Ethical and Empirical Considerations in the Identification of Learning Disabilities

Abstract

The authors encourage those in the field of school psychology to consider the use of learning disabilities assessment practices in relation to specific American Psychological Association and National Association of School Psychologists ethical codes and in regard to the American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and National Council on Measurement in Education test standards. The authors also ask the field to consider the evidence regarding the role of response-to-intervention data and cognitive processing assessment in learning disabilities identification as the field continues its move away from the discrepancy model. The absence of an efficient and accurate method of learning disabilities identification may disproportionately affect children of lower socioeconomic status and minorities who may not be able to access services outside of the public school system. The authors posit that consideration of the issues presented in this article should help raise questions and promote fruitful discussion among researchers and practitioners alike regarding ethical assessment practices in identifying learning disabilities. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the field has been formally challenged to consider learning disabilities identification procedures in relation to ethical codes and test standards.