Assessment of Children by the District Committee of Special Education (DCSE)
The District Committees of Special Education (DCSE) are responsible for evaluating each child that might have special needs. Each Committee consists of:
a Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth Chief Education Officer (Committee Chair);
a Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth representative of the relevant educational level;
a special education teacher;
an educational psychologist;
a clinical psychologist;
a social worker;
a speech pathologist.
A child may be identified and referred to the Committee by the District Committees themselves or may be referred by others (e.g. schools, teachers, parents). Every person, especially every parent, pre-primary, primary or secondary school headteacher or any other member of a school’s teaching staff, every doctor, psychologist, or social worker, has a duty to immediately inform the DCSE regarding any child who they think may be in need of special education. The DCSE should be notified using a specific form, that can be obtained from all public pre-primary, primary and secondary schools, by the District Education Offices or from this website (see Pupil’s Referral to the District Committee of Special Education). Any child may be referred to the Committee, regardless of the school s/he is attending or where s/he is located.
The DCSE will have a preliminary discussion of each case no later than two weeks from the date it is notified about the possibility of a child with special needs. This discussion will conclude with a decision about the setting up and the composition of an initial multidisciplinary team from the public or private sector, which will evaluate the child. The multidisciplinary team might be extended during the course of the assessment procedure, if this is deemed necessary, by decision of the DCSE. The assessment of the child is carried out separately by each specialist participating in the initial multidisciplinary team, after receiving relevant information about the child by the DCSE. Once the assessment procedure is completed, the results are referred to the DCSE which later notifies the parents of its decision as to whether the child is eligible for special education.
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