What is the discrepancy model in special education?

[Katepratt]

What is the discrepancy model in special education? Trying to understand how it’s used to identify learning disabilities.

 

[Robert Willian]

The discrepancy model assesses whether a substantial difference, or discrepancy, exists between a student's scores on an individualized test of general intelligence (that is, an IQ test such as WISC-IV) and his or her scores obtained for one or more areas of academic achievement.

 

[Amparo]

The discrepancy model is a special education model that determines a learning disability through the differences between the IQ of the student and his or her academic performance. In the event of a considerable disparity in the actual performance with the expected performance, the student can be eligible to receive services. Critics claim that it is able to postpone assistance and ignore factors of instructions.

 

[royjasika]

The discrepancy model in special education identifies learning disabilities by comparing a student’s intellectual ability (IQ) with their academic performance. If there’s a significant gap—meaning the student performs below expectations based on their cognitive potential—they may qualify for special education services. Critics argue it can delay support and overlook students with subtle or emerging difficulties.

 

[bruno]

It’s basically when schools look at the gap between a student’s IQ and their actual academic performance if there’s a big difference, it may point to a learning disability. Honestly, a lot of schools are moving beyond it now, but that’s the basic idea in simple terms.

 

[jarwish]

The discrepancy model in Special Education identifies learning disabilities by comparing a student’s IQ score with their academic achievement. If there’s a significant gap between ability and performance, the student may qualify for special education services.