The special education referral process and signs to look for in a struggling student. Step by step in the USA public schools system
PHASE ONE: Recognition
In this phase, the teacher must recognize when a behavior is not likely to the student's age and document activities. It is important to keep parent-teacher communication about student behavior.
Here are some typical questions:
Does the student present a recurrent problem or new?
Is it constant?
Is the behavior or issue appropriate for children of this age?
PHASE TWO: Pre-referral
A Student-Centered Team typically conducts Pre-referral intervention; the team consists of the teacher, the parents/guardians, an administrator, other general education teachers, nurses, guidance counselors, and any other adult involved in the student's education.
YES
Teachers must keep documenting the student's behavior and continued to implement the activities based on the student needs.
The steps to take into consideration are:
Identify areas of concern
Evaluate classroom accommodation and modifications
Sharing and discussing all the information
Implementing and monitoring strategies
Monitor student's progress
In this phase, teachers and parents work together to evaluate whether educational or behavioral difficulties can be resolve in the general education classroom. Teachers' try different teaching methods to determine whether faulty instruction is the source of the problem.
PHASE THREE: Referral for Special Education Evaluation
YES
If the student's performance improved the school will keep
monitoring the student's progress and will continue with high-quality instruction and collecting data.
NO
The official referral is a formal process to determine eligibility for special education services. The school must obtain consent from the parents/guardians before beginning the evaluation phase of the referral process.
The team will begin the process of determining eligibility for special education services.
PHASE FOUR: Special Education Evaluation
NO
The law requires some individuals to be present during the evaluations, like the parents, the school teacher, the special ed teacher, the school psychologist, related service providers, medical doctors, and other related school personnel.
The IEP team will evaluate the student to determine the disability category the student would fit in.
IDEA requires students referred for special education services receive a nondiscriminatory evaluation and multi-factored.
These evaluations will measure:
Intelligence
Achievement
Behavioral
Disability-specific issues
Medical
PHASE FIVE: Eligibility (FAPE)
IDEA states that each child is entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE.) A way to accomplish this requirement is to provide special education services to children with disabilities.
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The team will determine the student eligibility for special education services, then the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team will determine an appropriate education plan needed by the student of concern
PHASE SIX: IEP Meeting
These evaluations will determine if a child has or not a disability. Example of a Play Based Assessment
The IEP process will be discontinued and remain the responsibility of the general educator, and a 504 plan may be developed.
NO
The IEP is basically a legal contract between the parents and the school district and describes the special education services to be provided by the agency, which is the local school district.
Typically, this meeting is to go over the IEP plan. This will review the next areas: 1)The formal plan, 2) the implementation 3) development of future plans as needed. At this point, the parents will sign the IEP plan.
PHASE SEVEN: IEP Implementation
If the parents think that the plan doesn't meet the student's requirements, the plan will need to be reviewed and reassessed.
The IEP can be changed, depending on the child's needs. The parent has the right to monitor and follow up on the IEP, receive regular reports, monitor the child's progress, stay in communication with the school, and be reviewed yearly.
PHASE EIGHT: Reevaluation
The IEP will review the plan yearly to evaluate the student's progress, such as journaling essays and computer work results of writing assessments. They will map out the students day, including the student non-academic time such as lunch and recess; by doing this map; they can indicate all the time and locations where any modifications and accommodations aids or other supports will be provided
Any assisted technology devices or services will be listed on the IEP, as well as training of the teachers that will need to use the devices,
accommodations for tests and assessments, for example, extra time or taking tests in another room.
Related Mdia
(Teachings in Education, 2019)
Special Education Referral Process. (n.d.). Project IDEAL. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from http://www.projectidealonline.org/v/special-education-referral-process/
(The National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2012)
In this phase, the teacher uses an RTI approach consisting of a comprehensive, multi-step process that teachers use to closely monitor how the student responds to different types of services and instruction
(ESC Region 13, 2017)