New Disability Criteria for Special Education Identification

During the 2020-2021 school year, disability category criteria was updated for speech or language impairment, emotional behavioral disability, and deaf and hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired. In addition a new disability category and identification criteria was added to Wisconsin state rule for deafblind and an emergency rule was passed relating to identification of specific learning disability when students are located in a private or homeschool educational setting.  This presentation will review key aspects of updated criteria within the framework of a comprehensive special education evaluation.

Learning Objectives:

Daniel Parker is the Assistant Director of Special Education at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Ryan McNamara is a School Administration Consultant with the Wisconsin Department of Instruction. He assists educators and families in special education compliance. He received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin.