Special Education Interviews

Based on the recent interviews collected by three local professionals in the field of special education, for the area of the northeastern United States where I currently live, I can honestly say that even after only a few short conversations, I now feel that I have a far better understanding of the referral process for special education services (despite having already experienced this process, from the parent side of things, for the better part of the last seven years). Obtaining first-hand knowledge, shared by the "front line" for services, certainly alters ones perception and makes sense of concepts and "behind-the-scenes" inter-workings that I was not, and am not privy to as a non-educator myself. Here then is the information I collected from my interviews...

Teacher Participants

Interview 1 - Email - Special Educator, MS ed, S.D., 1st G - 6/1/14

Interview 2 - Phone - Special Educator, MS, ed, L.A., K-1G - 6/1/14

(friends living in same state, three towns apart)

Questions

Q. How do you identify a student for special education?

Q. What are the signs of a struggling student?

Q. Are there alternative methods of instruction tried out before referring a student for special education, and if so, what are they?

Q. What is the timeline like for these services and how often is the plan re-evaluated?

Q. How do you get parents involved in these interventions and services and to what extent do they have a say? (Of course I knew this one ;)

Summery of Responses

A struggling child at age 6/7 looks very different from a struggling child at 9/10 or even 11/12. At times it can be difficult to decipher whether the problem that a 6/7 year old is having is strictly developmental or if it is indicative of a larger problem.

Generally they look for trends. Is the child having difficulty with one particular type of processing, but ok in others? Are they having difficulty with memory? What is their recall of information like? short term? long term? What is their executive functioning ability? Can they organize a multi-step task or is that very difficult? What if they try adding visual cues? Does that help or is it still difficult? ...Sometimes at this age a referral may not lead to a qualification of services but it can give them lots of good information about how to instruct in a different or more effective manner.

So basically, as I came to understand, the process from a teacher's  POV goes something like this:

1. A child is struggling in a particular area or with a particular skill. They'd take a look at their instruction or approach. They'd add supports such as visual cues, kinesthetic movements, color coding. Academically, they may use different materials or differentiate the assignment to meet the student at their own level. They would attempt remediation.

2. They would begin to gather information about what is working and what is not. While the gathering of info may be informal, They'd begin to keep it consistently so if it's later needed to move forward, they'd already have good information to look back on about what they had tried and the level of success they found.

3. At this point of information gathering, they agreed that they would have initiated contact with the parent, shared their concerns, and gained input from the parent(s) to find out if there are shared concerns. Simultaneously, they say that they'd also check in with special area teachers to see if the difficulty is presenting in other situations & settings.

4. Next, they'd pull a team together. Depending on the particular issue, they may pull in a speech and language person, the occupational therapist, school psychologist, etc. They would share the information & approaches they had gathered and tried, and get feedback from others. (Like we do!) They would devise particular goals and a measurement tool to gauge whether or not the goal is met. Strategies would be set and a six week cycle would begin. The plan is called an early intervention plan (or similarly to IEP, an EIP for younger children). This plan is shared with the parent(s) and they are invited to attend the progress monitoring meetings. (Also same as IEP)

5. The EIP process continues through 6 week cycles. Depending on if the child is responding to the interventions, the goals can change or stay the same but with different strategies being implemented. Meetings take place every 6 weeks with the same team and any changes are communicated with parents.

6. Generally speaking, a child continues through about a year of EIP prior to being referred for special education. (I had no idea it took that long, but I guess I get why now...to be sure and check for progress or success of the interventions) In their collective experiences, the few children that had been referred for evaluation had EIPs throughout the previous school year and then continued to present with difficulties in the classrooms. (so the interventions were appropriate and were required further)

7. A child who continues to struggle, is eventually referred for evaluation. There is a form that is filled out to that effect. Both teachers use RTI model, so they explain there is quite a lot of paperwork for each case. They are required to ask for parental permission to evaluate the child. All tests that will be conducted are discussed with the parents ahead of time. Based on RTI, there is a lot of data collection needed and it is pulled from many different sources.

Evaluations may include:

• Educational testing to determine general intelligence and current levels of academic performance
• Physical and/or occupational therapy evaluation of fine and gross motor skills
• Social work or behavioral assessment
• Psychological or psychiatric evaluation
• Speech/language evaluation
• Hearing and vision examinations
• Medical exams (but only to diagnose a student’s needs)

8. Eventually, if the child is determined to need special education services, the team will reform to hold a PPT meeting and share the information with the parent(s) on outcome of evaluations and formulate an IEP (individualized education plan) to address (among other things):

• Present level of performance
• Annual goals and objectives
• Evaluation procedures
• Special education and related services
• Participation in regular education
• Settings, providers, dates, etc
• Length of the school day and year
• State and district-wide tests
• Transition goals and services

Psychologist Participant

Interview 3 - Phone - School Psychologist, DL, LCSW, PK-4G - 6/3/14 - (LEA)

Questions

Q. How is a student identified for a special education referral?

A. Either the teacher or parents may identify areas of concern and request my observations. I would then have a look at the instructional environment not in the classroom, what is working, what is not, and how student is responding to see if I can preliminarily find any barriers to interventions that may(or not) have already been tried, such as cognitive, emotional, psychological, etc.

Q. Who takes responsibility for the progress of the child before and after the referral?

A. A cooperative plan of action and formal intervention would be out in place between the school and parents if the teacher(s) and I, after a period of time and after documenting what what tried/any progress (or not), determine the problem cannot be controlled with simple classroom interventions. We'd then notify parents that we will be forming a pre-referral team based on the idea that their child may require special education services, and will need evaluation. We would get the parents consent for evaluations and we'd participate together in an EIP or early intervention planning team to set realistic goals, design appropriate instructional strategies, and progress-monitoring procedures or evaluations to be performed. This would be the same process for the most part, later during an IEP (before and after referral).

I would perform and participate in evaluations then, by comprehensively examining a student's cognitive ability - especially for students being considered for an (SLD) or specific learning disability. Depending on the circumstances, information about the students cognitive ability might include prior (or new) observations of the student during instruction, a historical review of the students academic progress and health history, interviews with parents and teachers, review of data reflecting the students RTI (response to interventions), standardized measurement tools (such as intelligence tests), and direct measurements of specific cognitive functions in related to certain academic skills. We basically try to get a full picture of the student by using multiple sources and ways to measure. Another way in which I would similarly evaluate a student, would be by looking at their overall academic, behavioral, emotional/psychological health as it related to concerns and factors that may impact school, performance and socialization. All of this data would be reported back to the cooperative team, to compare with the data they have also collected or contributed to, and to make collective decisions based on that information. In this way, the pre-referral/EIP and (later) referral/IEP teams, act in the same manner, sharing responsibility of the child's progress.

Q. What is the school administrator's directive for special education?

Since our school uses an RTI (response to intervention) model of early intervention for our elementary grades students, we have a specific guideline to follow in helping us to identify special needs early on. Because of this however, our administration is required by law, to provide "high-quality instruction" and "tiered, evidence-based intervention strategies" to meet individual student needs. So while the teachers and counselors like myself, might be the ones doing most if he "hands-on" student interaction/work with the child, the administration has to frequently monitor progress to make results-based decisions, which ultimately fall on them alone. Not only are they required to have general curriculum knowledge, but it is further tasked of them to know exactly what resources are available within the school and to solely authorize (or deny) those resources, and or seek outside resources as needed.

Q. What provisions are made for students identified for special education?

If after extensive evaluation, the EIP team determines the child is eligible for special education services, then a formal IEP team/meeting would be scheduled to go over the exact specifications/provisions for the child's future IEP (individualized education plan). The team that attends this meeting would be essentially the same for either team: myself (the school psychologist or counselor), the child's teacher(s) and parents, any appropriate specialists, outside invitees, and/or a special education teacher, the school nurse (if appropriate), and the school's vice principal.

The provisions made for a student identified for special education, under the IEP, will include:

• A summary of their strengths and weaknesses and information regarding their performance in the classroom and on formal assessments, and the reason he or she is receiving special education services.
• The dates of service under this document and the goals to be achieved. For most students, IEP goals are in place for one academic year.
• A statement of “special instructional factors” (such as the need for assistive technology, braille, or transition services). If the student requires any of the special instructional factors, they should be addressed in the IEP.
• (As Appropriate) A statement of special transportation needs.
• A statement of opportunities to participate in nonacademic and extracurricular activities with their non-disabled peers
• A statement of the frequency and method of reports of goal attainment for parents or guardians.
• Benchmark pages are included and focus on specific areas that need special education services (such as reading, math, PE, etc.). The benchmark pages include: Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP) statements, Measurable Annual Goals, Evaluations used to measure annual goals.
• A Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) if the student’s behavior is a concern.
• The statement of least restrictive environment (LRE) and signature of all members present at the meeting.

With the help of the entire team, I would carry out my responsibilities and commitments formed under the IEP (as would all team members), with mine specifically for the most part, involving ongoing observation, any needed counseling services or special groups guidance, providing a safe place and person (as needed), giving further evaluations (as needed) and interpreting those evaluations/their data at future meetings.

Q. What is the level of parent involvement in referral process and special education?

Parents should immediately report any concerns they have for their child to their child's teacher as soon as they notice them. They should, as the teacher does, document these issues and continue to communicate and work with the teacher in early intervention attempts. As the process goes on, parents can and should be an active member of the early intervention and IEP teams and help to create effective plans that work best to meet the needs of their child. They should then continue to support the team while always advocating for their child and as part of that, continuing to use good communication, documentation, and reporting.

And so It would seem, based on these interviews above, that the face of "special education" and the span of it's reach may have changed slightly over time, since IDEA (the federal individuals with disabilities education act) was instituted, but the basic structure of how children with special needs come to be identified and referred for services under IDEA, does not appear to have changed significantly since my oldest child was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in second grade. It is still in it’s basic form, exactly this:

1. Recognition

2. Pre-referral

3. Referral for Special Education

4. Special Education Evaluation

5. Determined Eligibility

6. IEP Meeting/Formation

7. Implementation of the plan

8. Annual Re-evaluation

What has changed quite a lot, is the shifting models of intervention, and in the end, how those special education services a child becomes eligible for, are being delivered - and the excitingly dynamic nature of the ever-evolving inclusive classroom environment!

I think in particular, no one I spoke to, was thrilled with the RTI model that all of their schools had adopted under IDEA, but also felt that it worked and that it was an appropriate system to help identify students with areas of concern early on. I got the sense that they felt bogged down by documentation and over-emphasis of the child's weaknesses or problems rather than inclusively instructing all children based on strengths, and focusing time on developing newer, more all inclusive or innovative teaching techniques they were excited to see happening other places around the world. It seemed like the responses required to intervention, took every second of their time at that early age group, and that they wished they could find a way to do more than just observe, assess, and document, but weren't sure how to change the cycle and flip their class, while also making timely and appropriate referrals for children that they saw as needing added help and intervention.

I feel extremely sympathetic to what I what sensing in them, because as I explained already in the prior blog about the role of personalized learning in special education, In tomorrow’s world, I hope to see a more “inclusive-inclusive” classroom that ‘flips the script’ on all that we know. And that it because I feel so strongly, that what we know (regarding special needs, as well as traditional learners, and traditional classrooms), is that what we have going on currently - is not yet working for us!

I think if pioneers in the educational world (even individual teachers like the ones interviewed above) are innovative and team up with one another towards progress in this specific target area, then I think the future holds promise that eventually, we will see all of our global learners, as “special needs” in that each one requires a special education plan based on their own individual strengths, gifts, dreams, goals, and abilities. And we will find a way, to assess and deliver those needs, with focus on fairer guidelines, in which the concentration of content, will be on learning: processing and analyzing information - not just memorization of the data - but what that data means! We will find a way to flip around classrooms, utilize technology, engage students from diverse settings, into group collaboration, and see each child as full of potential for endless possibility - not limitations hindering progress.