No free, appropriate, public education for most neuropsychologically referred outpatients.

Abstract

The current study arose out of the observation that children and teens were being referred for outpatient neuropsychological assessment because the public schools were not addressing parents’ concerns. These youngsters were identified for placement in special education based on “Speech or Language Impairment” or “Specific Learning Disability,” only to be found through neuropsychological assessment to have full-scale IQs at or below 70, raising questions about why these youngsters were not made eligible for special education based on “Intellectual Disability.” Another concern was that many of these neuropsychologically referred youngsters may not be receiving services whatsoever within the public schools. The sample comprised a total of 363 English-speaking participants from the border area of New Mexico and Texas, between the ages of 6 and 20 years, all of whom were referred for outpatient, clinical neuropsychological assessment. Dependent variables included full-battery IQ, adaptive functioning, and executive functioning. Many participants had never been identified for placement in special education and yet were found to have full-scale IQs in the borderline intellectual functioning range (i.e., 71 to 84) accompanied by significantly lower adaptive functioning scores, compared with what is normal on a national level. Additionally, 152 participants (41.9% of the entire sample) had a full-scale IQ of 84 or lower but had never been identified by the schools as needing special education. These results pose challenges to public schools receiving federal funding, given their mandate to provide students with a free, appropriate, public education.

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