This past Friday, February 8th, I
was able to spend time with the principal of my host school, Sue (not her real
name). I was able to ask her some
questions and sit in on an ISP (Individual Service Plan) meeting. The parent that granted the permission is my
host teacher. Her son is in 5K and struggling
with speech. This meeting will determine
if he is eligible for services later on in the afternoon.
First, I met with the principal and we
were able to talk about children with special needs in reading and
comprehension. The first question I
had, because this is a Lutheran school, is how easy or hard was it for her as
principal to connect with the public school district. Sue told me it was not hard at all to connect
with them because the district had been trying for years to make a connection
but the school did not have a principal so no relationship was made. Her challenge is getting her students
services because most times Sue hears that they do not have funding for that or
the child will not qualify. Sue keeps up on the latest in services that are provided
or in the process of being cut through quarterly meetings for administrators.
This
lead to my next question ~ How do you address the needs of a child who
struggles academically especially in reading and comprehension? Sue told me that grades 5K through 8th
grade administer the DIBELS every quarter which measures various reading
skills. If a child scores low in say
comprehension, the teacher and principal meet as well as the teacher in the
grade level above and below to brainstorm ways to help the child. A meeting is then set with the parents for
more brainstorming so they can be a part of the child’s interventions. Together they draw up a plan and meet one
month later to see if there is some improvement. If no improvement is demonstrated, Sue looks
into other resources through other area schools to see what works for
them. Also, Sue will look into the Marquette
University for their reading enrichment program. If those resources dead end, Sue will then
call Lutheran Special School and Educational Services. They will send out a special education
teacher consultant for their recommendations for the classroom and parents.
During the ISP meeting I was able to
listen to the Speech Therapists findings through testing. The child is lacking in language skills as
well as comprehension skills. This was measured
through standardized testing and through observation and informal conversations
during the observation. The child
struggles with story recall and recall from events. I gained from this meeting the role of the
principal through this meeting. She had
the report ahead of time and was able to formulate questions the parent would
not think of in the moment, and asked them.
She also told my host teacher she would call her later on in the evening
to rehash the meeting. After the ISP
meeting, Sue told me she has been working on having the child evaluated since September
and finally now in February he is receiving the help he needs. Sue told me that sometimes it can take an
entire school year for a child to receive services but you have to be very
patient and not show frustration.
Take an entire year! Think of all of that time that is wasted not helping that child. That is sad. You would think the process could be speed up a little. I guess in the case of the child that you are speaking about 5 months is a blessing. Did they say why this process takes so long? Is it a space and teacher issue? Or a busing issue? The whole thing seems unfair to everyone.
ReplyDeleteYes, The child's speech and articulation was age appropriate but still had a unintelligible speech. Fortunately upon the observations the therapist figured out it was at these times the child did not have the words to express his thoughts. Also the observation proved the child lacked in comprehension skills. I learned there is so much more that goes into determining a child for services that I sort of understand the time frame but feel it takes too long and time is wasted.
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ReplyDeleteHello Eubanks45,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog and experience during the Individual Service Plan (ISP) meeting. I was able to attend two of those ISP meeting as well. One was for a child within my classroom who needed speech and developmental therapy. The second ISP meeting was for my daughter who needed Speech therapy because she had a delay in her talking, because of a device to help her to breathe. Not only is the ISP meetings interesting and educational, but it is helpful to me as a teacher to meeting the child’s needs, strengths and interests. It is helps me to make an individualization plan for that particular child when I create my lesson plans and activities.
It is interesting to me to find that funding for children education is hard to get when they need it. I thought funding was available to all children no matter what their age, but I quickly forgot how funding for childcare is being cut little by little. It should not matter whether a child goes to public, Lutheran or private school funding is still needed for a good education. At the center where I work every year during the summer people are advocating at Springfield to fight for funding budget not to be cut from childcare. Funding for childcare should not be cut during the summer, because it is still needed for parents who have to work.
LaTonya I can't believe, but do, that summer funding would be cut. Yes, parents still need to work! It amazes me what officals think and why. I could see cuts during the school year because children are in school for a least 7 hours a day for 180 days which would save them more money than cutting support during the summer. Afterall if a child needed care during the school for a day or two the parent could maybe find a friend's mom to help them out verus the entire summer! Good luck with your paper!
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