1.A. I believe that the S-Team and the Rosa parks elementary school are currently using the IQ discrepancy test to determine whether or not a student is eligible to receive services. I believe this because in the video, the narrator informs us that the special education teacher, Mrs. Jacobs is frustrated about their current system. She says that many students who are truly eligible for special education services, are usually not identified until 3rd or 4th grade "because their skills must fall significantly behind in order to qualify". This sounds exactly like the explanation of the IQ discrepancy test from the video that we watched in our last class. The main speaker in that video describes the IQ discrepancy test as a "wait to fail" model, and that sounds exactly like what is happening here.
1.A. School personnel are dissatisfied with this process because too many of their young students are falling behind in reading. The video tells us that the teachers have found that once these students develop a problem with reading, it often times sticks with them as they progress throughout school and it becomes harder and harder to fix. The teachers express their feelings and attitudes about the current system and they say that they have seen this happen too many times.
2.One system, used by many schools, is called the IQ-Achievement Discrepancy model. IN this system, the IQ of the student is compared to the students performance on different test. If the students performance on the test is at least 25% below what it should be, based of of the students IQ, then the student is eligible for services. If the student scores are equivalent or close to the students IQ, then the student is not eligible for services. This approach is widely used and has been around for a long time but it has many disadvantages, the main one being that it often results in waiting for students to start failing before they can start receiving services.
Another system used to identify struggling readers, and students who are eligible for special education services is the Response To Intervention (RTI) model. In this method, every student is monitored individually. this model is compiled of 3 tiers and each tier provides students with high quality instruction. This 3 tiered model is used to help students to learn, if students are not responding to the instruction, then teachers must make adjustments and modifications to their teaching to see if teaching the material a different way will help. If the student continues being non-responsive, then the teacher is able to recommend that the students move up a tier. each tier offers a bit more help/support than the one before it.
3. I think that the schools should find other schools who have switched to the RTI model and ask them why they chose to switch. I think that they will find that many of the other schools were experiencing the same problems as they were and they will be able to find out whether or not the RTI model is the solution. I also think that the S-Team should do some extensive research on both of the models to see the pros and cons of each.
4. The S-Team might propose to implement the RTI model into its school. Since they were complaining about how students get behind in 1st grade and stay behind throughout the rest of their school years, they might also make use of an Early intervention program to help to prevent this from happening. I think that the S-Team should also implement some type of resource room or reading room where they can send struggling readers to get extra help when needed. When I was in elementary school, I went to a reading room once a week from 4th-6th grade to get extra help in reading. this helped me to catch up with my peers and to improve my reading skills. The school could also implement some sort of after school reading program.
5.Response. The IQ-discrepancy model has several disadvantages. It takes an approach that often times makes students wait to fail before they can start receiving services. This often leads to students falling behind in one or more subjects and staying behind. often times their performance falls below their peers and stays behind it and they never truly catch up academically. The RTI model addresses those concerns by consistently monitoring students scores and making sure that they are on the same level as their peers. If a student is struggling, adjustments are made to instruction to try and help the student. If this doesn't help, the student then moves to a special tier designed to provide some more support. Often times these tiers help students to stay on track and students are able to receive extra help and support even without a diagnosis.
It may be difficult to implement the RTI model into the school. Some teachers are set in their ways and like teaching the same things the same way every single year. telling them that they have to change their instruction may be difficult and pose several problems. The school may also not have the proper staffing or the current staff may not have the appropriate training for the program and its different tiers. Some schools are also set in their ways and since this school has been using the IQ-Discrepancy test for several decades, it may be hard to get its officials to switch to an entirely new model.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Chapter 1 - Perspectives On Disability
The book starts off by discussing generalaties about what it means to be disabled/have a disability and how people with disabilities have been affected by their disabilties and the many negatives that come along with it.The book says that "children who fell outside the "typical mold found themselves identified with classifications indicating their dysfunction." I have met and worked with many people with disabilities throughout my lifetime and I have been around people with disabilities all of my life. My father, due to a accident at his old job, has been disabeled for as long as I can remember. I have seen the many classifications that the book talks about pressed upon my father thoughout the years. He has a broken back with 2 steel rods in it, 4 fused vertebrate, a leg that gives out frequently, and he is constantly in pain. He is unable to work and unable to do any heavy lifting. He pretty much isn't able to do anything that your average father wishes he could do. He has experienced a lot of harrassment, both physcial and verbal, and he has to put up with that along with his pain and sickness everyday. He has told me lots of stories of harrassment and things that really make you wonder what is wrong with some of the people in this world.
I also have been around many children with multiple disabilities. I had my SED 285 field placement in a multiple disability classroom in the Conestoga Valley School District, at Fritz Elementary. There was 6 different children at this placement, all who had multiple disabilities and multiple capabilities unique to themselves. Some of the children were deaf, most were blind, some experienced seizures, some had feeding tubes, one had autism, and they all needed a lot of extra help to perform many of the daily routines that most of us take for granted. They need assistance going to the bathroom, walking, eating, reading, and could not be left out of sight for more than a minute. They they required constant care. There was often more adults, teachers and aids, than students in our classroom. Although this may seem a bit extreme, I think that it was necessary due to the childrens IEPs. Even though most of these children had severe disabilities, It was still very nice to see that they were "included" in certain instances with the typical students. I went with some of the students to specials like music and art. The special education teacher often had reading buddies come into their classroom to help read stories to the students. I think that these students were included into the general classroom as much as their disabilities would allow, which I really liked to see because I feel as if some students in other schools are not as lucky.
Currently, I am still often around children with multiple disabilities. My girlfriend's sister, Katie, is 13 and has cerebral palsy. Although she is 13 in appearance, cognitively speaking, she functions on a similiar level to a 2 year old. She also requires around the clock aid. Although some people would see these many disabilities as a curse, I see them as a gift. people with disabilities can teach us alot about ourselves and can makes us grateful for the many things that we have. Everytime I look at Katie I can't help but smile. She brightens the world around her, as do many of these children with disabilities. I went to a christmas show that was put on at her school, a special education school, and all of the kids had so much fun performing and it was such a great experience.
After talking about disabilities in general, the authors then move on to talk about high prevalence disabilities, and how although a disability may be mild, mild does not mean "not serious". The authors talk about how although a student may be "close to normal", being close to normal or being "almost" like everyone else is still no fun. I have met many kids with mild conditions who were close to normal, but they still stuck out in a crowd. I worked with a kid named Robert last summer, and although there was nothing physically wrong with him, you could just tell that there was just something not right about him. Robert would often call out during training seminars and get overly excited about random things and the other employees would often stare and laugh, and would sometimes catch them making fun of him. Although Robert seeemed to have an above average IQ, he still didn't seem to fit in well with his peers due to his disability. Due to my time spent with him and the many things I noticed about Robert, I believe that he had Asbergers and that is why he was socially awkward. I hated seeing people make fun of him for being different. I believe that we are all a little bit odd in our own ways, Robert's oddness just stuck out more than most people's, but I do not think that it is fair that he be critisized for his.
The authors and our classmates also talked a lot about using people first language and how to properly label/identify people in a lawful and respectful way. I have tried to demonstrate what we in class and the book discussed throughout this blog post. The book also talks a lot about the history of Disabilities across time from the Middle Ages to current era. Our country has come a long way in serving children identified as having disabilities and many movements are still being made to improve the way of life for people with disabilities. In the section titled "disabilities in the United States from 1950 to the present" the authors talk a lot about the past and current legislation, their ideas and principals, and how they are function to aid students with disabilities. IDEA is discussed and IEPs are mentioned on various occasions. I have been able to look at several IEPs throughout the past few years. I have seen Katie's IEP, and I was also allowed to look at several of the students IEPs at Fritz Elementary. I have also seen many examples of LRE (least restrictive environment) being used in both of these cases.The chapter ends by talking about Trends in history and gives a timetable of court cases supporting equal access to educational services.
I also have been around many children with multiple disabilities. I had my SED 285 field placement in a multiple disability classroom in the Conestoga Valley School District, at Fritz Elementary. There was 6 different children at this placement, all who had multiple disabilities and multiple capabilities unique to themselves. Some of the children were deaf, most were blind, some experienced seizures, some had feeding tubes, one had autism, and they all needed a lot of extra help to perform many of the daily routines that most of us take for granted. They need assistance going to the bathroom, walking, eating, reading, and could not be left out of sight for more than a minute. They they required constant care. There was often more adults, teachers and aids, than students in our classroom. Although this may seem a bit extreme, I think that it was necessary due to the childrens IEPs. Even though most of these children had severe disabilities, It was still very nice to see that they were "included" in certain instances with the typical students. I went with some of the students to specials like music and art. The special education teacher often had reading buddies come into their classroom to help read stories to the students. I think that these students were included into the general classroom as much as their disabilities would allow, which I really liked to see because I feel as if some students in other schools are not as lucky.
Currently, I am still often around children with multiple disabilities. My girlfriend's sister, Katie, is 13 and has cerebral palsy. Although she is 13 in appearance, cognitively speaking, she functions on a similiar level to a 2 year old. She also requires around the clock aid. Although some people would see these many disabilities as a curse, I see them as a gift. people with disabilities can teach us alot about ourselves and can makes us grateful for the many things that we have. Everytime I look at Katie I can't help but smile. She brightens the world around her, as do many of these children with disabilities. I went to a christmas show that was put on at her school, a special education school, and all of the kids had so much fun performing and it was such a great experience.
After talking about disabilities in general, the authors then move on to talk about high prevalence disabilities, and how although a disability may be mild, mild does not mean "not serious". The authors talk about how although a student may be "close to normal", being close to normal or being "almost" like everyone else is still no fun. I have met many kids with mild conditions who were close to normal, but they still stuck out in a crowd. I worked with a kid named Robert last summer, and although there was nothing physically wrong with him, you could just tell that there was just something not right about him. Robert would often call out during training seminars and get overly excited about random things and the other employees would often stare and laugh, and would sometimes catch them making fun of him. Although Robert seeemed to have an above average IQ, he still didn't seem to fit in well with his peers due to his disability. Due to my time spent with him and the many things I noticed about Robert, I believe that he had Asbergers and that is why he was socially awkward. I hated seeing people make fun of him for being different. I believe that we are all a little bit odd in our own ways, Robert's oddness just stuck out more than most people's, but I do not think that it is fair that he be critisized for his.
The authors and our classmates also talked a lot about using people first language and how to properly label/identify people in a lawful and respectful way. I have tried to demonstrate what we in class and the book discussed throughout this blog post. The book also talks a lot about the history of Disabilities across time from the Middle Ages to current era. Our country has come a long way in serving children identified as having disabilities and many movements are still being made to improve the way of life for people with disabilities. In the section titled "disabilities in the United States from 1950 to the present" the authors talk a lot about the past and current legislation, their ideas and principals, and how they are function to aid students with disabilities. IDEA is discussed and IEPs are mentioned on various occasions. I have been able to look at several IEPs throughout the past few years. I have seen Katie's IEP, and I was also allowed to look at several of the students IEPs at Fritz Elementary. I have also seen many examples of LRE (least restrictive environment) being used in both of these cases.The chapter ends by talking about Trends in history and gives a timetable of court cases supporting equal access to educational services.
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