The Impact of Collaborative Consultation on Special Education Referral Accuracy

The shift in educational placement of children with disabilities into an integrated approach continues to gain momentum. One strategy for implementing this integrated partnership is the use of general education prereferral intervention techniques. This study specifically examined the longitudinal impact of collaborative consultation as a prereferral intervention on referral accuracy to special education. Several data collection forms were used to provide an accurate count of the number of children in the school populations who were referred for special education assessment and who were found to verify for special education services. Referral accuracy was determined by taking a ratio of the number of students assessed to the number of students verified. Results indicated a significant increase in referral accuracy when the collaborative consultation model was implemented as a prereferral strategy. Implications and suggestions for further research are offered.