These are some helpful terms to guide parents, teachers and therapists with regard to special education and speech-language therapy programs at Warner Elementary.
Admissions and Release
Committee (ARC)
An ARC is a group of
people who work with a student to determine what services a student needs in
order to access the general curriculum.
This team is comprised of (but not limited to) the student’s parents,
regular education teacher, special educator, therapists (if student has
therapies), and a school administrator (meeting coordinator/liaison). Each student identified with a disability
must have a meeting every year to discuss progress and develop a new Individual
Education Program (IEP). Evaluations are
completed at least every three years or as requested by parent (or ARC members
if need arises). An ARC can come
together anytime an issue related to special education services arises with a
student and any ARC member can request a meeting. Initial ARCs come together to conduct initial
evaluations and determine if student are eligible for special education services.
Referral (for special
education evaluation)
When a student is
suspected of having a disability, the student’s classroom teacher makes a
request for a support team meeting, and the student goes through our school’s
support team process. If screening
results warrant, or if intervention strategies suggested by the support team
are unsuccessful, then a referral
for special education evaluation is initiated.
The regular education teacher is provided with referral forms to
complete and return to the school’s social worker or guidance counselor. After all information is completed, the forms
are sent to Central Office where the chairperson for our meetings contacts and
schedules a meeting with the student’s parents and teachers. At this meeting, our concerns are discussed
with the parents and permission to evaluate is obtained. After all involved parties conduct the
evaluation (within 60 days), another meeting is scheduled to discuss evaluation
results, provide recommendations, develop an IEP (if student qualifies), and
obtain parental permission for services.
Individual Education Program
(IEP)
An IEP is a yearly
plan written for a student that carries the weight of federal and state
law. It is a plan of action for a given
student based on their academic, social, communication, physical, vocational,
recreational, or cognitive needs. It
provides written goals and objectives that serve as a guide for the regular
educator and special educator to implement in hopes of raising that student’s
level of performance to a level that is commensurate with same-aged peers. It provides in writing who, where, when, and
how special education and regular education services will be provided for that
student. The IEP document is developed
at a student’s ARC meeting by everyone that works with that student.
Specially Designed
Instruction /Specifically Designed Instruction (SDI)
This term is found
on the IEP and is an outline of the modifications, equipment and prompting
methods the special educator will use to help the student reach the intended
objective. These are strategies that
everyone who works with the student should use to help the student meet the
objective. Some terms associated with
SDI might include: verbal prompting,
paraphrasing, scribing, repetitive instruction, increased response time, cue
cards, physical prompts, graphic organizers, checklists, direct instruction,
and shortened assignments.
Modifications
These are strategies
and materials that are used to help a student with an IEP meet objectives or
participate in the classroom environment.
Specially designed instruction items can also be included in this
section to ensure the student receives the benefit of the modification. Modifications are the changes that are made
to a lesson or activity to allow the student with a disability to complete it
successfully. These strategies,
environmental changes and equipment should be used by the student in the
regular classroom on a daily basis.
Modifications can be items, such as dictionaries or thesauri; equipment
such as computers, Alpha-smarts, Franklin spellers or voice-output devices;
specially constructed items, such as cue cards, communication booklets or
checklists; or environmental considerations, such as small group or individual
setting; or actions that teachers/special educators use to help meet goals,
such as paraphrasing, scribing, reading, redirecting, periodic breaks or
reinforcement schedules. Modifications
depend on the needs of each student and are usually located on the back page of
the IEP.
Please note: in order for a student to have modifications
during standardized testing (CATS), the special educator AND regular educator
must use these strategies throughout the year with the student. For standardized testing purposes, only the
modifications listed on the IEP can be used in the test setting. For daily instructional purposes, a teacher
is limited only by their imagination as to what modifications and strategies to
use with a given student to help them succeed.
Learning Disability (LD)
A learning
disability is a discrepancy between the student’s Intelligence and their
Achievement on standardized tests. The
school psychologist evaluates and looks for scores on standardized measures of
intelligence the average or above average range, and scores on standardized
measures of achievement significantly lower.
A learning disability can occur in reading fluency, reading
comprehension, math reasoning, math computation and writing skills.
Please Note: Many times, when students don’t qualify in
this area, These are the students who
should have remedial services in place for the areas of concern
identified. While the student is struggling,
it is not due to a handicapping condition.
Mild Mental Disability (MMD)
A mild mental
disability is determined when a student scores at least two standard deviations
below the mean or average score on standardized tests of intelligence. Most standardized measures of intelligence
have a mean or average of 100, with a deviation of 15. This would mean that the student has a score
of 70 to 55 on standardized measures of intelligence. These students may have difficulty with all
academic areas, comprehending higher level material, and reasoning skills.
Functional Mental Disability
(FMD)
A functional mental
disability occurs when the scores on standardized measures of intelligence fall
at 55 or below. Usually these students
have extreme difficulty in all areas of functioning.
Multiple Disability (MD)
A multiple
disability is a disability in two or more areas, such as MMD and Communication,
or FMD and Other Heath Impaired (OHI).
Developmental Delay (DD)
A
developmental delay is an identified disability in two or more areas with onset
prior to age 9. This disability can be
in any combination of developmental areas such as physical, communication,
cognitive, social, academic, vocational, or recreational functioning. A student entering elementary with this
disability label is expected to improve given early intervention. Students with developmental delays must be
re-evaluated prior to the age of 9, as this is the cut-off age for the
developmental delay label.
Autism
Autism is defined as
a severe disorder of social interaction, communication and restrictive
repetitive responses. Autism mainly
manifests itself as a severe language disorder, where the student does not
verbally respond to social communication attempts and has difficulty with
comprehension of verbal and written communication. There is a lack of understanding of the rules
of communication and social pragmatic skills are impaired. The intelligence levels of students with this
label are uncertain, due to the lack of ability to respond appropriately. Many students with Autism can read, but have
difficulty comprehending material. Many
students with autism have difficulty with variations in their daily routines
and can be upset by stimuli that are not bothersome to most people. Hypersensitivity to external stimuli,
perseveration of activities and routines, repetitive/echolalic speech are some
characteristics that may be observed.
Autism is one
disorder in a group of disorders called Pervasive Developmental Disorders or
(PDD). Some professionals use these
labels interchangeably; however, under the PDD umbrella include other autistic
related disorders such as Rett’s, Asperger’s or Childhood Disintegrative
Disorder.
Other Health Impaired (OHI)
The OHI label can
refer to a student who has some type of health impairment that prohibits them
from accessing the general curriculum at a level comparable to peers. Included in this label may be students with
Cerebral Palsy, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactive
Disorder (ADHD), Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Arthrogrycopsis, or
any variety of physically impairing disorders.
Speech-Language
Impairment/Communication Disorder
A speech or language
impairment occurs when a student has difficulty producing speech or difficulty
with comprehension or expression of language in the classroom setting. There are four main areas of speech-language
impairments: speech sound
production/articulation, fluency, voice and oral language. For additional information on each disorder,
refer to the appropriate vocabulary reference.
Speech Sound
Disorder/Articulation Disorder
A speech sound production
disorder is indicated when the student has difficulty being understood by
others in the classroom setting. Any student you have difficulty understanding
should be referred for screening. Any
student eight years old or older that has speech sound errors should be
screened by a speech-language pathologist.
The most common errors are /r, s, l /.
Some difficulties with understanding a student’s speech may be due
to physical structures of the oral area.
Advancements in orthodontics make early identification very important,
as the specialists can work on remediation of abnormalities at an early age.
Fluency Disorder / Stuttering
Disorder
A fluency disorder is
indicated when a student has difficulty with speaking fluently across
settings. You may hear part-word
repetitions (Ba-Ba-Baby), whole word repetitions (I, I, I went to the store),
sound repetitions (w-w-w-when), or long hesitations or pauses. To be disabling, these would occur at 10
times per 100 words spoken. You may also
see struggle behaviors, such as facial grimaces, jerks or abnormal movements
during a moment of stuttering. Sometimes
children who stutter refrain from speaking except when spoken to, and may be
hesitant to elaborate during classroom conversations and discussions. Fluency
disorders may cause some emotional difficulty for the student. Early identification and remediation are
imperative to the student’s future success academically and socially. There are many strategies that teachers can
use to help students speak more fluently in the classroom and reduce stuttering
behaviors. Please see the
speech-language pathologist for more information.
Language Impairment /
Expressive-Receptive Language Disorder
A language disorder occurs
when a student has difficulty understanding what has been said to them
(receptive language) and/or has difficulty expressing their thoughts and ideas
(expressive language). In the school setting,
language disorders occur when students have difficulty understanding verbal
directions, comprehending material presented orally, and participating in
classroom discussions. Generally these
students have weak and limited vocabulary skills, poor sentence structure and
grammar when they speak. These students
usually provide one-word answers or simple sentences, without usage of complex
sentences and conjunctions. They often
have difficulty remembering people’s names, and use similar names interchangeably
(e.g.; Mrs. Addington & Mrs. Appling). These students usually don’t
volunteer to answer questions, have difficulty with higher level language
understanding (such as jokes, verbal absurdities, and slang expressions).
Difficulties in oral language
directly impact written language ability.
Usually, students with oral language impairments have difficulties with
generating topics for conversation, sequencing and memory skills,
spelling/understanding the sound system of language, reading comprehension, and
concept development. Since most
classroom material is presented orally, these students will struggle
academically. For more information on
identifying students with potential disorders in this area, please refer to
reference documents in the toolkit.
Voice Disorder
A voice disorder occurs when a
student does not produce a voice that sounds appropriate for their age and
gender. The most common voice disorder
in children is vocal nodules, or small, callus-like bumps on the vocal cords
caused by excessive yelling and shouting.
Other disorders include disorders of pitch (sounds too high or too low
for age and gender); nasality (sounds either too nasal or sounds like the child
has a cold); quality (too hoarse or breathy); or breathing (produces too much
air or too little air when speaking).
Disorders of the voice may be caused by a medical condition. It is imperative that any child who has an
abnormal voice for more than 2-3 weeks be referred to the speech-language
pathologist for screening, so a timely referral to a physician can be made.
Resource Setting
The resource setting
is a location outside of the regular classroom where the student identified
with special education needs receives specially designed instruction. The special educator’s classroom or
therapist’s classroom is considered a resource room. A resource setting is used when the student
is distracted by the regular classroom, instruction differs from that which is
occurring in the classroom, or the student’s behaviors distract others in the
instructional setting.
Collaborative Setting
Collaboration occurs
when specially designed instruction is conducted in the classroom and teachers,
special educators and aides work to meet the student’s needs during daily
activities. It includes putting
modifications in place for daily use in the classroom setting, consulting
between special educators and classroom teachers to help them make
modifications when the special educator is not present, and co-teaching in the
classroom, with both regular and special educator taking on instructional
roles. Collaborative settings work when
the special educator is able to work with the student on their IEP objectives
within context of the ongoing activity.
Collaboration is more successful when the skill to be worked on is close
to those of peers. A collaborative
setting may not be warranted if the skill to be worked on is markedly different
from those of peers or when student is distracted and not participating in the
regular classroom setting.
