Students with Reading Difficulties
Taiwan’s Special Education Law, introduced in 1984 and revised in 1997, mandates that schools offer special education programs and medical doctors or therapists to provide diagnoses and treatment or rehabilitation for students with special needs. The law ensures that special education services are provided for students with learning disabilities, including reading difficulties.
Diagnostic Testing
Students with reading difficulties are identified by regular classroom teachers or parents. Once identified, these students are evaluated by trained special education teachers in their school district or by clinical psychologists at hospitals. Following a diagnosis with a learning disability, a student is observed for one year to confirm that “general instruction from regular education” cannot improve the studentʼs reading. However, the major problem with Taiwan’s criteria for learning disabilities is the lack of an operational definition of “general instruction from regular education.” Even with a confirmed diagnosis, few effective evidence-based programs exist for students with learning disabilities or reading difficulties.14
Instruction for Children with Reading Difficulties
Students identified as having learning disabilities are eligible for various special education services, such as collaborative consultation or co-teaching in their regular classroom and special education resource rooms. In most cases, students remaining in regular classrooms are sent to resource classrooms periodically to reinforce the material being taught.