Diagnostic/Prescriptive/Evaluative (DPE) process is a type of instruction according to Thomas (1996) that helps students with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) accomplish the best chance of success and independence, when accompanied with life goal planning, and goal instructional analysis (GIA), which is a fundamental part of the DPE teaching. The DPE process takes lesson planning, breaks down instruction into manageable segments specialized for the individual student, which provide the necessary educational flexibility to ensure successful outcomes. The first step of this process is to diagnose the student’s skill level along with his/her strengths and weaknesses, and then devise or prescribe a lesson path, where student progress can be continually monitored for success.
Students with ID present varied abilities and skill limitations which require instruction to be extremely specialized for each individual student. This is where DPE gives students, teachers, and parents the ability to make sound decisions that are tailored to the student’s needs, with the creation of an accurate IEP, curriculum, and assessment program (Thomas, 1996). The first step of this process comes into play with the diagnosis or determination of the student’s strengths and weaknesses, and then followed with a prescription, or detailed plan of action, to improve the students achievement levels. According to Mrs. Beckstead (2013), a veteran special education teacher of twenty-five years, DPE affords the special education team the ability to observe each ID student individually, which then gives the team an opportunity to put a system in place where academic goals and life skill achievements can be realized and evaluated as they are achieved and mastered, or where those academic goals and life skills can be adjusted to better fit the learning style and pace of the student, according to what the