Child
Find Study Units 1 - 5
Copyright© Bierdz 2018
NOTE: These materials are only for the
purposes of study. The information presented on this page has been curtailed to
promote a general understanding of the topics. Readers should directly consult
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 and their
state Board of Education for specifics.
UNIT#1
UNIT#1- PART 1: Child
Find Funding and Purpose
IDEA 2004 says every state receiving IDEA funds
must use part of their funding to find children with disabilities so that they may
receive special education and related services. This is called a CHILD FIND.
IDEA 2004 defines a child find as, "in general.--All children [age 0 - 21]
with disabilities residing in the State, including children with disabilities
who are homeless children or are wards of the State and children with
disabilities attending private schools, regardless of the severity of their
disabilities, and who are in need of special education and related services,
are identified, located, and evaluated " (Section 612-C2A). In short: IDEA
provides funding for special education and related services and demands that
each state actively locates children 0 - 21 suspected of having a disability so
they can be evaluated as disabled or not, with those identified as disabled being
entitled to receive special education and related services.
Answer question 1 for Child
Find Study Unit #1 - Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
UNIT#1-
PART 2: Child Find Populations
In short: IDEA provides each state with funding for
special education and related services and demands that each state actively
locates children 0 - 21 suspected of having a disability so they can be
evaluated as disabled or not, with those identified as disabled being entitled
to receive special education and related services. IDEA 2004 defines a child
find as, "in general.--All children [age 0 - 21]with
disabilities residing in the State, including children with disabilities who
are homeless children or are wards of the State and children with disabilities
attending private schools, regardless of the severity of their disabilities,
and who are in need of special education and related services, are identified,
located, and evaluated " for special education services (Section 612-C2A)
Regardless of your position as a school
professional, you should know who qualifies under a child find according to the
law. In becoming a
school professional you are taking on the responsibility of becoming
informed so as to assist the members of the communities you serve. Do not think
of yourself as learning these materials to earn a grade, but to become a
quality professional. Invest your time and effort into making yourself into the
type of professional you would want serving those you love.
Answer question 2 for Child
Find Study Unit #1- Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
UNIT#1-
PART 3: Screening & Assessment
A child find involves "screening" and may
also involve "assessment." What is the difference between screening
and assessments? What is a screening? A screening is a quick/simple instrument
that determines if a person is UNLIKELY to have a disability. In other words,
it attempts to "screen out" those who are probably not going to be
classified as disabled. Screenings
cannot diagnose a disability, this is the job of assessments (e.g., Seeing the
letter "E" on the eye chart suggests no vision problem; however one
might actually have a vision problem which may be detected via assessments but
missed by this screening.). Although screenings can be wrong- showing a child
probably does not have a disability when they actually do, or that a child
might have a disability when they actually don't-, they are still useful
because, unlike assessments, they are inexpensive and quickly administered.
This means large numbers of children can be screened in a short period of time
for little money.
Answer question 3 for Child
Find Study Unit #1- Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
UNIT#1-
PART 4: Screenings
As stated earlier, A
screening is a quick/simple instrument that "screens out" those who
are probably not disabled. You should recall that Screenings cannot diagnose a
disability and should never be used to do so. . Although screenings can be
wrong, they are still useful because, unlike assessments, they are inexpensive
and quickly administered. Remember that screenings can be wrong, but are useful
because they allow large numbers of children to be processed in a short period
of time for little money.
Answer question 4 for Child
Find Study Unit #1- Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
UNIT#1-
PART 5: Assessment
Screenings are quick and inexpensive instruments used
to determine who probably does not have a disability. This is to say that
screenings "screen the non-disabled children out" so that only those
who are likely to have a disability are left. Notice that the children captured
by a screening are not said to "have a disability." Such a
determination can only be done via the assessment process.
What is the assessment process? The assessment
process is a way to determine if a child should or should not be classified as
disabled and if they should or should not receive special education services.
In short, the assessment process identifies children with disabilities and
helps determine their educational placement. Because the assessment process is
lengthy and expensive, school districts tend to be prudent in its use.
There are a few things you need to know about the
assessment process as it applies to IDEA. (NOTE: These things do not apply to
screenings, only the assessment process, not screenings). Prior to a child
being assessed for special education services, apart from a few exceptions, the
child's parents or guardians must be informed of the intent to perform an
assessment, have the assessment process and their rights explained to them (in
their native language), and consent in writing to the assessment process. After the assessment process begins, the
child's parents or guardians have the right to terminate the assessment process
at any point.
Note:
the term “parents” in the above represents the child’s parents or legal
guardians.
Answer question 5 for Child
Find Study Unit #1 - Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
Take Child Find Study Unit Part 1 TEST
UNIT#2
UNIT#2-
PART 1: Quick Review
As you should already know, IDEA provides funding for
special education and related services and demands that each state actively
locates children 0 - 21 suspected of having a disability so they can be
evaluated as disabled or not. This is done because only those children who have
been identified as disabled are entitled to receive special education and
related services- regardless of a disability’s severity. Screenings and
assessments are used to help fulfill this mandate.
You should also know that screenings and
assessments are different. They are different in how long they take to
administer, their ability to diagnose a disability, and their expense. Screenings are used to help locate children
suspected of having a disability and assessments are used to help identify if a
child has a disability or not. Screenings can be wrong, but are useful because
they allow large numbers of children to be processed in a short period of time
for little money.Assessments are less likely to be
wrong, are time consuming and expensive to administer. Under IDEA, the assessment
process is used to identify children with disabilities and helps determine
their educational placement.
You should already know that there are a few rules
that apply to assessments that do not apply to screenings. Apart from a few rare exceptions, the child’s
parents or guardians must be informed of the intent to perform an assessment,
have the assessment process and their rights explained to them, and consent in
writing to the assessment process. Also, after the assessment process begins,
the child’s parents or guardians have the right to terminate the assessment
process at any point.
Answer question 1 for Child
Find Study Unit #2- Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
UNIT#2-
PART 2: Assessments- Delayed Development vs. Arrested Development
As you should know, assessments aid in
identification. This is to say that each assessment helps to answer the
question “Does this child have a disability?” (Note: assessments “aid” and
“help” answer the question, they do not independently answer that question).
There are various areas in which a child can be classified as having a
disability and hence different assessments are used to test each area. For
example a child’s development could be assessed in any of the following areas:
Sensory development; Physical development; Emotional/social development;
Communication development; Cognitive development; and adaptive development.
There is no single assessment that is capable of investigating a child’s
development in each of these areas. Hence a child must undergo multiple
assessments for a proper diagnosis.
A child’s development in one or more areas could be
assessed as being delayed or arrested. Delayed refers to a slower than expected
development. Arrested means the development
has stopped. Children with delayed development are expected to develop
normally, just at a slower rate. But this is not always the case. However,
children considered as having arrested development are not expected to follow
the expected (i.e., normal) course of development.
In terms of delayed development vs arrested
development, the following analogy may be useful, but you should note it is
crude and can be misleading: Let’s say you are on the way to a party and get
pulled over by the police for speeding and get a ticket. This will delay your
arrival. Being delayed means you will eventually show up for the party, but you
will be a late arrival. Of course, being late for one party does not make you
late for everything else in your life (dinner, work, bed…) just the party.
However, if you are on the way to a party, and the police arrest you, then you
definitely will not arrive at the party.
Some people wrongly think that the child as a whole
is delayed or arrested. They do not understand that it is the “area of
development” not “the child” that is delayed or arrested. (Note: “area” of
development, not “the child). The correct way to think about this is to
recognize that the delay in development, or the arrest in development, can take
place in one area without taking place in any of the others. For example a
child may only have a delay or an arrest in the area of their communication but
no other areas. Another example is that a child may have an arrest in his or
her cognitive development but yet only a delay in his or her adaptive
development. You must also consider that the delay in development, or arrested
development may take place in multiple areas.
For example, a child may be delayed in his or her emotional/social
development but arrested in his or her communication development and physical
development. There are no limitations to how these are mixed and matched. Just
remember that it is “the area”, not the child that has the delay or the
arrested development. Also, when thought of this way, it is easier to
understand why a child should receive multiple assessments, as each area must
be assessed separately.
Answer question 2 for Child
Find Study Unit #2- Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
UNIT#2-
PART 3: Assessment and Classification Ages 0 – 3 & 3 - 21
As you should know, assessments aid in
identification: in that each assessment helps to answer the question “Does this
child have a disability?” The
assessments might show the child’s DEVELOPMENT is normal, delayed, or arrested
in the area being assessed. Because there are many areas of development (e.g.,
sensory, physical, emotional, social, communication…) each area is assessed
separately. No single assessment can test all of these areas.
The IDEA has two different provisions for children
with delayed and/or arrested development depending on the child’s age. There is one provision, covered under PART C
of IDEA, for children who are aged 0 – 3 and another, covered under PART B of
IDEA, for children who are 3 – 21. Each
is briefly covered below.
Part C of IDEA relays that a child who is 0 – 3 who
is assessed as having a delay or arrest in one or more of the various areas of
development is classified as “Developmentally delayed.” Notice that even children assessed as having
arrested development are still placed in the developmentally delayed category.
(Do you recall the 13 IDEA disability categories? Do you recall the category
“Developmental Delay?” This is the category in which these children are
placed). A child in the Developmental Delay category is entitled to special
education services in the form of “Early Intervention Services”. IDEA part C
states that Early Intervention Services are to include “an educational
component that promotes school readiness and incorporates preliteracy,
language, and numeracy skills.” These early intervention services are provided
under an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP. I will cover these in more
detail later). The goal of early intervention services is, as the name implies,
to intervene early in the child’s developmental process to minimize or
eliminate the need for additional special education services once the child
enters K – 12 classes.
Part B of IDEA relays that, when a child is 3 – 21
and attending school (k – 12 classes), the above assessments of the child’s
developmental areas (e.g., sensory, physical, emotional/social, communication,
and so on…)may be provided depending on the child’s age and other factors.
Although a child may not be assessed in these developmental areas, each child
is to receive academic assessments. The
academic assessments measure the child’s progress in the school curriculum. The
academic assessments examine the child’s present levels of school performance.
(Note: developmental assessments measure “development” & accademic assessments measure “accademic
progress in the school’s cariculum”).
Following the Elitist Medical Model, the assumption
is that the child’s disability may be the cause of the student’s low school
performance under regular education programing.
If the assessment team, after reviewing all of the assessment data,
judges that the student has a disability, he or she is placed in one of the 12
remaining IDEA categories: they should not be placed in the category Developmental
Delay. Once the child has been categorized, he or she is entitled to special
education and related services which are to be provided in the Least
Restrictive Environment. This is to be provided at no expense to the
parents/guardians. The student’s special education services would be provided
under an Individualized Education Program (IEP. I will cover IEPs in more
detail later).
Notice, in both cases, the SERVICES a child
receives is what is “SPECIAL” not the child. The child receives special
education services. The child is not “special.” The child is your fellow human
being. He or she is your equal in humanity. School professionals receive
specialized training so that they can provide equality to all students, not
just those who fit into mainstream categories. There is noting
special about equality, or at least there shouldn’t be. If you feel the need to
call anyone “special” apply the label to yourself and encourage others to refer
to you as “special!” See Special
Needs A Term Promoting Segregation and Discrimination
Answer question 3 for Child
Find Study Unit #2- Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
UNIT#2-
PART 4: Assessment Data Used To Make Placement/Service Determinations
As you should know, when a child is suspected of
having a disability,, IDEA states they must be
assessed in every area of the suspected disability or disabilities. It is common
for a child to have more than one disability.
If the assessment process finds that the child has one or more
disabilities, the child is “identified” as disabled under IDEA. The child is
then placed in one, or more, of the 13 IDEA disability categories. Only after
the child is “identified” will he or she be considered as entitled to special
education services. If the child is 0 – 3, he or she is placed in the
Developmental Delay category. Part C of IDEA applies, and his or her special
education services will be in the form of Early Intervention Services. These
will be provided under an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). IF the
child is 3 – 21, part B of IDEA applies. The child is placed in one or more of
the remaining IDEA disability categories. Remember a child can be assessed as
having one or more disabilities. After the child is classified, he or she is
now entitled to special education services at no additional cost to the
parents/guardians. The child’s special education and related services are to be
listed in the child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP), Remember, the
“services” are “special” not the child.
Once a child is “identified” as disabled, the
assessment data serves another purpose: it now aids in figuring out the child’s
placement under an IFSP or an IEP depending on the child’s age. This means the
assessment data helps answer the questions: “Which early intervention or
special education supports and services should be employed? What amount of
services (hourly, daily, weekly) will predictively cause the child to reach the
goals listed in his or her IFSP or IEP? And, where should such services be provided? The assessment data helps answer these
questions, which are used to write the child’s IFSP or IEP.
Let’s look at three examples of how the assessment
procedure data helps to answer questions about identification and about what
services are to be provided, how frequently, and for how long. In the first
example, a child is suspected of having a speech/language impairment following
a screening. The child is given a speech/language assessment; and, it is found
the child does not have any such impairment. The assessment data would be used
to judge that the child is not considered as disabled under IDEA and is hence
not entitled to receive special education services. (Notice this is also an
example of how screenings can be wrong and are not to be used for assessment).
In the next example,, two
children- age 6 are assessed and both are found to fit into the IDEA catagories of Cognitive Impairment and Speech/Language
Impairment. For the first child, the assessment data is considered. Based on
the assessment data, the IEP team decides that the child is projected to
benefit from one hour of speech/language therapy per week for a year. The data
also suggests that the student will largely remain attached to regular
education programing. The IEP team, based on the assessment data, also suspects
that in a year or so, the child should no longer be classified as disabled and
hence will no longer qualify for special education services under IDEA.
As for the other child, the assessment data
suggests something different to the IEP team. To them the data is judged to
imply that the child should benefit from utilizing communication devices every
day and therapy twenty hours a week along with being placed in a separate
classroom for several subject areas, yet remain in the regular educational
settings for other classes, gym, and lunch. The assessment data suggests to the
IEP team that this child is expected to utilize special education services
throughout all grade levels and will benefit from direct instruction in
practical skill development and social skills training. The IEP team will need to periodically
reassess this child to reevaluate the child’s growth and development under the
special education services provided, and the team will need to write a new IEP
for the student each year.
As you should be able to see, although both of
these students are entitled to special education services under the IDEA, the
types and amounts of their services are quite different. Not only was the
assessment data used to identify each child as disabled- placing each child in
the IDEA disability categories of “Cognitive Impairment” and “Speech/Language
Impairment- but the assessment data was also helpful in determining each
child’s placement. This is to say it was used to determine what services would
be provided, the frequency of the services, how long they would last. In short
the data helps ensure each child is receiving a Free Appropriate Public
Education (FAPE). The assessment data was also used to determine each child’s
lease restrictive environment (LRE) this is to say to determine to what degree
the child would be included with other children who are not classified as
disabled- which is to take place whenever possible and as often as possible.
Answer question 4 for Child
Find Study Unit #2 - Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
Take
Child Find Study Unit Part 2 TEST
UNIT#3
UNIT#3-
PART 1: Some Rules for Applying Assessment Results
When providing assessments to determine if a
student should be identified as "disabled" and hence, eligible to
receive special education and related services, the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act has a few rules in place to help ensure that only children who
actually have disabilities, and are hence entitled to receive special education
services, are positively identified. According to the IDEA,,
any child suspected of having a disability must receive multiple assessments,
not just one. As you should know, a single assessment is insufficient for
producing adequate data for the team of professionals- which includes the
parents/guardians- to discuss and interpret in deciding whether or not the
child should be classified as "disabled" and is entitled to special
education and related services under the IDEA.
For example, a child's score on an IQ test is
meaningless by itself because an IQ test is only one narrow measure of
intelligence. It only becomes meaningful when the test's results are used along
with, and are judged to be in harmony with, other formal and informal
assessment results. In fact, a person can have a low IQ and not be considered
as having an intellectual disability.
However a student with an IQ under 70, and assessed as having low adaptive
functioning in the areas of conceptual skills, practical skills, and social
skills could be judged as intellectually
disabled by a decision making team.
(Note: The IDEA category Intellectually
Disabled is known in some states as Cognitive
Impairment, as IDEA allows states the right to use other terms to represent
each category).
For the IDEA assessment team to decide if a child
should or should not be classified as disabled, they need to carefully consider
the results of multiple assessments, and to use their best judgement on what
the results collectively suggest.
Answer question 1 for Child
Find Study Unit #3- Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
UNIT#3-
PART 2: Some More Assessment Rules- Formal vs. Informal Assessments
IDEA has rules concerning the assessment process
used to determine if a child should be identified as "disabled" and
is entitled to special education and related services. Under IDEA assessments
can be a mix of formal assessments or informal assessments. Formal assessments
and informal assessments are described below:
Formal assessments are specially designed tests
delivered under prescribed and regulated circumstances and must be administered
by qualified individuals specially trained and certified to administer them
(Such as an IQ test). Informal assessments lack much of the rigorousness of
prescribed and regulated testing conditions associated with formal assessments.
Informal assessments include such things as interviews, in-class work samples,
homework samples, and in school and out of school observations. This means that
school records collected by school professionals can become part of the
assessment process. In addition school professionals may be interviewed as part
of the assessment process. (As a school professional you will need to record
and maintain records on all of your students as these records may become part
of the assessment process).
All of the assessment data from formal and informal
assessments is used by the decision making team- which includes the child's
parents/guardians- to help determine if the child should be identified as
disabled under IDEA and is entitled to special education and related services.
It is important that you know and remember that the
assessment results do not dictate if a child is, or is not, disabled. Rather,
the decision making team is to discuss and interpret the results, and then use
their professional judgement to make such determinations. This means that it is
possible that when two decision making teams are given the exact same
assessment results for a single child, they could have different
interpretations of the results with one team identifying the child as disabled
and the other not.
Answer question 2 for Child
Find Study Unit #3- Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
UNIT#3-
PART 3: Safeguarding Against Bias in Assessments & Assessment Costs
As you should know- from previous study units-, the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was established to prevent
educational discrimination against children with disabilities, and, as stated
in IDEA to "prepare them for further education, employment, and
independent living." Hence IDEA only seeks to provide special education
and related services to students with disabilities. Sometimes it may appear
that a child has a disability when they do not. This is because an assessment
might mistake some factors as if they were a disability. IDEA has rules
concerning the assessments used to determine if a child is to be classified as
"disabled." These rules are in place to help ensure that only
children who actually have disabilities are identified and receive specialized
education and related services.
Under the IDEA, assessments used to determine if a
child is to be identified as disabled are to be non-bias. This is done to help
rule out false results caused by such things as lack of education, inadequate
education, cultural and or language differences, or complications caused by how
the assessment interacts with some other attribute of the child. Such factors
might cause a child who is not disabled to be falsely identified as disabled.
For example: let's say we want to assess if a child
can correctly give and pronounce the English name of items when given their
picture. a six-year-old child who grew up in a city
overseas, just moved to the USA last week, and does not speak English would
likely fail when asked to provide the English word when shown a picture of a
fish, apple, rooster, and tree. A child who was told he could not use his
glasses might also fail this task, but for different reasons. Although one
would reasonably expect a native English speaking six-year-old child to
correctly perform this task, in both of the above cases each child failure is
best explained by the assessment, or its conditions, being a poor match to
them. In short the assessment is bias. The results would falsely suggest that
each child has a disability.
The six-year-old child who has not yet been taught
to speak English should not be considered as disabled. The child's inability
can be explained by factors other than a disability (e.g., being of a different
language and lacking English education). Likewise, the child who was wrongly
told he could not use his glasses is not considered as disabled because of
invalid testing conditions created by the degreed ignoramus conducting the
assessment. Neither of these children are entitled to
special education services under IDEA. Special education services are only for
children identified and classified as disabled
and fit into one of the IDEA disability categories.
Because assessments results can be misleading or
wrong for various reasons: (e.g., the assessment was poorly administered, was
not administered by a qualified individual, is bias, or the child was having a
bad day, and so on) under IDEA parents/guardians have the right to request that
assessments be administered again when they believe the results are false.
Although a school may not want to undertake the time and cost involved in
reassessment, IDEA demands that the school district must undertake this
expense.
Although I have personally witnessed school
administrators attempting to have parents cover the costs of assessments, by
law, the parent/guardian is not required to pay for the first set or the second
set of assessments. However, if they disagree with the second set of
assessments, and want a third set, the IDEA states that they, not the school
district, would need to pay for for this third set
Answer question 3 for Child
Find Study Unit #3 - Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
UNIT#3-
PART 4: Intro to Response to Intervention (RTI)
For children between the ages 3 - 21 who are attending
school, under IDEA Response to Intervention (RTI) can be used to assess if a
student should be categorized as disabled under the label "Learning
disability." As the name implies, when a student is classified as having a
learning disability, it means the student is finding is difficult to learn
under the regular education system. This difficulty is reflected in their low
academic achievement (i.e.,, low grades). A learning
disability does not result from a low IQ. By definition a student with a learning
disability must have a normal to above normal IQ. In assessing if a student has
a learning disability or not, the question that needs to be answered is
"What is causing the child's low academic performance?"
As noted, students classified as learning disabled
have a normal to above normal IQ but something is preventing them from
learning. Under IDEA, by definition, this "something" cannot be
things such a lack of opportunity, inadequate instruction, problems at home,
poverty, or some other disability (e.g., vision or hearing impairment). Any of
these factors can interfere with a students learning
under regular educational programing, but none of them qualify as a learning disability. In short, a
learning disability is suspected when the time, effort, and methods that allow
other students to learn language based activities do not result in learning.
Most students classified as having a learning disabilities find reading OR math
to be difficult.
The job of Response To Intervention (RTI) is to
assess if a student's low educational achievement results from being subjected
to low quality teaching, a lack of
educational opportunity, OR is better explained by an assumed learning disability. (Note: it is one or the
other). If the student's learning
problems stem from low quality teaching or lack of educational opportunity the
student is not considered to have a learning disability. But, if low quality
teaching and lack of educational opportunity can be ruled out, then RTI assumes
the difficulty in learning is caused by a learning disability.
If you intend to be a regular education teacher,
you will be involved in the RTI process. You will be expected to know about
RTI. You should be able to explain the RTI process to others. If you intend to
enter a different school professional position (e.g., social worker, speech
language pathologist, school psychologist, school counselor, and so on) you
will be participating in IEP meetings and will need to have knowledge about
RTI. Remember, you are training to
become a professional. Training means investing time and effort to gather
knowledge and become skilled. Make yourself a high-quality professional. It is
not going to happen by magic!
Answer question 4 for Child
Find Study Unit #3- Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
UNIT#3-
PART 5: RTI Basics
Response to Intervention (RTI) seeks to determine
if a student's learning difficulties are better explained by one of three
factors: inadequate education or, a lack of educational opportunity, or
presuming the student has some sort of "learning disability." So how
can RTI rule out the first two factors: inadequate education, and/or a lack of
educational opportunity? RTI does this by ensuring the student receives
high-quality teaching with adequate opportunities to learn.
This is to say that, if the student's response to
an intervention of high quality teaching and adequate opportunity to learn is
positive (meaning the student begins to learn in a manner judged to be normal),
then it is assumed the problem is not due to a learning disability. Clearly the
child is learning when given high quality teaching and an opportunity to learn.
The RTI thinking is that this is not what would be expected if the child had a
learning disability. However if the student response does not change with this
intervention (this is to say the intervention is judged as not helping the
student learn normally), then the assumption is that the student may be
considered as having a learning disability and qualify for special education
services under the IDEA.
For example, two students are failing in math. They
are both provided high quality math education under RTI. The one student begins
to improve her math scores. RTI would conclude that her math problems resulted
from a lack of quality education and or an adequate opportunity to learn math.
Now let’s say the other student does not improve. RTI would say the problem
could not be due to a lack of education or educational opportunity because
these were provided. RTI would then presume that the problem must be due to a
learning disability: In this case a learning disability known as dyscalculia.
One more example: Ten students are failing in
reading. They are all provided the intervention of high quality reading
instruction for eight weeks under RTI. Nine of the students improve their
reading abilities. RTI would conclude that their reading problems resulted from
a lack of quality education and or an adequate opportunity to learn to read.
But what of the tenth student who’s reading only slightly improve? RTI would
say the problem could not be due to a lack of education or educational
opportunity because these were provided. RTI would then presume that the problemis due to a learning disability: In this case dyslexia.
Remember that, according to IDEA, this
determination decision is not to be automatic. The assessment team must
consider the RTI results, other data collected, and
use their professional judgement to make the final determination. This might
result in one team judging a child as having a learning disability and to be
entitled to special education services, yet, another team might decide the
opposite given the same child and the same assessment results.
In short, a learning disability is suspected when
the time, effort, and methods that allow other students to learn language based
activities, such as reading or math, do not result in learning. RTI is supposed
to ensure that a valid teaching method is used and the students are applying
the time and effort needed to learn. Under RTI's conditions all students
classified as normal are expected to show significant progress in learning.
Such progress would not be expected if a student has a learning disability.
Under the RTI assessment model the decision making team must interpret and pass
judgement on the results of a student's response to intervention. Students who
begin to learn normally after being provided high quality education and
adequate opportunities to learn are likely judged as not having a learning
disability. However, when the time, effort, and methods that allow other
students to learn language based activities do not result in comparable gains
in learning, the assessment team may decide the child should be classified as
having a learning disability, and hence, is eligible for special education
services.
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Find Study Unit #3 - Select all items that are consistent with the
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UNIT#4
UNIT#4-
PART 1: The Three Tier RTI Model
As you should now know, under the Response To
Intervention (RTI) assessment model, it is assumed that students who begin to
show significant gains in learning after being provided the
"intervention" of high quality education and adequate opportunities
to learn likely do not have a learning disability; Whereas: those who continue
to show difficulty learning under this intervention may be classified as having
a learning disability and eligible for special education services. But what
exactly is an RTI model?
There are many models of RTI but in general RTI is
typically a 3 tier model in which scientifically validated instruction is
paired with progress monitoring. Three tier means there are three stages of
instruction provided. Sientifically validated
instruction means that the teaching methods used with the students are known to
be effective, they have been tested and proven to produce results. Progress
monitoring means, that the students are frequently tested to measure if they
are learning or not, this is to say their "progress in learning" is
"monitored".
In what is called Tier I, a group of
students are taught the core curriculum in the general education classroom
ensuring valid and reliable teaching methods are deployed. Typically 80 - 85%
of students respond positively to this intervention. This suggests that they
were failing in school due to low quality teaching or lack of educational
opportunity, not a learning disability. The 15% remaining are given Tier II
intervention to further assess the reason for the school failure.
In tier II the students who did
not respond positively to tier I receive supplemental, small-group instruction.
About 75% of these students tend to respond positively to this level of
intervention. This again suggests that they had low educational performance due
to factors other than a learning disability. The students who did not respond
positively to Tier II are given Tier III intervention.
Tier III
intervention consists of intensive/individualized services. Some models have
tier III as special education, where as others do not. This is to say that in
some RTI models only those students who do not respond positively to Tier III
interventions will be considered as having a learning disability and are then eligible
to receive special education services. In other RTI models entering Tier III
means the student is considered to have a learning disability and is receiving
Special Education services: Tier III is special education. Remember, not all
RTI models follow this basic three tier structure, but many do. Some RTI models
may have more tiers; however the process is relatively the same.
Answer question 1 for Child
Find Study Unit #4- Select all items that are consistent with the
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UNIT#4-
PART 2: RTI, Parent’s Rights, & The Referral Process
Although IDEA allows school districts to use the
process of Response to Intervention (RTI) to be used to assess if a student's
learning problems are caused by inadequate instruction and lack of educational
opportunities or are better explained by claiming the student has a learning
disability, RTI is not the only way a student can be assessed for a learning
disability. This is important to know as there is evidence that some schools
attempt to hold students in the RTI process rather than providing them special
education services. There can be many reasons for attempting to delay or deny a
student special education services such as costs or discrimination. In short,
as the UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND
REHABILITATIVE SERVICES stated in a letter dated April 29, 2006 some school
districts use RTI as a "strategy to delay or deny" a child's right to
receive special education services and hence access to an appropriate
education.
Because administrators sometimes act illegally, it
is important to know that, at any time, a parent/guardian can request that an
assessment other then RTI be used to determine their child's eligibility for
special education services. A request to determine if a child is eligible for
special education services due to a suspected disability is called a
"referral." A referral can be made by parents, guardians, teachers,
or other professionals associated with the child. In the state of Illinois,
once this WRITTEN request/referral is receive, the school district has 14
school days to provide a written response. Notice this is “school-days” not “calendar
days”.
If the school district fails to respond to the
referral in the 14 school days, the parents/guardians have the right under IDEA
to take certain actions, including legal actions. Unfortunately many parents
are unaware of this rule, or of their rights under IDEA. But fortunately you
are learning these materials. High quality professionals have this knowledge
and use it to help others.
Answer question 2 for Child
Find Study Unit #4- Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
UNIT#4-
PART 3: Recap, Interpretation, and Parent’s Rights
At this point you should know that IDEA grants each
state with money to locate and provide services to those aged 0-21 who can be
classified as "disabled." Part of this money is to be spent to
"find" children who may qualify for special education services under
IDEA (hence child find). This is done via quick and simple screenings, and the
long and costly process of assessments. The screening process is typically
provided through programs announced to the public (e.g., free vision and
hearing exams). For children 3 - 21 who are suspected of having a learning
disability, screening and assessment can be done through Response to
intervention (RTI) but do not need to be done this way.
You should also know by now that assessment results
are not to be used to independently determine if a child should or should not
be identified as disabled. Assessment results must be interpreted by the
assessment team- which includes the parent. This is to say that all of the
various formal and informal assessment results must be considered by the
special education evaluation team as to how they are to be construed. It is
actually the teams "interpretation" of the assessment results that
decides if the child will be identified as disabled, not the assessment itself.
In addition, the team must interpret the meaning and intent of the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act and how it should be applied in deciding if a
child should or should not receive special education services.
This is to say that, if two decision making teams
reviews the assessment data for a single child, and both teams judge that the
child should be identified as disabled, each team could differ in if the child
should or should not receive special education and related services under IDEA
according to their interpretation of the law. In short, the assessment team's
interpretation of all assessment results, their interpretation of the law, and
their professional judgement decides how each will be construed to declare,
under IDEA, if the child should or should not be identified as disabled and
should or should not receive special education and related services. (Read that
again, for if you understand this, you understand a great deal).
The child's parents/guardians are part of this
professional decision making team. IDEA sees the parent/guardian as an expert
on the child due to the long-standing relationship they have with the child.
If the school district's side of the decision
making team decides that, under IDEA, the child should not be identified as
disabled, or should not receive special education and related services, and the
parents'/guardian's disagree with the school's interpretation of the assessment
results and the law, they, under IDEA, have the right to reject this decision.
According to the IDEA, parents/guardians can seek a new decision. IDEA contains
legal provisions for parents to obtain a different interpretation of the
assessment results and the law to obtain a new judgement.
Furthermore, if the team determines that the child
should be classified as "disabled" under IDEA and is eligible for
special education services, the child's parents or guardian have the right to
accept or reject their child receiving special education services. This
acceptance or rejection by the parents/guardians must be done in writing. In
the unlikely case that they reject, by law, no special education or related
services can be provided to the child.
If the parents/guardians accept that the child
should receive special education and related services, the next step in the
process is to draw up a contract that outlines the nature and purpose of the
services to be received. IF the child is an infant or a toddler this contract
is called an Individualized Family
Service Plan ("IFSP") If the child is between the ages 3 - 21 the
contract is known as an Individualized
Education Program ("IEP"). These are covered in the next section.
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UNIT#5
UNIT#5-
PART 1: Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)
Recall that Part C of IDEA relays that a child who
is 0 - 3 who is assessed as having a delay or arrest in one or more of the various
areas of development would be classified as "Developmentally
delayed." A child in the Developmental Delay category is entitled to
special education services in the form of "Early Intervention
Services". These early intervention services are provided under an
Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). The goal here is, as the name
implies, to intervene early in the child's developmental process to minimize or
eliminate the need for additional special education services once the child
enters K - 12 classes.
The Individualized Family Service Plan is written
by the IFSP team, which of course includes the parents/guardians, and is based
on the assessment results. The IFSP is developed around the strengths and needs
unique to the infant or toddler, and identifies the infant's or toddlers
present levels of physical development, cognitive development, communication
development, social/emotional development, and adaptive development and the
services that are to be employed to meet these developmental needs. In other
words it asks, and answers the questions: "What services are needed to
help this child develop normally, or as normal as possible? What should be the
frequency and intensity, and duration of these services?"
Because much of the world is designed for the statistically
normal population, there are not many services readily available for
infants/toddlers who have been classified as disabled. Most professionals are
educated on how to provide services for children classified as normal. Most
services are designed for children classified as normal. So when an
infant/toddler is classified as disabled, the things that work well for
normally developing infants/toddlers may not work all that well for them. In
addition, the family of an infant/toddler classified as disabled is likely not
prepared or equip to raise a child with developmental differences in a society
that is designed for those who are Neuro/Physically-Typical. Historically our
culture has abandon or persecuted families who have children with developmental
differences. Often when parents/guardians seek assistance, they are misguided by
others or ignored by the very professionals that should be offering assistance.
Note: It
is one thing to read about such things, it is an entirely different thing to
live them. But know this, you shall either be part of
the problem or part of the solution. Of course you will likely claim you want
to be part of the solution. But words are nothing without action. Only those
who are investing the time and effort into solidly understanding these materials
have evidence that demonstrates their words have meaning. The rest are fooling themselves.
This is why the IFSP must ask and answer the
questions: What services, in what amounts, and for how long, should be provided
to ensure this infant/toddler has as normal of a physical development and a
sensory development as possible? What services, in what amounts, and for how
long, should be provided to ensure this infant/toddler has as normal of a
cognitive development and adaptive skills development as possible? What
services, in what amounts, and for how long, should be provided to ensure this infant's/toddler's
communication development and social/emotional development is as normal as possible?”
In addition to directly planning the outside
services for enhancing the infant/toddler's development, the IFSP also plans
for services to help the infant's/toddler's family do the same (e.g.,
transportation to and from appointments, parent education and training, counseling,
and connecting to other family support services). Hence, the IFSP is
constructed around the family's resources, concerns, and priorities for
enhancing the development of the infant/ toddler. It identifies the supports
and services needed to improve the family's ability to meet the
infant's/toddler's needs.
The IFSP indirectly provides early intervention
services by identifying and providing the supports and services needed to
improve the family's ability to meet the infant's/toddler's developmental
needs. Finally, recall that IDEA part C states that Early Intervention Services
are to include "an educational component that promotes school readiness
and incorporates preliteracy, language, and numeracy skills." This means
the IFSP must not merely address the child's development, but must also address
the child's academic readiness for school. The idea behind Early Intervention
Services is to "intervene" (get involved) early in the child's
development so that more costly special education services are not required, or
not required as much, when the child enters school.
Answer question 1 for Child
Find Study Unit #5- Select all items that are consistent with the
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UNIT#5-
PART 2: The IFSP
Each child's IFSP is constructed around the
family's resources, concerns, and priorities for enhancing the development of
the infant/ toddler. It identifies the supports and services needed to improve
the family's ability to meet the infant's/toddler's needs. Each child's IFSP is
built around clear goals (a listing of the measurable results/outcomes to be
achieved). The IFSP must also have a plan for when and how each goal's progress
is measured. The IFSP will also record whether or not modifications of, or
revisions to, each goal, or the services used to reach each goal, was
necessary.
This means that the IFSP has well defined goals it
is seeking for the child to achieve. For every goal that is written, its
progress is tracked and measured. If the data shows that a goal is not being
reached, the services that are being provided are reevaluated to ensure the
goal is reached. Sometimes new goals are added or existing goals are dropped as
the infant/toddler develops and or the family's situation changes. These
changes are recorded in the IFST. This requires the IFSP to be frequently
reevaluated and updated.
The services used to meet the infant's/toddler's
and family's goals are to be- whenever possible- scientifically valid. This
means that those providing services under an IFSP must be high quality
professionals who are skilled and knowledgeable. If you plan to be an early
childhood specialist, you need to be knowledgeable. Sadly, and wrongly, the
field has far too many early childhood specialists, and other- so called-
"professionals" who earned their degree, but lack the knowledge and
skills to be effective. Will you be one of them OR will you make yourself well
prepared?
The services used to meet the infant's/toddlers and
family's needs are to be- whenever possible- provided in a natural environment.
This means that the child receives his or her services in their home or in a
community setting in which children without disabilities participate (e.g., a park,
playground, preschool, community center). The idea here is to help the child
function as normally as possible. Learning skills in an unnatural setting
(e.g., a clinic) is far from normal.
The IFSP must list the frequency, intensity, and
method for delivering services, the dates each service will begin and end, and
name exactly who is responsible for the implementation and coordination of the
IFSP. This lowers the chances that something is overlooked, and ensures that
somebody is always held responsible to ensure services are provided as
scheduled. The IFSP is to be evaluated once per year, but- as the needs of the
infant/toddler, and the family are dynamic, it is
typically evaluated more frequently (e.g., every six months, four months, or
less). Finally, if the school district and child's parents/guardians agree, the
IFSP can serve as the child's IEP when the child turns 3 years old.
NOTE: If
you intend to be an early education teacher, social worker, or work in early
education settings in some other capacity, it is your obligation to know about
the IFSP. The materials in this sections are only enough to raise your
awareness. You must take it upon yourself to educate yourself more fully on
IFSPs. You can begin by reviewing Part C of IDEA and read at least 20 articles
on the topic. I recommend you stop now and develop a plan to do this. It is
easy to say “Yeah I will do it” and we both know it likely won’t happen. Those
who truly care will always have evidence that their words are not empty. They
can present their plan and their charted progress as evidence.
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Find Study Unit #5- Select all items that are consistent with the
materials in this part.
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Child Find Study Unit Part 5 TEST