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Karen Rooney, CAN Coordinator for the Division for Learning Disabilities, provides brief reports for TeachingLD.org so that visitors can keep informed about important developments in policies affecting students with learning disabilities and their teachers. TeachingLD.org is pleased to offer this page as a place for people concerned with learning disabilities to keep up to date.
18 August 2003
August has arrived and the Senate and House have recessed for the month. The time is right to contact your local Senator and Representative to voice your opinion about the reauthorization of IDEA. The House has introduced HR1350 and the Senate has introduced S1248; the House passed its bill and the Senate bill is out of committee and is expected to be in the mark-up process as soon as the recess ends.
When the Senate and House have both passed the bills, a conference Committee will be appointed to negotiate a final version. This final version will be presented to both the Senate and House for a final vote. If passed, the final version that came out of the Conference Committee will become law after being signed by the President.
Now is the time to contact your Senators and Representatives. Soon it will be too late. We need to oppose HR 1350 and support the Senate's bill (S1248) but we need to make it clear that the identification of specific learning disabilities must be based on a comprehensive evaluation, not response-to-intervention. The entire premise of specific learning disabilities is based on the concept of significant discrepancies so an evaluation is necessary for appropriate identification. Response-to-treatment may be caused by many factors and has not been used to identify specific learning disabilities.
Please don't wait. Contact your Senator or Representative today.
Karen Rooney
CAN Coordinator, DLD
