How much time should a teacher spend attempting different strategies before the child is finally diagnosed or labeled as “learning disabled”?
Well, that depends. Researchers have demonstrated that providing explicit, high quality instruction to students can significantly reduce the number of students who are not reading or reading poorly, and who would thus be referred for special education. Teachers should always be monitoring how well students are learning over time. If a teacher has provided explicit instruction and most students have learned the particular aspects of reading being taught, and then she or he has tried differentiating instruction to the needs of a particular student and that student is still struggling, then it’s definitely time to look more deeply into why a student is not learning. At that point, the teacher should ask the team of professionals who work with the teacher for help in assessing the student’s abilities and difficulties.
