The Whispering Teacher

As media coverage of Autism has increased, so have the questions surrounding it.  Sometimes it feels as if Autism is the new buzz word.  One in every one hundred fifty five children have been diagnosed with this disorder.  So what is this disorder exactly?  Well,  the “short and dirty” version is that Autism is a disorder which is developmental and affects a child’s communication and socialization skills.  It is important to keep in mind, however, that this disorder is a spectrum disorder.  Children may exhibit all, or only some, of the many symptoms… and to varying degrees.

If you have a child on the spectrum you may notice:

• communication and language delays (although many children on the spectrum develop normal language for the first few years of their lives and then regress)
• weak fine and gross motor skills
• “fixations” with certain foods or objects
• sensory issues (being bothered by clothing, walking on tip toes, refusal to get hands dirty, etc)
• rigidity (following schedules, dislike change)
• difficulty making eye contact and a distaste for physical contact
• difficulty with facial recognition and discriminating between people
• difficulty interpreting social situations, sometimes being referred to as an “odd” child
• choosing to play alone
• difficulty with reading comprehension, but excellent with decoding
• flapping or rocking when experiencing an intense emotion
• sleep disturbances
• compulsive behaviors

Autism is a disorder that can affect every facet of a child’s life as well as their parents’ lives.  It is a disorder that changes families forever and that requires parent’s to fight for their child’s rights.  These children require early intervention and consistent reinforcement.  Their progress needs to be monitored through intense data collection and they need to be taught through concrete and consistent methods.  Their ability to communicate and interact with others is impaired.  They may have behavioral outbursts and process information differently than others.  These children need assistance twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days a year across all settings.

It is important that parents and teachers of these children develop a full understanding of the disorder in order to effectively educate them.  This can be difficult, as all of these children present a different set of needs, and teachers are asked to meet these needs in a regular education classroom.  Parents, unfortunately, may find that they need to be an advocate for their child and educate teachers on their child’s disability.  For the sake of the children though, it is important that parents and teachers work together to develop the best program for their students.  Teachers must try to understand how difficult it is for families with autistic children.   These children require a lot of patience and parents must deal with that 24 hours a day. The best way to develop an effective program for these children is to work as a team.

Since autism is a spectrum disorder, children may only show some, or all, of these symptoms.  If you believe your child may have autism, ask your doctor to get involved.  Very often, an in-depth interview will be conducted and the doctor will ask you to fill out some rating scales.  These will serve as tools in the identification process.

If you are a parent or teacher within the United States, you have likely heard the new buzz words “Response to Intervention” or RTI.  Over the past few years, conversation about how students qualify for special education has ensued.    Many students tested for special education did not qualify for a learning disability despite the fact that they were performing significantly below grade level in the classroom.  As a result, RTI was initiated and the way we identified children with learning disabilities changed. It is important to be educated in the new process, especially if you work with, or are the parent of,  a struggling learner.

Before you can fully understand how RTI will be used to identify students, it is important to understand past practices when identifying students for special education.  When students are referred to special education, standardized testing is completed to further investigate their capabilities and weaknesses.  Until recently, in order for a student to qualify for a learning disability, a discrepancy model was used.  A student would be given achievement tests to look at a their performance with academic activities and an intelligence test to look at cognitive abilities (the way they think and processes information).  If a discrepancy existed, one or more of the academic areas would score about 2 years behind where their cognitive ability suggested they would score.  These cutoff scores were provided by the government and PPT teams were required to follow these guidelines.  Personally, I have been involved in PPTs, using the discrepancy model, where I was shocked that a child did not qualify for special education.  It is extremely hard to explain to a parent that “Yes, your child is unable to perform on grade level despite all the interventions the teacher has tried, but they do not have a learning disability”.  The baffled and disheartened looks on parents’ faces mirrored my own confusion.  The question then remained, if these students don’t have a learning disability, then why are they struggling so much?  Do they have a disability that is not being shown through the standardized testing?  Is the classroom teacher differentiating enough for this student?  Is the teacher using programs that are scientifically proven to improve the learning of struggling students?  All these questions led to one glaring problem … the identification process for students with learning disabilities was flawed.

After a lot of thought and planning, a new identification process, called Response to Intervention, was developed.  This process starts when a struggling student is identified and brought to the attention of a team of teachers.  The team then reviews the child’s progress and creates a goal for this student.  They discuss the scientifically research based program that will be used to achieve the goal, and the measurement tools that will be used to determine student progress.  Once the team adjourns, the intervention will be carried out with the student over a pre-determined amount of time as data is collected.  This data will provide as a progress monitoring tool.  (It is important to note that it is good teaching practice to include parents in these meetings.  Also, data should be sent home to parents as it is collected to keep them apprised of their child’s progress)  The team will then reconvene to review the child’s data.  If the child made progress, then the intervention is working and the child most likely does not present with a learning disability.  If the child, however, did not make adequate progress, the team will then refer the child for special education.  Standardized testing will be completed in the usual fashion to obtain valuable information about how the student learns, but these scores alone do not determine if a child has a learning disability or not.  The data collected during the RTI process can be used to determine eligibility.

This process is still quite new for schools, so it is important to be patient as they work out the kinks, however, if my child were a struggling learner, I would demand that this process be followed.  While many teachers are excellent and effective, we all know that there are some teachers out there that do not teach in a variety of ways, despite the abundant amount of research that supports teaching to different learning styles.  Following the RTI process forces teachers to try different, scientifically research based instruction methods before labeling a student as special education.  RTI also helps to eliminate the feeling that students are “falling through the cracks”.  The PPT is now given more flexibility in the way that they identify learning disabilities.  Personally, I feel as if RTI will help teams to more effectively identify students with a learning disability and provide them with the supports and supplemental instruction that they need in order to be successful.

Watching your child struggle with the high academic demands of today can be very difficult.  Let’s admit it.  Everyone wants their child to be the next valedictorian, and it can be heart-breaking to come to terms with the limitations of our children.  Every year the demands placed on kids in America increase.  Some children are able to reach those demands, stretching their minds to their limits, but what about the children who just fall further and further behind?  Is there help out there for those students or will they struggle for their entire lives?  If these are questions you are asking yourself about your child, you may want to consider having them tested for special education.

Qualifications for Special Education

In order to qualify for special education services your child must suffer from some sort of disability that prevents them from fully accessing the classroom academics.  These disabilities can be learning, behavioral, medical or physical disabilities.  A child can have a disability and NOT qualify for special education as well.  The disability has to negatively impact a child’s access to the curriculum in order to qualify them for services.  (If your child has a disability that does not impede them from learning, but requires they receive modifications, ask your school psychologist about a 504 plan.)

How do you know if special education is right for your child?

Some disabilities are more clear cut than others.  Chances are, if your child has been diagnosed with a medical or physical condition, that prevents them from accessing the curriculum, then you and the public school are aware of their need for special services.  These impairments include, but are not limited to, hearing loss, vision loss, impaired intelligence, Autism, Downs Syndrome, ADHD …. the list goes on and on.  These disabilities are usually relatively easy to identify and services are usually provided early on.

If your child is suffering from a behavioral disorder you are likely witnessing erratic and dangerous behavior across many settings.  These students tend to participate in “bullying” behavior with their peers and defiant behavior with adults.  The smallest things may “set them off” and create a situation in which they destroy property or threaten others, perhaps even hurting other people.  Often these students will inflict injuries on themselves as well.

Students can also qualify for special education under the heading of a specific learning disability.  This refers to an impairment in one of the cognitive processing areas of the brain (the way their brain processes information) and its impact on a child’s ability to complete academics.  A learning disability can occur in various areas, but the most common are reading, writing and math disabilities.  Your child may have a learning disability if they have average scores in some areas of their academics but are consistently failing in other areas despite access to the regular education curriculum and many interventions and supports.  This would be evidenced through report cards, curriculum based assessments,  standardized testing and DRA scores.  A disability occurs in various settings, so your child’s previous teachers would most likely have brought up their concerns with you throughout the years.  Sometimes, students with undiagnosed learning disabilities start to act out in school or participate in “bullying” activities to draw attention away from their difficulties with school.

How do I get my child special education services?

If what I have written reminds you of your child, you may want to consider getting your child tested for special education services. If you believe your child has a physical or medical disability contact your doctor immediately.  If your doctor diagnoses your child with a disability, contact your school and provide them with a copy of the report.  Request that they hold a Planning and Placement Team meeting (PPT) to determine if your child qualifies for special education.  If your child is showing signs of a possible behavioral or learning disability, you do not need to contact your doctor first.  Ask your school team to schedule a PPT immediately.  This first PPT is called a Referral PPT.

Once a PPT is requested, the school has 10 business days to hold a meeting with you, an administrator, your child’s classroom teacher, a special education teacher and a pupil personnel services employee (such as a school psychologist or speech pathologist).  At this meeting the team will decide if your child is exhibiting signs of a disability that is impacting their education, and if a disability is suspected the team will suggest going to testing.  This means that the team will administer standardized intelligence and academic tests to your child, along with testing to measure any other areas of concern.  This will provide the team with information as to what your child is truly capable of.  This process takes some time.  The government provides schools with 45 school days from the day the original referral occurs (the day you requested your first PPT) to the day you meet to review the testing results.

When meeting again to review the testing results, make sure you fully understand what the teachers are telling you.  These tests can be very difficult to understand.  I suggest asking the teacher to review the testing with you prior to the PPT.  After the team reviews the testing, your child’s classroom performance and curriculum based assessments will be reviewed.  This is to determine if there is a learning problem prohibiting your child from performing at their ability level in the classroom.  Once this is all completed, the team will decide if your child suffers from a disability.

This process can be terribly confusing for parents.  There are a few important things to keep in mind.

You ARE a part of your child’s team and ALL decisions are made as a team.  Make sure that your voice is being heard during these meetings.

Ask questions.  Teachers follow this process every day as part of their job.  Sometimes they take for granted that you know what they are talking about.  If you don’t understand something, tell them.  If you think of a question after the meeting, call them.

There are lots of reasons your child may not be performing at grade level expectations.  This is just one of many possible reasons.  Keep an open mind and enter this process with a problem solving mindset.  Working as a team will result in the best possible outcome and most accurate diagnosis.