Educational Diagnosticians

Dr. Penny Reed is a pioneer in the field of assistive technology assessments. She wrote the WADI, one of the only tools for assessing assistive technology, developed out of a grant for an assistive technology initiative.

The WADI is considered one of the only assessment tools for reporting on assistive technology needs. Find out how to complete free continuing education credits for assistive technology that can be used toward a college certified credits. 

New regulations in Texas allow schools to carry over transfers for summer enrollments with less paperwork and meetings. 

Are MDRs and Outcries eating your lunch? $130 Billion is being allocated to improving mental health in schools. Listen in to the ideas that are being considered. 

The federal government is asking for people like you and me to give your opinion on how Section 504 should be changed. 130 Billion dollars is being allocated for improving mental health in schools.  The idea is that this would happen through 504 plans, but how? Go to the website and give your 2 cents.

American Public Media published a series of investigative articles that revved up the Reading Wars. Despite research that has supported phonics-based programs, Guided Reading programs that depend on the three cuing system continue to be implemented across the nation. The APM articles have created a  push to expose the ineffectiveness of these programs. Lucy Calkins and Fountas and Pinnell hav...

The Meadows Center has a long history of leading the research community to find instructional strategies and interventions to reduce academic risk. 

Jeremy Miciak and his colleague, Jack Fletcher, from the University of Houston Texas Center for Learning Disabilities argue that cognitive testing is not necessary for the identification of SLD through an SLD Manual with the TEA logo on it.  He argues that cognitive testing through any of the 5 PSW methods are not reliable or valid, and that cognitive testing does not do a good job of effecti...

Dr. Nathan Clemens talks to us about the use of screeners for pinpointing children who need intervention.  He explains what makes an assessment a screener, how to compare the quality of screeners, and why we might have some of the screeners we use today.  A student of Edward Shapiro, he hopes to continue the message that the assessment of basic skills is the most relevant information nee...

Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden has done extensive research in Rti, and in the use of CBMs, especially for math calculation skills. She talks about the importance of building calculation fluency, using evidence-based interventions, and the vision of RTi for school improvement. 

Dr. Thea Woodruff headed the Building RTI Capacity project and one of the developers of the Reading Academies.  She describes all the challenges she has experienced in trying to bring progress monitoring through CBMs and other measures to the schools.  She also describes the success stories of some schools who did use the information she taught.  She tells us where to find the RTI r...

To have RTi means to have progress monitoring using CBMs and evidence based interventions available for all students. However, most Texas schools lack the kind of RTi practices that were originally intended for school improvement and to prevent specific learning disabilities.  What has been happening in Texas regarding the status of RTi? Nazzie Pater-Rov does a search and review of the TEA we...

Executive functions play a big role in our ability to attend, empathize, and initiate action to make a change.  Join us as we talk with George McCloskey, Ph. D, who has plans to travel around to various Muslim countries. 

RTi plays an important role in determining the difference between students who are just EL and students who are both EL and have SLD.  Dr. Eric Haas and Dr. Julie Esparza Brown have researched and written about the administrative and instructional techniques that are needed to ensure good evaluation practices for EL students who may also be EL. 

Dr. Julie Alonzo is a pioneer of design for Curriculum Based Measures. CBMs were designed to get the best results with the most conservative use of resources. These quick tests not only give us an idea of where a child is performing, but also provide us with a way to track progress over time. 

Dr. Cherry Lee developed the Dysgraphia Informal Writing Assessment tool while working at TEA.  She tells us how we can use this tool to not only to help us diagnose dysgraphia, but also to track progress.

What have we learned about the neuropsychology of reading disorders? What are the early signs? How do we test for dyslexia? What interventions should we consider?

When recommending interventions, there are gimmicks and there are real solutions.  The federal government tells us that we have to use evidence-based interventions.  ESSA gives us guidelines for understanding the quality of research outcomes for various intervention programs. The What Works Clearinghouse provides a great searchable sight to sort through what the research says.  

The unconventional student has cultural experiences that create very different results for an area we traditionally thought was an innate construct of our cognition.  Carl Romstad tells us how our assessments prove this wrong and helps us to consider what these subtests really tell us about a child's cognition. He explains how he is trying to find more reliable ways to assess a child's Fluid...

Dr. Milton Dehn talks to us about the role of Executive Functioning in our Evaluations.

Georgene Moon has served on the board of several professional organizations.  She tells us why it is important to be involved in organizations like TEDA, TPED, and NCED. 

The authors of CSEP would like to share tips and considerations for making our assessment reports better. 

Ashley Arnold answers our questions about the administration and interpretation of the ABAS III.

Who should serve children with dyslexia? On November 15, 2021, Mike Morath received a very important memo from the Office of Special Education that appears to have answered this question.

What role should attention play in our assessments of cognition