OTHER DISABILITIES

1. OTHER DISABILITIES A study funded by the Chancellor’s Office, awarded to The Galvin Group April, 2011

2. Who cares and why?? Other Disabilities category has grown to 1/3 of all reported disabilities More accurate accounting is needed New Coordinators may need training New Disability categories may be needed How do we represent our needs to the legislature without knowing who we serve?

3. The RFP posed 6 questions: • What different impairments, by number and percent, are being reported in the “Other Disabilities?” • How are students’ disabilities reported under the “Other Disabilities” being documented and verified by the DSPS program?

4. How many students, by number and percent, are originally reported under the “Other Disabilities” and eventually moved to another disability reporting category? • At what point in the student’s educational plan and in the reporting cycle are students who are being temporarily reported in this category moved to a different reporting category?

5. How many colleges, within their existing MIS systems, are internally coding students reported to the state under “Other Disabilities” as having a more specific disability type? • What are the average costs of each of the various disabilities reported under “Other Disabilities”?

6. What motivates a DSPS staff to use “Other?”

7. The project planned 6 activities: Online survey of 115 colleges and centers for information on students served in the “Other Disabilities” category. Partnering with a minimum of 20 colleges for comprehensive review of student files for those designated in the “Other Disabilities” MIS data reporting category.

8. One-on-one interviews with a minimum of 30 colleges regarding the “Other Disabilities” category are underway. • Town Hall meeting at CAPED 2011 has been scheduled for October 18, 2011.

9. Partnering with a minimum of 8 colleges in order to conduct a comprehensive data and cost analysis of serving students designated in the “Other Disabilities” MIS data reporting category. • Thorough review of all pertinent literature, laws and regulations regarding Weighted Student Counts.

10. Plans for Year Two of the Study To be conducted October 1, 2011 through March 31, 2012

11. Activity One: File review 6066 files were reviewed Data now being analyzed

12. Activity Two: Longitudinal Study 8 colleges and 2633 student records from 2009-10 to be analyzed

13. Activity Three: Costs of service delivery Survey of costs of delivering DSPS services Data combined with results from activities 1 and 2 to develop profiles of service usage by cohort

14. 11 8 Activity Four: One-on-one interviews Interviews with DSPS staff to tease out issues arising from survey and data collection

15. Activity Five: The Final Report Study completed…results published…changes ahead…

16. Some Context to Get Started

17. Some Context to Get Started, continued 111 out of 115 colleges responded Mean % in “Other” = 31.5% Median % in “Other” = 32% Range: 1.05% to 65.5% Standard deviation = 12.5% Standard Error = 1.2% Variance = 1.5%

18. Who determines if a student should be included in the “Other Disabilities” category?

19. Who determines disability category, continued

20. Who determines disability category, continued

21. Initial Observations Significantly less in “Other Disabilities” category with 2 or fewer “Determiners” Size of College not a factor Need for consistency and standardization Need for training and comprehensive guidance

22. What types of disabling conditions has your college served under “Other”?

23. Disabling Conditionsin “Other: please specify*” • Alcohol/Substance Abuse • Anxiety • Arthritis • Asthma • Back Injury • Cerebral Palsy • Chronic Fatigue • Fibromyalgia • Hepatitis • High Risk Pregnancy • Hypertension • Hypoglycemia • IQ gap • Kidney Disease • Liver Disease • LD K-12 documentation/not sufficient for the / LD model • Lupus • Lyme Disease • Mental Retardation w/o cognitive scores • Multiple Sclerosis • Myelopathy • Pulmonary Disease • Rare Genetic Disorders • Scotopic Vision • Seizure Disorder • Speech Disorders • Anything not otherwise covered

24. Initial Observations The extent of medical knowledge needed to appropriately assess the educational limitations of a population with this variety of medical conditions is vast and complex. Asperger’s Syndrome is included in the commonly held definition of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Once again, the responses point toward a need for standardization in category definitions, guidelines and training on categorization of disabling conditions.

25. What sources of documentation are used to determine eligibility for “Other” category? *Other Responses Licensed Marriage/Family Therapist Agency History Reference

26. What category does your college use to classify Autism Spectrum Disorder?

27. What category does your college use to classify Asperger's Syndrome?

28. Initial Observations Autism is under Psychological conditions - Citation DSM-IV Asperger’s Syndrome is under Autism Potential conflict colleges face… correct placement vs. money? ADD/ADHD – same issue

29. Where do you initially place students whomay be LD but have not completed the LDESM process?

30. Initial Observations Disparity of service and consistency across colleges for service provision

31. How would you describe your college demographic Urban/Suburban/Rural?

32. What is your current DSPS staffing?

33. In terms of obtaining timely referrals and documentation how would you rate your college’s outside relationships?

34. In terms of obtaining timely referrals and documentation, how would you rate your college’s outside relationships?

35. Initial Observations Does not appear to be a significant variable

36. What is your most common practice and/or procedure for serving students while awaiting documentation?

37. Common Practice while awaiting documentation, continued

38. Initial Observations Disparity across colleges and potential inequities exist across the state The slippery slope of provisional services

39. What are your main reasons for using the “Other Disabilities” MIS reporting category?

40. Other Responses Other categories are not inclusive We have no LD Specialist to do testing presently Documentation is insufficient, nonspecific, incomplete Vagueness of records: clearly indicates a disability but not a diagnosis We have a list of disabilities and use this as a specific category at this time When the verified disability does not match the criteria of the other categories Students in this category have obvious learning issues that require accommodations They may not meet LD eligibility criteria, but have a history of services, a disability and functional limitations Sometimes there are disabilities and educational limitations that simply do not fit into the specific categories

41. Initial Observations Interviews validate inconsistency in use of “Other” Inconsistences between and within colleges

42. Please share any other comments, thoughts or concerns that you have related to the “Other Disabilities” category

43. Thoughts We need to fix Other. It should not be a catch all. We should create new categories for data tracking purposes. Psych should be fixed. It is our second most expensive category. Vs. We are pretty comfortable with the use of this category, though it makes sense to provide separate categories for Autism spectrum, ADD/ADHD, and general health limitations.

44. File Review Preview 6169 Records Sampled