Evaluation of the Child With a Learning Disorder

In order to appreciate our approach to the evaluation of a child with a learning disorder it is necessary to provide some background material. The total population of the state of Mississippi consists of 2.2 million people of which 900,000 did not complete high school and 400,000 did not complete grade school. There are no publicly financed kindergartens and no compulsory school attendance laws in this state. Eighty-eight percent of the children who attend school are, however, educated in the public school system. The state is divided into 150 separate school districts and 1,140 special education teachers are provided for the entire state. Of these special education teachers, 1,000 are assigned to classes for the mentally retarded and the remaining 140 teachers provide instruction for children with specific learning disorders. In the Jackson Separate School District which includes the largest metropolitan area in the state there are 27,496 students enrolled in the public school system and of that number 852 students are in special education classes. Of these 852 students in special education, 644 are classified as educable mentally retarded, 100 are classified as trainable mentally retarded, and 108 are classified as having specific learning disabilities. This figure for children with specific learning disabilities is well below the estimated figure of 15% which has been determined by other surveys. The vast majority of children entering the first grade have been exposed to no structured learning situation. Routine testing for school readiness is not done in the public school system. Firstgrade students do receive vision and hearing screening tests which are administered by volunteers through the PTA.