Special Education Referral

This post includes an interview about the RTI process and a reflection about it.

Interview to School Psychologist of Oyster Adams Bilingual School Primary Campus about the special education referral. http://oysteradamsbilingual.org/ 

• How is a student identified for special education referral (Response to intervention-RTI)?

 All educators in the school and parents can refer a student to start a Response to Intervention-RTI process. Then, the team of educators (problem solving team) looks at the data of the student who has been identified as struggling via the screening process, and finds the gaps between current performance and expected performance. The team discusses why this gap occurring.

• Who takes responsibility for the progress of the child before and after the referral?

RTI is not a “program” or “service” outside of the general education classroom. Rather RTI requires all educators in the school (teachers, special educators, counselors, social workers, administrators, coaches, etc.) to provide students with what they need to make progress.

• What is the school administration's directive for special education?

RTI is an approach to instruction that clearly identifies the specific need of all students and develops different levels of interventions to meet these need. At Oyster Adams, level 2 + 3 of RTI are sometimes referred to the TAG program (Targeted Academic Growth). TAG is managed by me (school psychologist, TAG lead and administrators, who in turn, work closely with TAG and classroom teachers.

Once the cause of the problem has been identified by the problem solving team, the team selects one or two measurable objectives that are likely to close the gap. Base on the objectives, the team need to decide what intervention will be provided, how often, who will provide the intervention, where will be provided, and how will it be determined if the students is responding to the intervention. During the intervention/s TAG and classroom teacher will be careful to monitor student response to intervention.

A student who was flagged by universal screening could continue in Tier 1, with some modifications to differentiate instruction, or move to Tier 2. The goal of Tier 2 intervention is to remediate academic skill deficits with the idea that, in doing so, students will be successful in the Tier 1 program without support. If the students not respond Tier 2 intervention, he may need more intense support and move to Tier 3. Likewise, students who have received Tier 3 intervention respond well and be moved to Tier 2 or Tier 1. The movement across tiers is fluid and should always be made throughout the decision-making process.

• What is the level of parent involvement in referral process and special education?

Parents are involved during the whole process; they always receive the information of the process. Sometimes, the team provide activities for the parents to work in home.

Interviewed by Jaime Solano

Reflection:

After the interview I was able to understand that the process of RTI support the teachers with specific students. A group of specialist in the school help the teacher to find the best way to help the student. Sometimes, we as teachers have limited vision of our students and it is difficult to find new approaches to support students with needs, therefore the groups of persons involved in the RTI process provide a new perspective that present more possibilities.

During the whole process of RTI, the data and follow up is very important. All records of the students play and important role in the decisions because the data shows the needs. Also, the data is needed in the whole process, in the beginning to identify the problem and then to monitor the progress.

The participation of the parents in the whole process is crucial. The parents have to be informed about the child and the interventions planed. The parents can take an active role in the process and support the team to find solutions and implement the plan, parents can continue working with the child at home and support him/her during the process.

Finally, I would like to said that the RTI process might seem difficult and complicated, but it is very useful for students and teachers. This process probably needs a commitment by the teacher, but this will help the students.