Special Education Experience
When my daughter Katrina was 12 months old, I knew she was not developing communication skills on target. She was not cooing or babbling at all. During her well baby check, I brought up my concern to the pediatrician. She said it was a bit early to assess her and we would check her progress when she was 15 months old. By the time she was 15 months old she was barely babbling. By 18 months, she had a speech pathologist seeing her twice a week for an hour at each visit. By the time she was three she had an occupational therapist because she had sensory integration issues. Her speech pathologist told me I should have Katrina assessed for ADHD/ADD, but the school system would not do it. They did not think she exhibit the symptoms. The school system had Katrina in a room for about a half hour and the speech pathologist worked with her every week for years. By the time, she was in school she was mainstreamed but with identified special needs in language and sensory integration. Her third grade teach wanted her to be screened for ADD but, again she only had a few of the signs so, they decided it was not warranted. By the time, she was in seventh grade she was still in special education programs with help pull out help and assistance within the classroom. By the end of seventh grade, her special education teacher thought she should be assessed for ADD. Katrina is not hyperactive at all, but she is very distractible. She was always quiet and shy so, teachers did not feel she met the stereotypical view of an ADHD/ADD kid. She was assessed for ADHD/ADD and was found to be ADHD/ADD with the emphasis of distractibility. She started on medication and during her eighth grade year, she was due for her three-year review they found she did not qualify for special education services. She is now a senior and is an “A”, “B” student. We have to wonder if she was assessed and was medicated earlier would she have been more successful in school earlier.
I am very interested in the educational system of Great Britain. After living in England for four years, I found their system very similar to ours. However, because mothers tend to stay home with their child until the child has entered school, early assessment and recognition of delays lags behind America for early intervention services.
The school age assessment process for Special Educational Needs (SEN) has the same goal as schools in the US. Schools and early education programs place great importance on identifying SEN so they can help the child as early as possible. Most children with SEN can have their needs met in a mainstream school. Once it has been decided that your child has SEN, a child's teachers will plan their education with guidance of the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. The Code of Practice is a guide for early education settings (such as nurseries and playgroups), state schools and local authorities, on how they should identify, assess and provide help for children with SEN. If your child has SEN, their school will increasingly, step by step, bring in specialist expertise to help with the difficulties they may have. This step-by-step approach is set out in the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. A school must tell the parents if they start giving extra or different help to their child because of their SEN. The basic level of extra help is known as a School Action, this can include a different way of teaching certain subjects, some extra help from an adult, using particular equipment. The child may need help through this step-by-step approach for only a short time, or for many years. The child's teacher is responsible for working with the child on a day-to-day basis, but may decide to write down the actions of help for the child in an Individual Education Plan (IEP). The IEP could include: what special or additional help is being given, who will provide the help and how often, what help the parent can give your child at home, the child’s targets, and how and when progress will be checked.
Sometimes the school will not write an IEP but will record how they are meeting your child's needs in a different way, perhaps as part of their lesson plans. However, they should always be able to tell the parent how they are helping their child and what progress they are making.
If the child does not make enough progress under School Action, their teacher or SEN coordinator (SENCO) will speak with the parents about asking for advice from other people outside the school. These could include a specialist teacher or a speech and language therapist. This kind of extra help is called School Action Plus.
If the school still cannot give the child all the help they need, the parent or a professional who has been involved with the child can ask for a 'statutory assessment' - a detailed investigation to find out what the child's special educational needs are and what special help the child needs.
For more information about the special education system in England you can go to this website.
http://www.nfer.ac.uk/shadomx/apps/fms/fmsdownload.cfm?file_uuid=73D5C46A-C29E-AD4D-061B-633AFFA30AD6&siteName=nfer
6 comments:
Julie, great post we are in the home stretch of this course. I can't believe that you went through all those people to determine the learning disability that your child has. I believe that if she was diagnosed earlier she might have done even better, but we will never no.
Wonderful post! I did not realize that England's process what very similar to ours. My good friend's father and step- mom live in England and we have talked in the past about some of the differences in the school systems, but had never discussed this area.
I commend your efforts for your daughter. As a parent, we all need to do whatever we can for our children. I feel in a way that the school system should have done more for you and your daughter. This post is a great way to get the word out that we need to be diligent about getting our children the help that they need as soon as possible.
Thank you for sharing your post. I did not realize that England and our schools are so similar. I commend your efforts as a parent, you did everything you were able to do to help and benefit your daughter.
What a wonderful post! I also was not aware of England's system was similiar to ours--I did find it interesting that the mothers in England stay home with their children longer and that it leads to less identification of early childhood delays.
I really feel that it is unfair for children to be placed in special education classes because they fail to comply with test regulations. It should not be determine by a test nor a childs behavior ploblems to be placed into special education classes. The child may be reacting to a depressing experience that has cause him or her to lose interest in learning at a temporary time. This should not be determined whether the child is capable of learning high quality education.
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