The Special Education Process: From Initial Identification to the Delivery of Services

1. The Special Education Process: From Initial Identification to the Delivery of Services Chapter 2

2. How Are Students with Disabilities Identified? • Identification is the first step in the special education process. • Identification requires a multidisciplinary team effort. • Screening tests may be used. • the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning -3 (DIAL-3) • Informal and formal assessment are used.

3. When Are Disabilities Identified? • Severe disabilities are usually identified early by physicians or parents. • All infants, toddlers, and preschool children who have a disability or are at risk for developing a disability are entitled to special education services.

4. When Are School-Aged Students Identified? • Students with mild disabilities are usually identified after starting school, when teachers determine they are significantly behind their peers in academics, behavior, etc. • Prereferral Assessment (gather data) • Prereferral Intervention (general educator provides research-based techniques) • Response to Intervention may be used.

5. Model of a Prereferral Intervention(Figure 2.1)

6. Effects of an Intervention on a Target Behavior (Figure 2.2)

7. What Assessment Techniques Might Be Utilized? • Observation in a variety of settings • Frequency • Duration • Latency • Time Sampling • Anecdotal

8. What are Criterion-Referenced Tests? • Focus on the student’s mastery of content • Teacher-developed • Identify the skill. • Task-analyze it. • Develop test items to measure objectives. • Determine performance criteria. • Administer and interpret the test. • Commercially produced • Not norm-referenced

9. What is Curriculum-Based Assessment? • A measure of a student’s achievement level in terms of the expected curricular outcomes of the school • Teachers evaluate skill acquisition based on the curriculum being used.

10. What are Two Types of Curriculum-Based Assessments? • Criterion-Referenced Curriculum-Based Assessment • A portion of the student’s curriculum that includes the skill could be used to measure skills acquired and objectives needed. • Curriculum-Based Measurement • Test items are taken from an entire school year.

11. Why Use Error Analysis? • Teachers should always analyze what types of errors a student makes to determine a pattern to help remediate. • It provides information on “how to teach.”

12. What is the Think-Aloud Strategy? • It is a strategy the student uses to talk his/her way through the solution to a problem or skill. • A teacher can determine a student’s thought process when solving a problem.

13. What is RTI? • Response to Intervention Model • School-wide model of screening and decision making • Students move through different tiers of increasingly intense interventions. • One approach to screening and identification of learning disabilities

14. What is the Referral Process? • After prereferral intervention, if data warrant, a referral for assessment may be made by educators, parents, or others involved with the student. • Evaluation must be completed within 60 days of parental consent to assess.

15. How is Eligibility for Special Education Services Determined? • Only students who meet eligibility criteria for one or more disability categories may be considered for special education services under IDEA. • Students cannot be considered to have a disability if there is a lack of appropriate instruction in reading or math, or if they have limited English proficiency.

16. Autism Deaf-blindness Developmentally Delayed Emotional Disturbance Hearing Impairments Mental Retardation Multiple Disabilities Other Health Impaired Orthopedic Impairments Specific Learning Disabilities Speech or Language Impairments Traumatic Brain Injury Visual Impairments What are the Special Education Categories?

17. What are Issues Surrounding Labeling? Placing a label on a child who meets eligibility under one category is controversial because: • There is over-identification of culturally or linguistically diverse students. • Definitions and eligibility criteria vary between states. • There is variability and overlap of characteristics.

18. What are Some Common Evaluation Procedures? • Intelligence testing • Achievement testing • Developmental assessment • Behavioral assessments

19. What is anIndividualized Education Program? • An educational plan for a student written by a multidisciplinary team including • parents, • at least one general education teacher, • at least one special education teacher, • a representative of the local education agency, and • the student whenever possible.

20. What are the Components of an IEP? • Present level of performance (PLP) • Measurable goals • How progress will be measured and reported to parents frequently • Related services • Supplementary aids and services • Participation in general education • Accommodations for testing • Dates of services • Transition plan by age 16 (or younger, if appropriate) • Transfer of rights at age of majority

21. What is an IFSP? • Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) • Developed for infants, toddlers, and their families • Similar to an IEP • Includes • Physical development • Cognitive development • Communication development • Social or emotional development • Adaptive development

22. Services Provided as Part of a Child’s IFSP (Table 2.2)

23. What is the Least Restrictive Environment? • Students with disabilities should be educated with students without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate. • Inclusion is not mandated by IDEA 04. • The continuum of services to be considered includes: • General education instruction all day • General education with some special education assistance • General education along with resource room services • Special education classroom in regular school • Special education school • Homebound or hospital instruction • Instruction in a residential setting

24. Deno’s Cascade of Services (Figure 2.3)