Launching Special
Education
2015-2016
What’s new?
1. Teachers
2. Programs and Positions
3. Special Education Elementary Instructional
Support Teacher
4. Dyslexia Law
5. Updates to Restraint and Seclusion Law
6. 45 day timeline
Programs and Positions
OASIS has the support of Effective School Solutions (ESS) at WWMS
MHS has a model of tiered behavior supports, one of them being a
program with Effective School Solutions as a collaborative Partner
Special Education Elementary Support Instruction Teacher (SPEIST)Katie Seifert will be providing PD and coaching in assessment, IEPs,
programming and instructional coaching, analyzing SRBI data as well as
facilitating monthly collaboration meetings (voluntary).
Dyslexia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zafiGBrFkRM
WHAT IT ISN’T
DYSLEXIA IS …
 NOT A VISUAL PROBLEM
 NOT A LACK OF INTELLIGENCE
 NOT DUE TO LACK OF EFFORT
NOT A DEVELOPMENTAL LAG.
 NOT UNCOMMON – 5 – 17.5 %

OF POPULATION
 NOT RESPONSIVE TO STANDARD READING
INSTRUCTION
Public Act14-39 An Act Establishing the Office of Early
childhood, Expanding Opportunities
for Early Childhood Education and Concerning Dyslexia
and Special Education
• Is a Specific Learning Disability/ Neurobiological in Origin
Impacts Reading
• Decoding
• Accurate Word Recognition
• Fluent Word Recognition
• Spelling
• Is Unexpected and/or Inconsistent with Student’s Other Abilities
• Persists Despite the Provision of Appropriate Instruction
• Results from Significant Deficits in Phonological Processing (dyslexiaphonemic awareness, phonics and processing)
SERC ‐ 3/12/2015 serc.info/sldwebinar2015
These children we have referred to as
“reading disabled” or “dyslexic”
A new science based definition -“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is
neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by
difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word
recognition and by poor spelling and decoding
abilities. These difficulties typically result from a
deficit in the phonological component of language
that is often unexpected in relation to other
cognitive abilities and the provision of effective
classroom instruction.” (Lyon & Shaywitz, 2003)
Dyslexia, and Other Things that Make it Difficult to Learn to Read Proficiently by Dr. Joseph K. Torgesen Florida State University and
Florida Center for Reading Research
TYPICAL LANGUAGE ACTIVATION AREAS
VISUAL-LANGUAGE
ASSOCIATION AREA
VISUAL /
VERBAL
AREA
SPEECH
PRODUCTION
AREA
AUDITORY
PROCESSING
AREA
LEFT HEMISPHERE
TYPICAL READING ACTIVATION AREAS
WORD ANALYSIS
WORD ANALYSIS
AUTOMATIC
(SIGHT WORD)
LEFT HEMISPHERE
B
A
C
K
BRAIN ACTIVATION WITH READING
Strong activation pattern
O
F
R
I
G
H
T
BACK
OF LEFT
BRAIN
Weak activation pattern
B
R
A
I
N
“SIGNATURE” BRAIN, Shaywitz, 2005
Simos, Fletcher, Bergman, et al 2002
Possible Developmental
Manifestation of Dyslexia
• Language development not to be confused
with Speech/Language disability in
phonological processing
• Comprehension
• Written Language
• Fluency
• Encoding
So, what are some red flags
we should be aware of?
Red Flags Pre-k
 May talk later than most children
 May have difficulty with rhyming
 May have difficulty pronouncing words (i.e., busgetti




for spaghetti, mawn lower for lawn mower)
May have poor auditory memory for nursery rhymes
and chants
May be slow to add new vocabulary words
May be unable to recall the right word
May have trouble learning numbers, days of the week,
colors, shapes, and how to spell and write his or her
name
SERC ‐ 3/12/2015 serc.info/sldwebinar2015
Red Flags K-3
 Fails to understand that words come apart; for





example, that snowman can be pulled apart into snow
and man and, later on, that the word man can be
broken down still further and sounded out as /m/ /ă/ /n/
Has difficulty learning the letter names and their
corresponding sounds
Has difficulty decoding single words (reading single
words in isolation)
Has difficulty spelling phonetically
Reads dysfluently (choppy and labored)
Relies on context to recognize a word
SERC ‐ 3/12/2015 serc.info/sldwebinar2015
Red Flags 4-12
 Has a history of reading and spelling difficulties
 Avoids reading aloud
 Reads most materials slowly; oral reading is labored,
not fluent
 Avoids reading for pleasure
 May have an inadequate vocabulary
 Has difficulty spelling; may resort to using less
complicated words in writing that are easier to spell
Sources for Common Evidence of Dyslexia:Common Signs, (n.d.). Retrieved July 10, 2006, from The International
Dyslexia Association Web site.Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science‐Based Program (Shaywitz,
2003)
SERC ‐ 3/12/2015 serc.info/sldwebinar2015
Screening and Assessment
Screening for Dyslexia
• Brief
• Assess Specific Skills Highly
correlated with a broader indicator of
Reading Achievement
• Purpose is to identify students likely
to be in need of intervention
SERC ‐ 3/12/2015 serc.info/sldwebinar2015
Screening for Dyslexia









Letter Naming Fluency
Phonological Awareness Skills
Letter Sound Identification
Single Word Decoding
Rapid Naming
Oral Reading Fluency
Encoding
Reading Comprehension
Handwriting*
SERC ‐ 3/12/2015 serc.info/sldwebinar2015
What screening tools do we have
within Middletown?
 Letter Naming Fluency = AimsWeb (LNF)
 Phonological Awareness Skills = Phonological Awareness Skills Test
 Letter Sound Identification = Quick Phonics Screener, WADE,
Gallistel-Ellis Test of Coding Skills, AimsWeb (LSF)
 Single Word Decoding = Quick Phonics Screener, WADE, CORE,
Gallistel-Ellis Test of Coding Skills , AimsWeb (NWF)
 Rapid Naming = We are currently looking into this
 Oral Reading Fluency = AimsWeb (ORF)
 Encoding = WADE, Gallistel-Ellis Test of Coding Skills
 Reading Comprehension = NWEA, F & P
Menu of Research-based Grade K-3
Universal Screening Reading Assessments
July 2014
 http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/curriculum/cali/ele
mentary_assessments_4-9-12.pdf
Augmenting Existing Frameworks
Targeting very specific areas-screening protocols to consider:
 Red Flag Checklist
 CORE Phonological Segmentation Test (K‐1)
 CORE Phoneme Deletion Test (K‐3)
 CORE Phonics Survey (K‐8)
 Words Their Way Spelling Inventory: Elementary (1‐3)
•
Phonological Awareness Skills Test (PAST)*
•
Quick Phonics Screener*
•
Gallistel-Ellis Test of Coding Skills*
Dyslexia: A Formal Evaluation
Should Include …
 Assessment of “red flag” areas (i.e., address specific
referral questions)
 Focused assessments of component language and
reading abilities
 Input from an interdisciplinary team (e.g., speech and
language; special education; reading; assistive
technology, school psychology)
OSEP has taken the position that a district cannot go back
and conduct evaluations that it did not do because a parent
requests an IEE.
Dyslexia: Formal Evaluation
• Developmental History Review of
Educational Records to include
medical/family history
• Classroom Observations
• Review of Formal and Informal
Assessment Results
• LD Multidisciplinary Composite form
The Difference Between a Reading Disability
& Dyslexia
Dyslexia
 specialized term for a
specific set of traits in the
reading process that falls
under the general category
of specific learning disability
in reading
Reading Disability
 generic term for a specific
learning disability in areas of
basic reading skills, reading
comprehension and reading
fluency
SLI & Dyslexia
 Dyslexia & SLI are distinct conditions but can cooccur
 Early signs of dyslexia and SLI may be similar in
some young children
 Possible delays in speaking
 Articulation errors may be present
 Difficulty with rhyming and phonological/phonemic
awareness
 Difficulty with word retrieval; imprecise language
Development of Language and Literacy: Typical Milestones and Childhood Language Disorders by: Krista Stangel Graduate Student
Clinician - MS SLP and Lucas Steuber MA Applied Linguistics Graduate Student Clinician - MS SLP
Reading is individually
tailored
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkiAFR
Q-mKc
Updates to the
Restraint/Seclusion Law
Important Changes:
Thus, even if seclusion is currently included in a student’s IEP, effective July 1, 2015 that
aspect of the IEP may not be implemented. Although we urge school districts to amend IEPs
and behavior plans as soon as possible to remove seclusion references, it is important that
staff is informed that the state law will preempt the IEP and behavior plan.
Therefore, this is an exception to the general rule that an IEP must be followed until it is
amended.
This legislation is applicable to public school students in grades K-12; students receiving
special education in a facility by way of a contract with a board of education; students
receiving special education from a regional education service center; and students receiving
special education from an approved private special education school.
Schools retain the right to use both physical restraint and seclusion as emergency
interventions to prevent immediate or imminent injury to the student or others, but
seclusion may not be part of a student’s special education program.
References

UNLOCKING DYSLEXIA IDA 2007 www.TheMorrisCenter.com

Dyslexia, and Other Things that Make it Difficult to Learn to Read Proficiently by Dr.
Joseph K. Torgesen Florida State University and Florida Center for Reading
Research

Catts, H. W., Adlof, S. M., Hogan, T. P., & Weismer, S. E. (2005). Are specific
language impairment and dyslexia distinct disorders? Journal of Speech,
Language, and Hearing Research, 48, 1378-1396.

Bartlett, Christopher W., Brzustowicz, Linda M., Flax, Judy F., Hirsch, Linda S.,
Realpe-Bonilla, Teresa, & Tallal, Paula (June 2003). Specific Language Impairment
in Families: Evidence for Co-Occurrence With Reading Impairments. Journal of
Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 530-540.

Development of Language and Literacy: Typical Milestones and Childhood
Language Disorders by: Krista Stangel Graduate Student Clinician - MS SLP and
Lucas Steuber MA Applied Linguistics Graduate Student Clinician - MS SLP