M2U4A2
THE REFERRAL PROCESS
AND
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN TOMORROW'S
LEARNING WORLD
--------------------
This unit gave me an opportunity to
better understand about Special Education (SE) and the role of classroom
teachers, special teachers, schools, and governments in supporting students
with special needs.
After the two interview session with a
counselor and a classroom teacher, I found out some insightful information
about SE at my school. ICSA is operated by the
International Community School of Abidjan Association, and is fully accredited
by the Middle States Association (USA) and the Council of International Schools
(CIS). It is also recognized and supported by the U.S. Department of State
through its Office of Overseas Schools. ICSA holds membership in the
Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA), the College Board, and
the Association for the Advancement of International Education (AAIE). Before
the country crisis 2010, the school used to have SE. We had one case of
autism and the student was well equipped with a specialist and a special teacher
beside his routine class with the first grade teacher. During and post-crisis
period, the school had to be relocated many times with uneven students
turnover, teaching staffs, facility, equipment, and budget. The school decided
not to accept students with disabilities due to the lack of facility and
resource that was officially stated in the parent's handbook. As its result, SE
has not been existed here since five years ago and teachers have not been
trained or exposed to the field of SE. Starting from 2012, the school recruited
one counselor for the whole school. Due to the need of students, the school
increased one more counselor and assigned one for the Lower School, and another
for the Upper School.
According the Lower School Counselor, ICSA does not have a special education program.
Therefore we do not have a referral process. If a teacher has a concern with a
specific student's academic, they usually make appropriate accommodations,
review student records including contacting the parent and previous teachers if
they are still here at ICSA. She is working on implementing Student
Study Teams (SSTs) for the LS. This would be the closet thing that we have here
at ICSA to address special education needs. SSTs are school-based teams
designed to assist teachers in developing and implementing interventions for
students with academic and behavioral difficulties in the general education
setting. She hopes to start SST in February.
According to the teacher who has been
working with this school more than twenty years and was the teacher of the
autism case mentioned above, the role of classroom teachers are very important
in recognizing or detecting signs of disabilities and in implementing interventions and modifications to meet individual needs. She shared the "Warning Signs of Dyslexia and ADD/ADHD" by www.BrightSolutions.US, as she is
language art and social studies teacher. The case she had was identified by the
parent, who was the US Ambassador in Ivoiry Coast. The student was placed in
grade one with other peers but spent some periods with a specialist and a
special teacher. During this period, ICSA was invested and well equipped and
had a full teaching resource to handle individuals with special needs. The
student obtained the free special education program for autism, and his parents
were pleased with the free services granted to the child.
For SE, classroom teachers play a
very critical and vital role in maintaining both differentiated and personalized instructions. If differentiation accommodates the diversity of student groups, then personalized approach works best for individual needs. Primarily, teachers need to identify students who need special needs, both physical and cognitive disabilities, then use appropriate interventions and modifications in classroom setting, then collaborate with school counselor and parents and special teachers to get students through the referral process in order to obtain a free access to the Individualized
Education Programs (IEPs). This process consists eight phrases, Recognition, Pre-referral, Referral to Special Education Evaluation, Special Education Evaluation, Eligibility, IEP meeting, IEP Implementation, Reevaluation. It is equally important to review the student's
progress with the welfare team consisting of principal, counselor, school
nurse, specialist, special teachers, and parents.
Evidently, SE is uneven around the
world. Watching the video about Finland's public school, it is pretty clear
that the government strongly support education, especially SE via the law,
policy, and investment. They emphasize on the early detection and interventions
for cases of disabilities, and they equip schools with supportive resources
like trained special teachers and assistive technology to measure progress of
individuals. Welfare teams meet twice monthly to discuss about the progress of
individuals. Similarly, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was signed in 2004 to ensure free services for 14 categories of disabilities. Accordingly, public schools must have been equipped with assistive technology, with trained special teachers, and classroom teachers must have been working hard to ensure the personalized/individualized learning for individuals with special needs. In contrast, in some other countries around the world where SE is not well equipped, resource is not provided, and the referral process is not in place, students with special needs hardly access to free IEPs and we can imagine how their future looks like. Social and parental
prejudices always exist unfortunately. I think it is common sense and
understandable. It is not easy to tell others about our disabilities because it
is a kind of embarrassment and we are normally afraid of prejudices and
discrimination.
Beside the law, SE needs assistive technology. The most inspired case of physical disabilities I usually refer to is about the scientist Stephen Hawking. He suffers from a rare early-onset, slow-progressing
form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as motor neurone disease
in the UK, that has gradually paralyzed him over the decades. Assistive
technology plays a key role in his life and his way of communication via a single cheek muscle attached to a speech-generating device. Despite difficulties and disabilities, he became the
famous theoretical
physicist, cosmologist, author and Director
of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. He is one of most unfortunate examples of physical
disabilities with extraordinary abilities. And because of that, he called on governments to prevent disability and
protect disability rights.
On December 10, 2015, President Obama signed into law a new
education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the
nation’s largest education law and will impact every public school. Two
important things about ESSA regarding SE is to keep
students with disabilities on track for success and promotes Innovation in
Education, including many
provisions to expand innovative practices in states and school districts,
including expanding personalized
learning, multi-tiered systems of support
(MTSS),
and universal
design for learning, and integrating technology and competency-based education initiatives. Importantly, ESSA limits the use of the Alternate Assessment based on
Alternate Achievement Standards to only students who have the most significant
cognitive disabilities, capped at 1% of a State’s total student population.
Beside the new law, the current open resources with interventions, modifications, and instructional strategies and exemplars from fellow experts are extremely helpful for teachers or teacher candidates to refer and to implement in their classroom world. Khan Academy is also another excellent resource for self-learning and individualized learning style. With all those resources, I believe unfortunate students with disabilities will be able to sail ahead and find their place in the world like the scientist Stephen Hawking. And the primary resource at school who can help them are teachers of today and tomorrow.
I am not a homeroom, and I teach Art for the
entire Lower School plus ECC. I had some students with Health Impairment like
Asthma and Diabetes. For such case, right at the beginning of the school year,
the school nurse called for a meeting with homeroom and all subject teachers
who teach those students to train the emergency reaction to rescue students and
we all keep an emergency kit at class. As a subject teacher, I arrange their
seat closest to my view and keep observing them during the instruction time,
and immediately send them to the nurse when symptoms happen.
However, I realized we had students with behavior
problems more than students with disabilities. Even though we implemented the Character
Education with focusing theme per month and the lunch bunch program was scheduled
with the counselor, some specific students remain misbehaving inside and
outside the classroom. I am looking forward to learn more about the classroom
management and strategies to deal with behavior problems.
RESOURCES
http://www.understandingspecialeducation.com/
http://www.ecac-parentcenter.org/The-IEP-Team-Process.aspx?sid=95&pid=81&red=yes
http://www.ncld.org/
http://www.ncld.org/archives/blog/the-new-education-law-6-things-to-know
https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/partnering-with-childs-school/instructional-strategies
http://www.projectidealonline.org/special-education-referral-process.php
http://www.bacb.com/index.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2XlAWcMAUk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcWtAmVB9-o
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ICSA SPECIAL EDUCATION POLICY
and
INTERVIEW NOTES
A. ICSA Special
Education policy
In the Student - Parent’s handbook
2015-16, Admission, page 13-14: ICSA is not equipped to handle students with
special needs.
http://www.icsabidjan.org/uploaded/Our_School/15-16/Student-ParentHandbook2015-16_(1).pdf
http://www.icsabidjan.org/uploaded/Our_School/15-16/Student-ParentHandbook2015-16_(1).pdf
B. With Ms.
Formegia - the LS Counselor, dates Feb 8
1.
How is a student
identified for special education referral?
2.
Who takes
responsibility for the progress of the child before and after the referral?
3.
What is the school
administration's directive for special education?
4.
What provisions are
made for students identified for special education?
5.
What is the level of
parent involvement in referral process and special education?
Answers:
Unfortunately, ICSA does not have a
special education program. Therefore we do not have a referral process. If a
teacher has a concern with a specific student's academic, they usually make
appropriate accommodations, review student records including contacting the
parent and previous teachers if they are still here at ICSA.
I am working on implementing Student
Study Teams (SSTs) for the LS. This would be the closet thing that we have here
at ICSA to address special education needs. SSTs
are school-based teams designed to assist teachers in developing and
implementing interventions for students with academic and behavioral
difficulties in the general education setting. I hope to start SST this month.
C. With Mrs.
Adjavon - the grade 1 teacher, dates Feb 9
1. How do you identify a
student for special education?
Answer: By experience individuals in my class, by observing their
interactions with teachers and peers, and by results from verbal and written
tests/assessment.
2. What are the signs of a struggling student?
Answer : There are signs to recognize students with disabilities. I am
a homeroom and teaching Language Art, for example, I am referring to the warning
signs for Dyslexia and ADD/ADHD by www.BrightSolutions.US.
3. Are there alternate
methods of instruction tried out before referring the student for special
education? If yes, what are they?
Answer : Yes, I reduce the
homework and ease a bit the expected outcomes, use more visual instructions, reinforce
routines, spend extra time for one to one teaching, and small group work.
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