What an interesting process it has been, gathering information about the special education referral processes!
While the actual interviews I had were informational and gave me a sense of the steps involved in supporting students with differing needs, the informal conversations around the subject were full of sentiments! Generally, I get the sense that most people directly involved in the formal process of special education referral find it to be bureaucratic, tedious and, even at times, divisive. For some students and families, being labeled as “special needs” is offensive and has negative connotation. In other situations, families hold on to a special education assessment because it entitles their child to invaluable support and services. When I read the assignment, I immediately thought about a recent of episode of the show Parenthood in which the parent of a student with Aspergers’ Syndrome has a less the helpful IEP meeting - Here's a link to the clip. Check it out and then come back!
I realize that the Parenthood scene is fictional, but I think it clearly depicts the limited flexibility that exists to meet the diverse needs of students, especially when they have challenges and strengths that are contradictory. The school staff look weary and tired of being asked to make accommodations and the caregivers are anxious not only about the students needs being met, but also about the student being isolated and limited.
While fairly recent and not yet universally adopted, the RTI process is a more individualized framework for teachers to think about supporting student needs. A student does not need to have a formal evaluation in order to receive support and intervention. From what I gather, intervention strategies can be those that benefit an entire class of diverse learners, such as self-driven leveled learning centers or “workshops” where the teacher floats between small groups with scaffolded lessons. While a more individualized strategy may be more time consuming for the teacher (at least in some cases) I imagine that the process is a bit more satisfying; taking the whole child into consideration and implementing a strategy that has real opportunity for success.
On a side note, I came across a post (here's the link) with suggestions for scaffolding lessons. The suggestions were exactly the facilitation strategies we use in our Playworks staff trainings, such as Fishbowl style debriefs (here the suggestion is for fishbowl style modeling of an activity) and Think-Pair-Share conversations. Facilitating a classroom in Playworks style might be it’s own intervention strategy?
Interview #1 – Matthew Hartsock, School Psychologist
How is a student identified for special education referral?
A student is referred after the SST, which is requested by the teacher. SST is usually the teacher, psychologist, Vice Principal, parent. An SST happens after a parent-teacher conference, attempts at intervention, consulting with grade level leader. Then an SST can happen.
Who takes responsibility for the progress of the child before and after the referral?
If the student is assessed and qualifies for special education services the general Ed teacher still has the student for the majority of the day. - The special education teacher becomes a case manager.This is the process at my school: The teacher tries some in class intervention. If the student needs more help or the issues are too big ten an SST is called. The SST is a formal meeting and a document with records goes in the student’s cum file. If necessary, action steps from the SST may include an assessment. An IEP is created and we have 60 days to complete assessment.
What is RTI?
RTI is Response to Intervention and it is way more logical then the standard referral process. It is a three Tiered Process. Tier One is basically trying different in-class interventions and seeing if they help. If that happens over a period of time and student is not making improvements then they move to Tier Two intervention, which might be pullout support. Usually the SST happens after the teacher has exhausted all in-class options including parent-teacher conference, etc. If after all that, the student is still not making progress then we recommend special education assessment.
How do you see Special Education in tomorrow’s learning environment?
Once of our main reading interventions is LEXIA, which is a computer program that assesses student level and creates leveled activities. It tracks progress. It’s the first year that we are using this so we will see how much it helps but it seems like the way to go. The teacher can support the student but the program is figuring out exactly what sort of lesson to deliver.
Interview #2 - Interview with Ms. Ana, 2nd grade teacher
Link to audio recording of interview with Ms Ana: http://voicethread.com/share/5424221/
Ms. Ana: I am classroom teacher to so my perspective on the process is as a teacher.
Great! What is the process right now for identifying students that need services?
Sure, It’s primarily is based on academic performance in the classroom. So if the students is below grade level or far below grade level, we first meet, call for an SST. We talk about classroom modifications, concerns, trends, we devise a plan. We set up a follow up time, 6-8 weeks later depending on the student. If after a few months of implementing the program recommendations, if we haven’t seen significant progress then we convene again and we discuss special education evaluation. However, we always need parental consent. If we don’t have it then we just keep on doing what we do. You know sometimes it’s a maturity issue and sometimes the student really has some kind of disability and that is usually identified with the special education evaluation.
Before the SST is there a certain number of interventions that you have to do yourself or attempt before bringing [the meeting] together?
We are very limited in the number of interventions. What we usually do is Peer Tutoring, small group instructions. In second grade we don’t have intervention support, so sometimes a teacher will do volunteer tutoring but that is at the teachers discretion.
Do you use RTI here?
I have heard of RTI but I am not if it’s implemented consistently throughout the school.
Who is responsible for following up on the testing, is the entire SST team?
Right, our psychologist is usually the SST coordinator
Are they shared with different schools?
Oh Yes! With two or three. And the testing is usually done by the resources specialist, who is shared between the campuses (there are two schools on this campus)
For 2nd grade, do you usually not recommend testing because you can’t show the discrepancy?
Let me think…Actually, we have made a few recommendations at the end of the second grade. Usually the students we are talking about students who have not shown significant improvement in their achievement after 1st grade.
Source:
Recording of Interview with Ms. Ana as well an example of the SST Referral Form used at my husbands school - http://voicethread.com/share/5424221/
Six Scaffolding Strategies to Use with your Students (2011, May). Retrieved from;http://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber
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