A professional who assesses type and degree of disability of handicapped children to aid in determining special programs and services required to meet educational needs. Responsibilities include:

• Reviews referrals of children having or suspected of having learning disabilities, mental retardation, behavioral disorders, or physical handicaps to determine evaluation procedure.
• Confers with school or other personnel and scrutinizes records to obtain additional information on nature and severity of disability.
• Observes student behavior and rates strength and weakness of factors such as rapport, motivation, cooperativeness, aggression, attention span, and task completion.
• Selects, administers, and scores variety of preliminary tests to measure individual's aptitudes, educational achievements, perceptual motor skills, vision, and hearing.
• Reports findings for staff consideration in placement of children in educational programs.
• May test preschool children to detect learning handicaps and recommend followup activities, consultation, or services.
• May administer work related tests and review records and other data to assess student vocational interests and abilities.
• May specialize in evaluating student readiness to transfer from special classes to regular classroom, and in providing supportive services to regular classroom teacher and be designated Mainstreaming Facilitator.