ADA

1. OCD OT SLP OED WJIII ADA WPPSI RTI EVT LD ODD SED PPVT4 LRE DAB IEP LRE KTEA PDD/ASD BASC WISC IDEA PAT SPED OHI PT TOPL ESY ADHD TOLDI:3 Developed by Dawn Rux, Cynthia Red Hill and Roberta Yeske

2. After the WJIII, WISC, WPPSI, KTEA, DAB, TOLD, PPVT, PAT, EVT, and TOPL results IDEA requires SPED RR, OT, PT, and SLP to create an IEP qualifying under LD, ODD, ADHD, PDD, OED, SED, OHI, or OCD in LRE through RTI mandate including ESY.

3. Confused??? Let’s Explain…

4. Special Education Process

5. Aberdeen School District Facts • ASD currently employs 20 Resource Room teachers, 11 Speech and Language Therapists, 2 Occupational Therapists and educational aides. • 636 children are in special education, 158 of which are in speech and language services only.

6. It is the first month of school and there is a child in your room that you are concerned about…. Now what do you do??

7. Referrals • First: SAT – Student Assistance Team • Second: SNT – Special Needs Team

8. SAT • The Student Assistance Team is the teacher’s first step in exploring options for improving a child’s education. • Members: Teachers, Principal, Resource Room Staff, School Psychologist and Counselor • The SAT Referral Form (yellow, elementary or secondary) is filled out by the referring teacher and turned into the Principal prior to the meeting. To make this process successful the teacher is asked to bring data on what behaviors the children is exhibiting and what interventions the teacher has made in the classroom. The Resource Room Staff can assist in this process. • Each elementary school averages 25 SAT referrals a year. High school averages 95. Cont…..

9. Cont….. • Meetings are held every other Wednesday. • Team members will be informed which students will be discussed prior to the meeting. • The purpose is to problem solve and assist the teacher in appropriate accommodations for the student that may be attempted. The Resource Room staff is available to help set up the accommodations in the classroom. These accommodations will be used in the classroom for 6 weeks. • The Teacher will be in contact with the parents with his or her concerns prior to this meeting. • Parental issues such as homework not being returned are not a SAT issue unless there is an academic concern.

10. Intervention? Accommodation? Modification? • Intervention: a specific skill-building strategy implemented and monitored to improve a targeted skill and achieve adequate progress in a specific area. This often involves a changing instruction or providing additional instruction to a student in the area of learning or behavior difficulty. This is research-based.

11. Intervention Examples • Best Teaching Practices • Reading: AIMS, Sidewalks, CORE activities, Reading Strategies • Math: Touch Math, Math Expressions • Social: Boys and Girls Town, positive behavior plans • Preteaching, Reteaching, Mini lessons of a skill, Manipulatives, Hands-On, One on one assistance, Supplementing curriculum to help students make progress towards benchmarks, Rephrasing directions

12. Accommodations • An accommodation eliminates obstacles that would interfere with a student’s ability to perform or produce at the same standard of performance expected of general education students.

13. Accommodations Examples • Reading a test to a student • Allowing extra time to take the same test or completing an assignment • Preferential seating • Providing an extra set of books at home • Staying after school for homework help • Signing an assignment notebook • Allowing use of calculator • Providing study guides before tests • Allowing movement to increase physical comfort

14. Modifications • A modification is a change that actually lowers the standards of performance (i.e. what is expected to be known.)

15. Modification Examples • Reading a test and rewording/re-explaining questions on the test • Changing multiple choice answers from 4 to 2 options • Shortening the spelling list • Reducing the number of assignments needed to be completed

16. Clarification Example • If a student was expected to complete 100% of every math assignment given to peers, reducing the number of problems would be a modification. However, if a student was expected to show they could add 2-digit numbers with 100% accuracy allowing the student to work just enough problems (on a assignment) to prove he/she has mastered the goal would be an accommodation.

20. Documentation • Teacher documents the effectiveness of interventions: what worked, what didn’t, how many they tried, how long. • Interventions will be used 6 weeks before reporting back to SAT. • After reporting to the SAT, a decision will be made to continue interventions or refer to Special Needs Team.

21. SNT • Special Needs Team (SNT) • Team: Teacher, Principal, Resource Room, Psychologist, SPED Coordinator, Counselor, Speech and Language Therapist, Deaf Educator and Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapist (as needed). • Meets every other week, opposite of SAT meeting.

22. SNT Procedure Procedure once a student is referred to SNT from SAT: • The Student Referral Form (pink) needs to be filled out prior to SNT and turned into the Principal. • Parents need to be contacted. • The Team will be informed which students will be discussed prior to the meeting. • Any pertinent information should include: therapy notes, data sheets, grade book, cumulative file, Parent Report Form, etc.

23. Referrals Beginning the Special Education Process

24. What constitutes a special education referral? • A parent calls the teacher about their child’s inability to get along with others. • A parent emails about their child’s speech. • A teacher talks to the SPED Resource Room teacher about the child’s difficulty in math and reading. • The school counselor talks to the principal about a child’s behavior. • Interventions in the classroom have not been successful.

25. The referral process generally begins when a teacher, parent, or doctor is concerned that a child may be having trouble in the classroom, and the teacher notifies the principal, school counselor or psychologist. Interventions have been attempted and are not successful.

26. Who is responsible for putting the referral in writing? • The teacher along with the Resource Room teacher or Speech and Language Pathologist will fill out the (pink) referral form.

27. Who gets the written referral? • The Principal will review the referral form and initiate the process by bringing the student to the attention of the Special Needs Team.

28. Who documents a parent referral? • The Special Education staff are required to put the referral in writing along with a prior notice to the parents on what actions are being taken. To neglect this is to be out of compliance with regulations.

38. SNT INITIAL REFERRALS: • Background information is reviewed and concerns discussed. Teacher is asked to give information on their concerns and child’s academic functioning. Teachers are asked to bring whatever documentation that they feel is pertinent to this student along with the data graphed from the interventions made. • Tests will be recommended and assigned to staff. • Parent Report Form will be reviewed.

43. Psychological Evaluations: Intelligence (IQ), verbal communication, perceptive reasoning, processing and memory. • Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) • Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) • Functional assessment and classroom observation: behavior in classroom, parent and/or interview.

44. These evaluations will show the student’s intellectual ability at that time. Scores range from: 85-90 Low average, 90-110 Average All other scores will be compared to these scores. Cont……

45. Cont….. For Attention: • Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) • Connors Parent Test Rating Scale (Connors) • The school cannot recommend medication and only a Doctor can prescribe the medication. A parent may take the school’s evaluation information to the Doctor.

46. Academic Evaluation: These evaluations will show what they are achieving at this time. • Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (KTEA) • Diagnostic Achievement Battery (DAB-3) • Woodcock Johnson Reading Fluency (WJIII) • Key Math Test • Reading Fluency Cont….

47. Functional: (Present level of performance) • Brigance Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills: this will show specific skills that the student uses. This is their present level of performance. • Observation: In classroom observation by Special Education staff of attention, on task behavior, participation, behavior, adaptive skills they use, and quantity and quality of work. It is compared to their peers on a scale of 1-5.

48. Initial evaluations are completed by district evaluators. Re-Evaluations are completed by special education staff.

49. Speech and Language Evaluations • SLP’s evaluate communication disorders of which there are two types: • Language disorders: problems with using proper forms of language (phonology, morphology, syntax), using the content of language (semantics) and using the functions of language (pragmatics). • Speech disorders: problems producing speech sounds (articulation), controlling sounds that are produced (voice), and controlling the rate and rhythm of speech (fluency). Cont…..

50. Speech and Language Tests: • Photo Articulation Test (PAT3) • Goldman Fristoe Articulation Test (GFAT) • Assessment of Phonological Process-Revised (APP-R) • Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) • Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT) • Test of Language Development: Primary or Intermediate (TOLD) • Test of Language Development-Primary:3/Intermediate:3 (TOLD-P:3 or I) • Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-3 (CELF-3) • Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language-3 (TACL-3) Other tests may be used depending on need.