The Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team

In order to ascertain a student’s eligibility for special education services. The Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team participates in the assessment and re-evaluation process. The team, which is in charge of screening kids who may have difficulties, often comprises of at least two qualified individuals with experience in several training fields. Members of MET are interested in learning more about kids’ physical prowess, conduct, speech, vision, and other essential areas of development. Then, if the child qualifies for early intervention services, they make that determination and provide the needy youngster with the assistance they require to address their particular requirements (Oudeens and Borison, 2002). This essay analyzes Scott, a six-year-old who was the subject of a MET study.

Additional specialist and individual included in MET team

Psychologist, special education teacher, early intervention Case Manager, and Specialists.

Psychologists

Psychologists are professionals who study, evaluate, diagnose and treat human behavior and mental processes. They work in a variety therapeutical contexts and are in the broader categories of the educational, clinical and counseling physiologist (Weaver and Cousins, 2004).

Scott’s Behavior

Scott is clearly behaving abnormally. While he is only six years and only in first grade, he exhibits a character akin to that of a grown up individual. He is constantly in motion, knows everything about local and public buildings, the number of windows and door, the date each of the building was built and even the exact number of bricks used to build the identified building. Scott’s behavior is far away from good. He is easily frustrated, and when he does, he throws, hits and kicks things and shows disrespect to his parents. A child psychologist will be a very crucial member of the MET team. An educational psychologist, on the one hand, should be able to understand Scott’s thought processes and interpret those thoughts to guide appropriate mental health treatment. He should be able to identify the family contexts, atmosphere, expectations and behavior of all family members that shape the educational development of Scott. A clinical psychologist should, on the other hand, be able to understand the psychologically based distress that bedevils needy children and as such, promote their well-being while enhancing their personal development (Weaver and Cousins, 2004). Such psychologist should explain Scott’s unusual behavior of defiance, refusal to follow the rules and lack of interest in certain activities and provide long-lasting solutions.

Special Education Teacher

The most important team member, is, without a doubt, a special education teacher. A special education teacher teaches those children that are physically, mentally, emotionally and socially delayed. He is responsible for understanding student behavior and individual educational needs and develops behavioral management skills to control such behaviors. Further, he is responsible for monitoring the student’s progress, addressing emotional disturbance and attending to specific learning disabilities. Given such functions, the teacher should be able to understand Scott’s abnormal behavior and rightly identify and recommend the correct school for Scott.

Early Intervention Case Manager

Early Intervention Case Manager is, so to say, the orchestrator of the whole multidisciplinary evaluation process. The manager leads the meeting of all the involved members and knows exactly the kind of services that suit the clients, the specialist to be involved, the resources needed and training services for parents and special teachers if needed. And so, such manager should be able to recommend the appropriate services to be offered to Scott, state the kind of training that Scott’s parents should undertake to be able to deal with his particularly strange behavior. He should be able to determine the kind of psychologists and special teacher to handle Scott’s issues. In this case, Scott will need a special teacher to handle his emotional disturbance. Scott is clearly emotionally disturbed. He is aggressive, defiant, easily frustrated and usually looks very serious.

Specialists

Depending on the Child’s needs and the intensity of disabilities, a given multidisciplinary evaluation team may, at a certain point, bring other different types of specialist skilled to evaluate and determine the different kind of skills exhibited by the child (Collighan and Macdonald, 2008). Specialists such as hearing specialists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists may be relevant. While Scott exhibits some bad, abnormal behavior, there are some good abnormal behavior that are worth noting and should be encouraged. The knowledge of all building around him and the exact number of bricks in the respective houses is not normal but is something certainly worth encouraging.

Conclusion

The team should, by the end of the entire process, be able to determine whether or not Scott meets the eligibility test set forth under the state policy. The results could be a diagnosis of developmental delay, physical or mental disorder which then makes the child; the subject matter of evaluation, eligible for the various services available. Such findings should then provoke the committee to move with speed and assess the child to identify the child’s unique strength and needs and propose the appropriate services that will help meet the said needs. The family needs should also be identified and deliberate steps made to enhance the family’s capacity to meet the child’s developmental needs.

References

Collighan, G., Macdonald, A., et al, (2008). An evaluation of the multidisciplinary approach to psychiatric diagnosis in elderly people, 821-824.

Oudeans, M. K., & Boreson, L. (2002). Doing it right: IEP goals and objectives to address behavior

Weaver, L., & Cousins, J. B. (2004). Unpacking the participatory process. Journal of Multidisciplinary evaluation, 19-40.