattern of strengths and weaknesses relevant to the identification. The team must also document that the student received appropriate instruction by qualified personnel with repeated assessments of progress, and that the low achievement is not primarily the result of a visual, hearing or motor disability, intellectual disability, emotional disturbance, cultural factors, environmental or economic disadvantage, or limited English proficiency. Dyslexia is typically identified under this category in basic reading skills and/or reading fluency; dyslexia instruction is covered in Section 4.3, and pattern-of-strengths-and-weaknesses analysis is covered in Section 3.3.

Intellectual disability. The student shows significantly subaverage intellectual functioning, roughly two or more standard deviations below the mean (a standard score of about 70 or lower on a scale with mean 100 and standard deviation 15), considering the measurement error of the test, together with concurrent deficits in adaptive behavior, both manifested during the developmental period. A low cognitive score without adaptive deficits does not meet the criteria.

Emotional disturbance. The condition is long-standing and marked in degree, adversely affects educational performance, and shows one or more of the federally listed characteristics (such as an inability to learn not explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors; inability to build or maintain satisfactory relationships; inappropriate behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems). Students who are socially maladjusted are not included unless they also meet the criteria. In Texas, the evaluation must include an LSSP, licensed psychologist or psychiatrist.

Other health impairment. Limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli that results in limited alertness to the educational environment, due to chronic or acute health problems (for example ADHD, epilepsy, diabetes, asthma, sickle cell disease or a heart condition), that adversely affects educational performance. A licensed physician's information is part of the evaluation.

Noncategorical early childhood. Texas allows children ages 3 through 5 who are evaluated and meet the criteria for intellectual disability, emotional disturbance, learning disability or autism to be served under the noncategorical early childhood label rather than a specific category. This avoids an early label while still giving the child services. Check the current Commissioner's rules in 19 TAC chapter 89 for the exact conditions.

Common Trap: Choosing "developmental delay" as a Texas category. Federal law lets states use developmental delay for young children, but Texas uses noncategorical early childhood instead.

Questions often describe an evaluation plan and ask what is missing. Build the habit of checking the plan against the suspected category.

Who Must Be Involved, by Suspected Disability

Classroom Example: Dr. Okafor, an educational diagnostician, receives a referral for seventh grader Kiara, whose teachers report severe anxiety, school avoidance and withdrawal. Dr. Okafor plans academic testing, classroom observations and parent and teacher rating scales. Before the plan goes forward, she adds the campus LSSP, because emotional disturbance is a suspected area and Texas rules require that professional. She also notes that the evaluation must cover all areas of suspected disability, so she schedules a review of Kiara's health history with the school nurse.

A finding of eligibility answers whether the student qualifies. It does not decide where or how the student is served. After eligibility, the ARD committee writes the IEP and then chooses a placement in the least restrictive environment. A category name never dictates a classroom; a student with autism may be served entirely in general education with support, and a student with a learning disability may need an intensive resource setting for part of the day. Placement and the continuum of services are covered in Section 4.2 and Section 7.5.

Exam Tip: Answers that move straight from a category to a setting ("students with intellectual disabilities go to the life skills class") are almost always wrong. The correct answer ties services to the individual student's needs.

Eligibility requires two findings: a disability that meets category criteria and a resulting need for specially designed instruction.

Texas uses thirteen categories, including auditory impairment (in place of deafness and hearing impairment) and noncategorical early childhood for ages 3 through 5.

Several categories require specific professionals: LSSP, psychologist or psychiatrist for emotional disturbance; physician and audiologist for auditory impairment; eye specialist and vision teacher for visual impairment; SLP for speech impairment; physician for other health and orthopedic impairments.

Intellectual disability requires both significantly subaverage intellectual functioning and concurrent adaptive deficits.

The ARD committee, not the diagnostician alone, decides eligibility, and eligibility does not determine placement.