Whitney Young Elementary
Special Educational Needs (SEN) Policy
2013-2014
Perspective on Special Educational Needs:
A variety of special educational needs (SEN) are present in every classroom from
emotional and social, to academic as well as linguistic. All children with special
educational needs have the right to a fair and equitable education. At Whitney Young, we
see all students as valuable members of our community who contribute and add integral
perspectives. A collaborative (push-in) approach to servicing students in ECE
(Exceptional Child Education) and ESL (English as a Second Language) or identified as
AP (Advanced Placement) or Gifted and Talented is implemented.
All staff at Whitney Young is committed to include all children with special needs. All
children help us make our school community a microcosm of our world. All students
bring diverse backgrounds and contribute to our community by teaching us to be caring
and open-minded as we show compassion, empathy, tolerance and acceptance. We
embrace and actively involve all students in our community through differentiation and
universal design. We celebrate diversity of all our students and foster global perspectives
for our students.
Students with special needs are provided access to the curriculum in the least restrictive
environment. For some, this means a self-contained classroom or mainstreaming for part
of the day. However in many cases, this is the regular, comprehensive classroom where
classroom teachers and specialists collaborate following an inclusive approach.
Teachers/specialists assess the children to determine each child’s individual needs and
provide the special services and/or materials that they require. Teachers collect and
analyze data to monitor progress and facilitate setting/updating goals with the students.
The district also supports SEN with materials/equipment and related services such as
speech language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, as well as emotion
and behavioral support. Moreover, there is a specific room in the building called PAC
(Positive Action Center), where students with emotional/behavioral needs receive special
assistance from the school counselor or other SRT (Student Response Team) member.
Moreover, it is recognized that not all children learn at the same rate. All students’
progress is tracked and monitored. Sometimes students need more experience to build up
their prior knowledge. Therefore, teachers must progress monitor to learn about students’
individual learning styles, have carefully planned lessons that include interventions and
modifications for students who need scaffolds in order to for them to be successful, and
offer extended learning opportunities. Personal goal-setting is also an important activity
to complete with children every few weeks that acknowledges their achievements.
Continuous, immediate feedback is used throughout the day in all classrooms. During
common assessments, teachers use Live Scoring to give direct, instant feedback to
students and coach them to proficiency.
Behavior/Social and Academic Interventions
Student Reponses Team (SRT):
After a concerted effort to use numerous strategies through Response to Intervention
(RTI) to differentiate for a student having behavioral/social issues in the classroom, the
student is brought to the Student Reponses Team to develop a plan for behavioral
improvement.
Response to Intervention (RTI):
The Response to Intervention (RTI) Cohort works with teachers who have notable
concerns with a student’s progress and success to provide additional intervention
strategies for each individual student from SuccesMaker, Study Island, Reading
Recovery, and literacy groups. The RTI process is data-driven and supports struggling
learners with multi-tiered special programs. Using data from RTI, a child with regular
Tier 3 interventions may be referred to ECE for further diagnostic testing with parental
consent.
A 3-tiered framework to organize resources, support for core instruction and provide layered
intervention services in the areas of: Academic & Behavior/Social Development . Intervention
services are as follows:
Tier 1: Core Instruction
All Students
KCAS (Literacy/ Math)
School-wide Discipline Plan & Social Skills Instruction
Universal Design for Learning & Differentiation
Tier 2: Targeted Interventions
Students 1-2 Years Below Grade Level
Small Groups
Provided At Least 2-3 Times per Week
Progress Monitored & Graphed Once Every 2-Weeks
Provided in Addition to Tier 1
Tier 3: Intensive Interventions
Students 2+ Years Below Grade Level
Smaller Groups/Individual
Provided Daily
Progress Monitored & Graphed Once a Week
Provided in Addition
Moreover, a Speech Language Pathologist is on staff and will screen students at a
teacher’s request for articulation and language processing disorders.
Inclusion of Students with Special Educational Needs in Assessment:
At Whitney Young we adhere to the federal and state guidelines for SEN, 703 KAR
5:070 Inclusion of Special Population and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. In all
assessments, students with SEN may or may not receive accommodations depending on
the specified accommodations on their IEP (Individualized Education Plan), 504 Plan or
PSP (Program Service Plan). These accommodations are based on each student’s
individualized needs. The different forms of accommodations that are available are:
 Assistive Technology
 Reader
 Scribe
 Extended Time
 Prompting and Cuing
 Oral Native Language Support
 Simplified Language
 Paraphrasing
 Behavior Modifications
Some students with special needs participate in an alternative standardized state
assessment rather than the regular state test with accommodations.
At Young, formative and summative assessments drive the instructional program. Varied
and continuous assessments are analyzed weekly. Therefore, a practice at Young to
ensure that students with special needs are assessed appropriately is Self-Advocacy. SelfAdvocacy involves establishing a cue card for each student based on their individual
accommodations. This is to encourage the students (and the teachers) to use their
individual accommodations that they receive for every assessment. On a regular basis,
students take assessments with their assigned accommodator to build personal familiarity
as well as to monitor their assessment needs. Accommodations are changed based
students’ progress as documented in their IEP, 504 Plan, or PSP.
What are the Common SEN Terms at Young Elementary?
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AP (Advanced Placement) program provided for students who score highly on the
national norms based test administered by the district.
Collaboration is staff forging together to provide appropriate services for a child.
Differentiation is the practice of thinking about teaching and learning so that
multiple strategies may be employed to meet students’ different needs that they
may have equal access to the curriculum and instruction.
EBD (Emotional/Behavior Disorder) - Students identified for EBD services
have severe emotional and/or behavioral issues and are in a self-contained
classroom. Following protocol for least restrictive environment, students may
mainstream with assistance as possible.
ECE- Exceptional Child Education (special education services)
ESL- English as a Second Language (services for English language learners)
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FMD (Functionally Mentally Disabled) – Students identified for FMD services
have severely impaired mental and/or physical abilities and are in a self-contained
classroom. Following protocol for least restrictive environment, students may
mainstream with assistance as possible.
Gifted & Talented is a program provided for students who have exceedingly
high scores on the national norms based test administered by the district.
IEP (Individual Educational Program) is a legal document describing
services/accommodations to be provided to students identified as needing special
services. (ECE - Exceptional Child Education)
Inclusion is an ongoing process that aims to increase access and engagement in
learning for all students by identifying and removing barriers.
Mainstreaming is including students who are in a self-contained special needs
classroom in a comprehensive classroom.
PAC – Positive Action Center
PSP (Program Service Plan) is a legal document describing
services/accommodations to be provided to English language learners (ELL English Language Learners, LEP - Limited English Proficient, ESL - English as
Second Language).
RTI (Response to Interventions) is collecting and analyzing data in order to
provide interventions for students to be successful.
Self-advocacy is educating children how to request accommodations they may
need in order to be successful.
Speech and Language are services provided by a certified speech pathologist to
students who qualify based on deficits due to articulation and/or language.
SRT (Student Response Team) is a cohort of ECE behavior specialists and the
school counselor who teachers go to with students who are struggling in the
classroom for more strategies to help the student have opportunities for success.
504 Plan is a legal document describing services/accommodations to be provided
to student identified with health challenges that may impede their learning or
ability to be assessed in the regular education setting.
This draft was made in June 2012 by Cabrina Bosco, Sheila Portillo and Melissa
Schwerin. They used the IB SEN document and the IB Standards and Practices to make
this initial draft. Again in October 2012, a Vertical Team (Sheila Portillo, Cori Roth,
Amy Held, Tamara Davis, Penni Prates, Mary Minyard, Erin Sullivan, and Cabrina
Bosco) made commentary/suggestions. On Oct. 30, the ECE and ESL cohort read and
made revisions. SBDM did first read with suggestions on Oct. 18, 2012. All staff were
given the final draft in advance and approved it on Nov.5th – Gold Day. The policy was
approved by the SBDM on Nov. 27, 2012.
Reviewed by Cabrina Bosco, PYP Coordinator, and Mary Minyard, principal, at the
Category 2 Pedagogical Leadership Workshop at CASIE in Atlanta, GA
Revised: June 27, 2013
Approved: