Module 4: The Multidisciplinary Team Process
Introduction
When one does not feel well or experiences some type of discomfort, he/she typically seeks out the advice of medical professionals for a diagnosis, or an understanding of the conditions one is experiencing. When a child is struggling to make progress academically, socially, emotionally, or behaviorally, parents and teachers can seek out the support of educational professionals to help determine what the student might be struggling with and why he or she may be experiencing those difficulties. However, this experience of seeking out support for one’s child can carry several emotions. There may be a sense of relief, appreciation, frustration, guilt, confusion, denial, as well as many other emotions, and any of these emotions may ebb and flow. For more on parents’ emotions, see IRIS | Page 2: Emotional Reactions to Disability (vanderbilt.edu).
Families are likely to respond to information about concerns or a disability in unique ways, sometimes communicating big emotions. For example, a family might become offended or angry when a school professional suggests an evaluation for special education. In these situations, it is important to not take the reaction personally. By remaining calm and actively listening to the family, the school professional can better understand their perspective, how they are feeling (e.g., worry, sadness), and move forward to support the family.
What is a Multidisciplinary Team? What Function Does it Serve?
A multidisciplinary team (MDT) is the group responsible for helping to identify what and why a student is struggling and then offers supports to the child, helping to evaluate the effectiveness of the supports that are put in place.
Who is a part of the Multidisciplinary Team?
Several people may be a part of the MDT team, including general education teachers, special education teachers, counselors/psychologists, social workers, as well as building administrators. They typically work with the child’s classroom teacher to establish what supports have been tried, the outcomes of those supports, and suggested follow-up supports to try with the student.
What is a Multi-Factored, Non-Discriminatory Evaluation?
A big component of the MDT is conducting a multi-factored, non-discriminatory evaluation. This evaluation can help provide additional information about the student’s strengths and areas of need and provides insight into whether the child may have a potential disability.
- This evaluation is provided free of charge to the family and has to be explained and communicated to the family in a language they understand. This includes helping parents understand which assessments will be used and requires consent from the family.
- Evaluations should cover all areas of suspected need for the child; this may include skills that may be addressed with a related service provider (e.g., school psychologist, school counselor, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist).
- While assessments simply provide a snapshot of a student’s performance in time, multiple assessments are preferred in order to give a representative picture of the child’s skills, particularly areas of anticipated need.
- Parents always have the right to an independent educational evaluation (IEE) but are not required to obtain one. However, should a parent obtain this independent educational evaluation, the MDT team must consider the results of the evaluation though they are not required to adopt the recommendations provided in the report. Final decisions on the services that the child will require must be a team decision.
Common assessments include standardized academic achievement tests, cognitive tests, and behavioral rating scales (with parent, teacher, and student self-report forms).
- Academic achievement tests evaluate a student’s performance across common academic skills, including word reading, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, phonological awareness, spelling, sentence writing, essay writing, math computation, and math applications.
- Cognitive or intellectual functioning tests evaluate a student’s potential and cognitive reasoning skills which might address identifying patterns; working, short-term, and long-term memory; and verbal reasoning. These areas connect and relate to academic achievement areas (e.g., memory of language structures is necessary for writing).
- Behavioral rating scales ask different individuals to rate the extent to which a child has engaged in a certain set of behaviors over a given period of time (e.g., missing school, turning in homework, threatening behaviors).
Scores are examined for a level of clinical significance, suggesting that the area is an area of need for the child. Scores across individuals (e.g., parent, teacher, and child) can also be compared to examine whether all agree on the behavioral needs of the child or whether discrepancies exist. Some behavioral assessments will also address a child’s functional behavioral skills, or daily living skills (e.g., tying shoelaces, toileting, dressing independently, cooking food).
To learn more about what is an evaluation for special education, see What Is an Evaluation for Special Education? (understood.org) and view the video Principles of IDEA: Evaluations.
To learn more about special education evaluations and how to interpret results, view the following videos:
Introduction to Special Education Assessments
Understanding Special Education Assessments
When reviewing assessment data with parents of children who are English Learners (ELs), particular attention must be given to the unique role of language. Recently, the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) at the American Institutes for Research (AIR; Sacco et al., 2023), identified five questions that are important to consider when reviewing assessment data for ELs. Specifically, they suggest asking:
- What does a home language survey tell us about the student’s native language development?
- What do informal assessments tell us about the student’s prior education?
- What does an English language proficiency assessment tell us about the student’s current level of language development?
- How can we interpret the student’s language proficiency assessment scores and use this knowledge for instruction?
- What should I consider when selecting and using screening or progress monitoring assessments for ELs?
For the full report, and additional resources from NCII on supporting ELs, see Five Questions to Consider When Reviewing Assessment Data for English Learners | NCII (intensiveintervention.org).
Special Education Eligibility
Central to the MDT process is whether a student qualifies as a child with one of the 13 disability categories protected under the IDEA. The student must not only possess the disability, but the disability must adversely impact the child’s academic performance. The IDEA defines the 13 disability categories with the qualifying criteria. See Sec. 300.8 (c) – Individuals with Disabilities Education Act for each of the respective disability category descriptions.
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Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 13 Disability Categories |
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Many states describe their special education procedures on their state department of education website. Some states, like the state of Nebraska, provide tip sheets addressing the various components. For example, see this tip sheet from the state of Nebraska: Evaluation for Special Education (ne.gov)
- https://caretobedifferent.co.uk/can-the-mdt-panel-refuse-to-proceed-if-i-have-an-advocate/ ↵
