What's New?

How Do I Know if My Child Needs Special Education?

As noted in Who receives special education?, to be eligible for special education a child must 1) have a disability, and 2) have the need for special education confirmed by an evaluation team.

Some indications that your child may have a disability in order to meet the first part of the two-part definition are:

• Exhibits an emotional disturbance over a long period of time that affects his or her ability to learn
• Consistent problems in getting along with others
• Difficulty communicating
• Lack of interest or ability in age-appropriate activities
• Resistance to change
• Difficulty seeing or hearing that interferes with the ability to communicate
• Health problems that affect educational performance
• Difficulty performing tasks that require reading, writing or mathematics

As a result of such disabilities, to make progress in school your child may need specially designed instruction that typically is not needed by other students in the general education classroom.

This need for special education is the second part of the two-part decision to qualify a student for special education services. Pennsylvania has screening and evaluation processes in place to assess your child and confirm his or her need for special education.