It is often difficult to distinguish those students with learning problems due to individual differences in learning styles or achievement difficulties from those students with specific disorders; failure to do so sometimes results in inappropriate referral of language minority students to special education. It also contributes to disproportionate representation of those students in special education. These children suffer from the stigma of being labelled handicapped and may lose ground academically. Formal prereferral intervention is recommended, governed by a clearly articulated set of procedures followed by all personnel. Teacher assistance teams can be used to facilitate prereferral problem-solving. This process provides valuable insights for classroom teachers and team members regarding potential sources of student difficulties and can help distinguish learning problem types. At each step of the process, specific questions should address such issues as the problem; curricula and instructional materials; teacher characteristics; teaching style; teacher expectations and perceptions; student characteristics such as language proficiency, culture, and socioeconomic status; exposure to the curriculum; evaluation of instructional effectiveness; and alternative interventions. Prereferral intervention in which the major objective is to improve the effectiveness of regular education is a cost-effective approach. (MSE)