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Implementing Support for Students with Learning Needs
by Scott Justice,…
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The process at our school can be initiated by any teacher or teaching assistant. They will notify the student’s tutor (in the secondary school) or homeroom teacher (in elementary) and the counsellor assigned to the student. If the student has support in the past then they’d also ask for input from the English as an Additional Language (EAL) or Learning Support (LS) lead as well. We use a progress reporting system so parents, and the student, would usually have received notifications about whatever it was that triggered the discussion in advance of it happening.
If it’s generally agreed that there’s a need for additional input, rather than just a one-off issue, the tutor or homeroom teacher will act as the coordinator and contact all of the student’s teachers to ask them if they have encountered any similar or potentially related behaviours and invite them to a Student Support Team meeting.
The Student Support Team is primarily composed of the student’s teachers, counselors, the lead from LS/EAL (depending on the potential need) as well as a representative of any other support services the student has contact with. They will then decide whether the need can be managed at classroom level or whether they believe the student would benefit from more formal support and assessment.
If a referral is needed the EAL or LS lead will contact the parents to let them know they will be inviting the student to meet for assessment and the reason why. Normally assessments are conducted in-house but if it’s a specific need that’s suspected then we may use external assessments from outside suppliers or partner schools. The student will then be placed on the school’s equivalent of an Individualised Education Plan, either an EAL or LS plan. There are a couple of different forms of these - Monitor - for students whose progress is only monitored in case they need more support later, Level 1 - for students requiring some degree of supportive intervention and Level 2, for students requiring significant support. Parents will be involved at all steps of the process and their agreement will be sought for the learning plan.
When the student is added to the EAL/LS lists their student record is tagged, with a small green book icon, on the student information system so that all of their teachers can see a plan is available and know to check it.
The plan is reviewed at set intervals, which depend on the plan itself. The student will either remain at the same level of intervention, go up or down a level or exit the plan depending on their progress and then continue to be reviewed regularly to ensure their level of need hasn’t changed.
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