Identifying and Helping a Struggling Student
(Coggle by: Carrie Waheed)
Is there a student struggling in your class?
No
Great, but continue to see if any of your students are struggling. Parent-Teacher conferences are there to keep both teams up to date about the student/child
Have a student with a 504 plan or an IEP?
Yes!
Continue to work with supporting staff, the student, and their parents/guardians.
Review and propose amendments if needed
Work closely with the student and their IEP or 504 plan and make sure they understand what is being asked of them
No
Ok great, you're good to go. Keep working with your students. We want everyone to work at their fullest potential!!
Yes
Well...wait... are there different categories of disabilities?
Oh, my dear friend. There are! In fact, there are 13 categories of disabilities as identified by IDEA. You can click HERE to review a mind map of the 13 different disabilities made by the amazing Cohort 13.
Continue working with them and change how you are working with them. For example:
Wait a second... what are some signs of a struggling student?
Here are just A FEW signs of a struggling student:
Receiving bad grades besides working diligently
Constantly needing help with tasks (working with them step-by-step)
Understanding one problem, but not using the same skills to work out similar problems. Or continually needing reminders how to use the same skill over and over again.
Poor memory
Having difficulty grasping simple tasks
Difficulty with communication and language processing
Group assignments
Extra periodic breaks
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework
Such great information, thank you, but my student is still struggling... what do I do NOW??
Looks like you should start a referral process!
Have a meeting with the student, their parent(s)/guardian(s), the school counselor, the school psychologist, and other teachers.... you could even has the special education teacher be a part of this meeting
Gather data about the students':
behavior
test scores
grades
If it is decided, formal test(s) will be given, depending on what the student is struggling with
Once this step is complete and the child is in need of an IEP, now the Comprehensive Evaluation Report (CER) will be compiled
If an IEP is not needed, then the route of a 504 plan can begin.
An IEP will be made with supporting staff (SPED, SLP, audiologist, PT, OT, etc.), the teacher, and the parent(s)/guardian(s).
The teachers will then work with that student and their IEP throughout the academic career
Amendments can be proposed if a specific strategy is not working for the student! These can be proposed by supporting staff, teachers, the student, or the parents/guardians