Portfolio Review Evaluations for Children with Special Needs

 What is required for the portfolio review evaluation for a student with special needs?

A portfolio, aka records—just as it would be for any other student: Records of the learning that fit the student's ability level.

Note that a portfolio review evaluation is not meant to determine if a student has special needs nor to update an IEP. 

To determine if a student has special needs, one option is to contact the child's pediatrician who may help or may refer to a specialist. Sometimes insurance will cover this.  Another option is to contact the Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Coordinator at the local zoned public school or at school district headquarters; this is the same place to contact if wanting to update an IEP. See this page for more information and resources: Special Needs.

 The portfolio should include:

1. A log of educational activities--the parent keeps records of the learning that's happening. This could be a calendar or planner and might mostly list therapies if that's what the child needs at this point. A printout of a list of lessons done online is another option. A lesson plan book with notes is another option. See this page for other options: Portfolio

2. Titles of reading materials--these could be materials that someone reads to the child or uses to teach vocabulary or reading. They could be titles of workbooks, sets of flashcards, picture books or other materials used to teach vocabulary, bedtime stories, or whatever is being used--even if someone else is reading them to the child.

3. Samples of materials used by or generated by the child--these can be  produced by the child or materials used by the child. Photos can be great to show what the child is learning and doing. Photos of flashcards or pages read to the child. Records showing learning materials used in therapies can work. Screen shots of lessons in an online program are another option.

The samples should show the kinds of learning materials being used.

In my experience, students with special needs vary greatly. Some are gifted and working on very advanced materials. Others are struggling academically. Still others may have a combination of such issues. Some may be working on calculus or college courses, while others may be learning to hold a utensil and use the potty. Thankfully Florida home education evaluations can work for all of these students. As long as the parent ensures that the student is regularly learning and keeping paperwork as required, passing an evaluation shouldn't be a concern.

Parents may have paperwork from therapists and other medical people assessing the child's progress and perhaps outlining a plan to work with the child. This might be an important portion of the portfolio.

It is perfectly fine to work at the level that the student can handle


The law asks that the portfolio review evaluation look for evidence of educational progress commensurate with ability. So ability definitely needs to be taken into consideration. And if the child hasn't learned to self-feed or use the toilet, those are typically considered necessary skills to proceeding in academics. We want to see that the child is being educated at whatever level the student can handle.


Seeing documentation of the special needs may be helpful, but it is not required to show it to us. With such paperwork, we can document that this child falls under IDEA (Federal law protecting students with disabilities) and can make accommodations if needed in how the evaluation works.


We have evaluated many children with special needs of all sorts, including gifted children and those who are nonverbal, since 2003. 

Most parents use our online/email evaluation option and share documentation with us via email after filling out our online form. Then we typically call to speak with the student--the conversation is usually fairly one-sided as it mostly involves us telling the student about the progress seen, usually while the student listens on speakerphone.

Some use instead our video call option and have the student present to listen to the discussion as the parent shares records on camera or via screen-sharing.
For more details see: Starting an Evaluation


If the student is using the Unique Abilities Scholarship with Step Up for Students, after submitting the evaluation request form to start the evaluation, you can choose to skip the payment form and instead reserve payment for the evaluation directly through SUFS's EMA system. See here for more details:
https://www.flhomeschoolevaluations.com/sufsema.html