References
12 Steps I would use to refer students with learning disabilities.
By Michelle de Villiers
Step 1: Recognition
Recognition of inconsistency in students academic, social/emotional, behavioral and/or physical ability (Project IDEAL, 2019). It will also indicate if these students will need additional academic or behavioral supports (Project IDEAL, 2019).
Signs to look for
Getting fimilair with the 14 disabilities identified by IKEA. Help you to know what to look for.
• Difficulty learning the alphabet, rhyming words and connecting letters to sounds (UnderstandingSpecialEducation, 2019).
• Difficulty reading and writing (NICHD, 2018).
• Making mistakes when reading aloud and expressing thoughts (NICHD, 2018; UnderstandingSpecialEducation, 2019).
• Misunderstanding what they read (UnderstandingSpecialEducation, 2019).
• Poor handwriting and awkward pencil grip (UnderstandingSpecialEducation, 2019).
• Difficulty understanding jokes and sarcasm (UnderstandingSpecialEducation, 2019).
• Difficulty following directions (NICHD, 2018; UnderstandingSpecialEducation, 2019).
• Difficulty organizing thoughts and expressing themselves (UnderstandingSpecialEducation, 2019).
• Difficulty following social cues and conversation (NICHD, 2018; UnderstandingSpecialEducation, 2019).
• Difficulty with math’s constantly confusing symbols and numbers (NICHD, 2018; UnderstandingSpecialEducation, 2019).
• Emotional or social issues (UnderstandingSpecialEducation, 2019).
• Sleeping inconsistency (UnderstandingSpecialEducation, 2019).
• Poor memory (NICHD, 2018).
• Unable to pay attention, get distracted easily (NICHD, 2018).
• Tend to be clumsy (NICHD, 2018).
• Difficulty telling time (NICHD, 2018).
• Impulsiveness (NICHD, 2018).
• Difficulty dealing with changes in schedules or situations (NICHD, 2018).
Step 2: Pre-referral
During this step the teacher, parents and school identify, develop and implement alternative education strategies for students who they recognized might have a learning disability (Project IDEAL, 2019). This is done before referral to special education takes place in order for students to achieve success without needing to enter in special education (Project IDEAL, 2019). They can use a pre-referral process called Response to Intervention (RTI) to help students who are struggling (Project IDEAL, 2019). The RTI has 3 levels or tiers:
Second level (Tier): Focus on providing target group instructions to all students that will improve student performance (Project IDEAL, 2019). If performance does not improve students will have to move to the third level of intervention (Project IDEAL, 2019).
Third level (Tier): Focus on more intensive, individualized interventions.
The first level (Tier): Focus on high-quality general education instruction in the core curriculum with all students in the classroom, not just the students in need (Project IDEAL, 2019). Tactics that I will use include:
Differentiated instructions - Teachers meet the needs of all students by presenting lessons in different ways by realizing that students are diverse, and each have their own strengths and challenges (Understood,2019).
Culture of acceptance- Teach students that everyone is different and that differences are just a normal part of life rather than special circumstances (Understood,2019).
Step 3: Identify need for special education
.
This process takes place after the 3 steps in the pre-referral process and the student has not shown any indication for progress. There are two common ways a student can be identified as a special need student (Kupper & Kohanek, 2019):
“Child Find”
Referral or request for evaluation
Step 4: Evaluation
Students are evaluated by assessing all areas that is suspected to indicate the student has a disability (Kupper & Kohanek, 2019). The result of this evaluation will indicate if a student is eligible for special education or not (Kupper & Kohanek, 2019).
Step 5: Decide on eligibility
Professionals and parents look at the evaluation results together and decide if the students are “a student with a disability” and need to receive further education services (Kupper & Kohanek, 2019).
Step 6: Confirm eligibility
When a student is confirmed to have a disability as defined by IKEA, an IEP needs to be written within 30 days (Kupper & Kohanek, 2019; Project IDEAL, 2019).
Step 7: Scheduling an IEP meeting
An IEP (Individualized Education Program) is a legal contract between the students’ parents and the school that indicates what special education services the student will receive (Project IDEAL, 2019). A meeting needs to be scheduled, all participants need to be invited to the meeting including the student’s parents and/or guardians (Kupper & Kohanek, 2019).
Step 8: Attend meeting and write IEP
Decide on the best plan of action to help the student by writing an IEP and implementing the as soon as possible after the meeting (Kupper & Kohanek, 2019).
Step 9: Provide students with Special Education Services
Student receives services as soon as possible after the IEP is written and decided on. The school needs to make sure that the students personal IEP is carried out (Kupper & Kohanek, 2019; Project IDEAL, 2019).
Step 10: Measure progress and report to parents
Students progress are regularly measured, and parents need to be informed frequently (Kupper & Kohanek, 2019).
Step 11: Review IEP
The child’s IEP need to be reviewed at least once a year looking at the positive and negative aspects and if necessary, revise the IEP entirely (Kupper & Kohanek, 2019; Project IDEAL, 2019).
Step 12: Reevaluate the student
A student needs to be reevaluated every 3 years to find out if a student is still seen as a student with a disability as defined by IKEA and what their educational needs are (Kupper & Kohanek, 2019; Project IDEAL, 2019).
Use Assistive Technology
Other interventions
Assistive Technology is any device, equipment or technology tool that allows a user with a disability (cognitive, physical, or neurological) to perform tasks that would be extremely difficult or impossible without the apparatus (Autism Society, 2019; Ennis-Cole & Smith, 2011).
Type of Assistive Technologies
Benefits
Technology support enables individuals with disabilities to complete daily living activities, work successfully, benefit from learning environments, and enjoy leisure time (Ennis-Cole & Smith, 2011).
Improves motivation (Ennis-Cole & Smith, 2011).
Improve academic skills (Ennis-Cole & Smith, 2011).
Improves communication skills (Ennis-Cole & Smith, 2011).
Improves organization (Ennis-Cole & Smith, 2011).
Expands opportunities for students with disabilities (Ennis-Cole & Smith, 2011).
Improve independence (Ennis-Cole & Smith, 2011).
AT can provide needed accommodations and reduce the amount of direct teacher support (Ennis-Cole & Smith, 2011).
Augmentative communication devices:
like the DynaVox, Liberator II, and communication applications on the iPad and iPod touch: iCommunicate, iConverse, LearntoTalk, Speakit!, (Case-Smith & Arbesman, 2008; Ennis-Cole & Smith, 2011).
Video modelling:
teach students, social communication, emotional perception and spontaneous requesting (Ennis-Cole & Smith, 2011). Modeling method that uses a video recording to model desired behavior or skills to students (Autism Society,2019).
Speech recognition software:
Dragon Dictate; Via Voice, spelling and grammar checkers, prediction programs, instructional software, note takers, and speech synthesis software (Ennis-Cole & Smith, 2011).
vSked
An interactive and collaborative assistive technology for making and integrating visual schedules, choice boards and token-based rewards in an integrated system (Cramer, et al. 2011).
Co-teaching - Include co-teaching with special ed teachers and teachers teaching other subjects in the lessons on a regular basis to make students familiar with having other teachers in the lesson (Understood,2019).
References
Autism Society. (2019, November 27). Nonmedical Interventions. https://www.autism-society.org/living-with-autism/treatment-options/nonmedical-interventions/
Case-Smith, J., & Arbesman, M. (2008). Evidence-based review of interventions for autism used in or of relevance to occupational therapy. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 62, 416– 429.
Cramer, M., Hirano, S.H., Tentori, M., Yeganyan, M.T., & Hayes, G.R. (2011). Classroom-based assistive technology: Collective use of interactive visual schedules by students with autism. CHI 2011 Session: Health 1: Technology Challenges, 1-11. https://www.academia.edu/12954921/Classroom-based_assistive_technology
Ennis-Cole, D. & Smith, D. (2011). Assistive technology and autism: Expanding the technology leadership role of the school librarian. School Libraries Worldwide, volume 17(2):86-99.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). (2018, November 09). What are some signs of learning disabilities? https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/learning/conditioninfo/signs
Kupper, L. & Kohanek, J. (2019, November 27). Ten steps in the special education process. https://www.readingrockets.org/article/10-steps-special-education-process
Project IDEAL. (2019, November 27). Special Education Referral Process. www.projectidealonline.org/v/special-education-referral-process/
Understood. (2019, November 27). 4 Benefits of an Inclusion Classrooms. https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/treatments-approaches/educational-strategies/4-benefits-of-inclusion-classrooms
UnderstandingSpecialEducation. (2019, November 27). Types of learning disorders. https://www.understandingspecialeducation.com/definition-of-autism.html