Special Education The Referral Process

Snapshot of the Process I.Teacher identifies struggling student. II.Teacher obtains a baseline of student’s performance. III.Teacher initiates intervention. IV.Teacher obtains data of performance after the intervention for comparison to baseline. V.Teacher decides to go to IST. VI.Screening is conducted to see if there is a need for further testing. VII.Assessment personnel evaluates student. VIII.ARD meeting is held to discuss assessment results.

The Referral Process General Education modifications must be attempted prior to referral to special education. Documented proof of failure of these interventions must be provided to the pre-referral committee. Special Education is a last resort.

General Education Interventions Remedial Reading programs. Peer tutoring After school programs. Dyslexia 504 (with Content Mastery support)

Documenting Lack of Progress Before an intervention is tried, a pre-test should be administered. Intervention should last an appropriate amount of time. The same test is administered after the intervention, and progress, or lack of, is noted.

Pre-Referral Committee Meets to make suggestions. –Instructional strategies. –Appropriate interventions. –A resource of experts and peers that can help. –May deem that a special education screening is appropriate.

Screening Done by Counselor. –Instruments used by the counselor are designed to “cast a wide net”. They are designed to over-identify children. –Results may indicate a need for (or lack of) further investigation by Diagnostician, LSSP, or Speech Therapist.

The Special Education Referral Give as much information as you can to assessment personnel. A wide range of instruments are used. Each has a specific purpose. If they know what the problem is, they can use the right instruments for assessment. Document, document, document.

Timelines 60 days from the day the parent signs consent, to the date the assessment should be completed. 30 days after that (90 total) the first ARD meeting is held to discuss that assessment and decide on appropriate services.

What!! 90 Days!! Assessment personnel have 2 campuses (that’s 30 days) Take out weekends (that’s 20 days). Take out time for holidays and field trips and student absences. Take out time for ARD meetings, IST meetings, Special Education Department meetings, and the mountain of paperwork. One sample month last year, Jay ended up with 2 days for the entire month which were available to him for testing (and this wasn’t a big holiday month) That’s 5 tests, if lucky (2 kids).

These Are Still Your Students! Don’t assume that when a child is referred for Special Education testing that they are going to qualify. A referral is an investigation as to whether or not they do qualify. About 50% of new referrals do not end up qualifying.