Spring 2019 Workshop: Best Practices in School Psychologist Assessments, Eligibility Recommendations and Report Writing with Dr. James Hiramoto

Session 1: Specific Learning Disability Assessment and Eligibility: Stuck with the Discrepancy Model but want to use psw, here's how!

What you will walk away from this workshop knowing:

• PSW is not all that different from what is required for the discrepancy model
• How to define all 8 basic cognitive processing areas (yes, including cognitive conceptualization, association and expression, and where might orthographic processing fit in)
• When to abandon trying to find a discrepancy between ability and achievement and how to do it appropriately
• Analysis of complex cases/reports where there is something obviously wrong with the students' learning, but the discrepancy model and PSW for that matter aren't very helpful
• Data-based decision making for determining SLD eligibility, including how to be Larry P compliant for students who are African American

Session 2 (12:30pm - 3:30pm): Defensible Intellectual Disability (ID) Identification and Recommendations!

After attending this workshop school psychologists will be better able to:

• Understand how ID is currently being defined by AAIDD, DSM-5 and in Special Education
• The best practices for the assessment of ID, including authentic, developmental and alternative assessment procedures and examples of written reports
• Make meaningful recommendations when a student cannot perform on a standardized test of intelligence, including how to be Larry P. compliant when assessing African American students
• Make the case for (or against) Intellectual Disability with your data and report writing
• Develop a relationship, assessment and presentation of information that is convincing to even skeptical parents and IEP teams