WABE Special Education and ELL Special Interest Group Minutes
January 29, 2014 8:30 – 12:00
Federal Way School District
33330 8th Ave SE
Federal Way, WA
Room 104
The WABE Special Education and ELL Special Interest Group’s mission is to support, expand and
advocate for the appropriate identification, evaluation and instruction for ELL students of concern.
Present:
Steve Gill
Chris Willis
David Irwin
Liz Smith
Christine Simonith
Manuela Rasing
Jennifer Conner
Topic
Preschool
Screener
Presenter
Steve Gill
Mary Carpio
Shannon Lemieux
Christa Boulier
Leslie Lazzarini
Denise McVey
Liliya Stefoglo
Charae Hulburt
Ian Linterman
Elizabeth Coghlan
Beth Niznik
Laura Horan
Deb Ritchhart
Kristine Gooding
Holly Im-Hamper
Carol Richardson (by Go to Meeting)
Discussion
Issues of under/over identification at this age band.
Issues of cultural exposure to qualification criteria, i.e. zip their
clothes and they either did not live in an area that had zippers
or their parents always did this for them..
Dev delayed and speech and language are most common ID
categories.
(Steve passes draft preschool screener doc around the table.)
Based on his general Students of Concern doc.
Team effort - no one person has the
skills/background/knowledge to complete the full evaluation.
Trained ELL person is a must.
Item 1- student's primary language. Note: does the child have a
NEED to know the second language? Vocabulary is a big deal.
Qualifying on grammatical issues is a waste of time at this age
for ELLs. Some incorrect grammar constructions will probably
remain. Older sibling proficiency is not necessarily a
determining factor.
Questions/comments: need a resource bank for rarer
languages/cultures.
More clarity on the effect of either large or small population of
a language.
Might not be a big impact on preschoolers.
Spanish is 75% of ELLs in the country. It is the most overidentified group.
Does referral come from delay in the first language, or English?
Often there's no documentation in L1. Many Spanish tests are
normed on native Spanish speakers, not kids who have
influence of English or non-standard Spanish.
Action
The structure of the home language will affect how a child uses
English to express thoughts that they might still be thinking in
the L1.
Considering moving this item down the list.
Item 2 - parental education in L1
Parental education (lack of) for a person born outside of the US
is little or no indicator of intelligence.
Poverty is a factor - on average. Does not predict "slow
learning", but instead challenges that students often
encounter. Addressing these issues, including low vocabulary,
requires intervention but does not indicate disability.
Who is qualified to assess parent's education & vocabulary?
Asking these questions requires skill, respect, awareness of
body language. Gauge parents' willingness to talk about their
literacy level. If they get nervous/tense, back off. If they are
open and willing, ask about reading in the home, etc. Few
children who are considered for identification are literate in L1.
Good question to ask (by person on the team with high success
with parents): "What was school like for you?"
Item 3 - approach to English learning v bilingualism
Has the child made the progress that is expected?
Sequential v simultaneous bilingual -- simultaneous shows
pretty good progress. Sim means both languages at the same
time, in percentages. One parent speaks one, one speaks the
other. Seq means first one for a while, then the other.
If child is learning English at home, is he/she mimicking
mistakes learned at home?
What about non-dominance in either language?
Given exposure, see how they grow in comparison to peers.
A lot of younger students in school can take until March or April
to begin to Demonstrate knowledge at school.
Item 4 - intervention description
Keep careful records of interventions used prior to
identification process. Intervention meaning anything (at this
age group) done to address the concern area.
Child Find - Spec Ed ID process, ELL staff usually excluded. State
TBIP funding doesn't start until K, so ELL staff receives no notice
of concerns around preschoolers. What can you do about this?
RTI has reduced evaluation and placement of students into
SpEd. District w/o tiered intervention system will have a higher
identification of ELLs into SpEd.
What are the appropriate interventions for bilingual students?
Include Headstart & ECAP in invite list.
Item 5 - household expectations
What are home behavior expectations? How is food handled?
Sitting quietly? Listening? Responding to social cues? Motor
skills?
Move #5 in front of #4 -- determine background before
determining interventions
Every year the student team will consider whether it is the
language or the disability that keeps the child in SpEd. low
functioning students might not need ELL. The rest can benefit.
Only extremely impaired by disability should be removed from
ELL services.
Item 6 - need to learn English
If the child has many issues competing with the need to learn
English, it's more likely that intervention rather than referral is
the correct response.
Radio: TED - Spoken and Unspoken -- body langauge, other
language backgrounds
What is the academic imperative for English in school?
What is correlation of kids that plateau at L3 and kids who are
non-dominant in either language?
CAL has a brief on long-term ELLs "Irreparable Harm"
Item 7 - Observation
Is the observation environment familiar and comfortable for
the child? If not, results can be skewed by fear, apprehension.
What about parents' observations? Steve considers them
unreliable -- they will under- or over-estimate the problem. This
is natural, and not a criticism. They don't have a big enough
sample size -- they only have their own family as reference.
Teacher ratings: if the child is causing the teacher grief, the
rating is unreliable.
Item 8 - parent interview
When/how to ask about trauma? Treatment for trauma could
prevent the need for SpEd placement.
Item 9 - developmental history
How does this child's development compare to siblings and
relatives?
Should #8 & #9 be the same question?
How is this info gathered? From parents?
What is the reliability of that information? Depends on the
person guiding the conversation. "What did that look like?
When was Jose able to do that? When was Angelica able to do
that?" Investigate behavior, communication, motor skills.
RTI implementation - almost always done wrong at first.
Children given interventions for problems they don't have. That
is, a reading intervention is designed and implemented without
universal screening. So, the intervention is likely to target 1 of
the 5 areas of reading, given the students a 1 in 5 chance the
intervention is useful for them.
Other thoughts First paragraphs seems murky. Not clear on how to place the
mark on the continuum.
Re: #1, there is a need to have someone knowledgeable about
language acquisition present to address it.
The parent interview and developmental info is key. Key players
are often not at the table. More guided questions are needed
to shape the conversation in lieu of key players being present.
Google searching can help with finding developmental screener
questions.
SLD is the most used and most inaccurately used category. The
problem is the humans - expect too much from it. Quadrupled
from the 70s to now. This is not in reference to preschool
students.
Steve is willing to do trainings for trainers for ESDs and districts.
Available one day a month.
Steve hopes to roll out the final Preschool Screener at WABE
April 11.
Does anyone know of language acquisition assessment? - Rigby
Assessment Kit. Levels A - U.
Language acquisition is a slower process - doesn't progress as
fast.
OLAI II test - good for 1st & 2nd graders
SOLOM
Steven.gill@kent.k12.wa.us
Other topics
Dual served kids -- when to drop
Liliya will provide the WAC that supports dual served, and/or
when to exit them from the TBIP program.
Is the service changed to affect the outcome? Is the instruction
appropriate?
RTI model makes different provider vie for that kid. Title I, SpEd,
ELL, Core.
What does RTI look like for ELLs with special needs?
Drop out prevention - meaningful adult relationship. Use all
adult resources in the building.
On assessment/study teams, make sure each members knows
their role & responsibility. Meaningful participation. Example:
what will the SLP contribute, the ELL specialist, the OTPT, etc.
How will each person prepare for and bring to the meeting?
Next meeting:
Agenda: See Other Topics above
Date/time: May 7, 2014 9:30 – 1:00
Host: Liliya Stefoglo
Location: Issaquah: ISD Administration Building Boardroom A
Directions: 565 NW Holly Street, Issaquah, WA 98027
Contact: StefogloL@issaquah.wednet.edu