Students with Special Needs Can They Make the Grade

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Students with Special Needs -Can They Make the
Grade?

• Pam Tupy, Program Specialist
• Getting Results Conference 2006
• Orange County Department of Education

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Our Group Norms

• Be respectful of one another and of our mutual
  learning
• Commit to active participation
• Turn cell phones off or on silent mode

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Agenda Key Questions

• Why is effective reading instruction important
  and what does it look like?
• What are some effective strategies for building
  academic language and writing skills?
• How does this relate to Response to Intervention?

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Why Are We Here?
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Why Are We Here?

• 55 of all special education students in
  California are identified as having a specific
  learning disability (California Department of
  Education CDE - 2005)
• It is estimated that 75-85 of these students
  are not actually in need of special education
  services (Alice Parker, CDE- 2005)
• These students show academic deficits because
  they never received scientifically-based reading
  instruction or a reading intervention early on
• Effective prevention and intervention programs
  can increase the reading skills of 85-90 of poor
  readers to average levels

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Think-Pair-Share

• Think of a student in your class who struggles
  with reading
• What are some of that students challenges?
• What are some preventative measures that could
  have helped him or her early on?
• What is that childs attitude about reading?
• Share your reflections with a partner

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According to the California Special Education
Reading Task Force, Students With Disabilities
Need

• Effective reading instruction
• Early intervention and prevention
• Assessment that drives instruction
• Access to the core curriculum and reading
  instruction
• The California Reading Initiative and Special
  Education in California 1999

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Effective Reading Instruction

• Reading does not develop naturally (Lyons 2000)
• Reading failure begins early, takes root quickly
  and affects students for life (Moats 2000)
• Language instruction needs to be systematic,
  structured, cumulative and match the
  developmental needs of students as it applies to
  age-appropriate texts (Moats 2000)

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Effective Reading Instruction

• Older students need to be taught the foundational
  skills they at all levels- sound, word, sentence,
  and passage, so that they can unpack the building
  blocks of words (Moats 2000)
• Special educators need research-based
  instructional tools that support effective
  instruction and should receive the same training
  and support as general educators (CA Special
  Education Task Force 1999)

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Critical Reading Skills Requiring Explicit
Instruction

• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Reading comprehension
• Oral language skills (receptive vocabulary and
  syntax)
• Prior knowledge for comprehension of text
• Spelling and orthography

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According to the1999 Reading/Language Arts
Framework for California Public Schools
Kindergarten through Grade Twelve

• The ultimate goal of language arts programs is to
  ensure access to high-quality curriculum and
  instruction for all students in order to meet
  content standards
• A balanced approach for special ed students
  involves considerable time dedicated to intensive
  direct teaching of phonemic awareness, phonics,
  blending skills, and reading fluency while
  including meaning-based aspects as well
• Language arts programs must be balanced and
  comprehensive, giving time and attention to each
  student based on individual needs and assessment

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Assessment that Drives Instruction

• The better we use data,
• the better we teach.
• California Special Education Reading Task Force
  1999

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Norm-Referenced Tests

• Useful for
• determining eligibility
• developing IEP goals
• evaluating changes over time
• but we need more diagnostic information to guide
  instruction and set measurable goals and
  objectives.

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Informal Diagnostic Tests

• Informal assessment should be used to assess
  specific skills to set individual goals and
  objectives for students.
• For example, it can be used to identify a
  students frustration, independent, and
  instructional reading levels.

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Other Skills Informal Tests Should Assess

• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Reading comprehension
• Oral language skills (receptive vocabulary and
  syntax)
• Prior knowledge for comprehension of text
• Spelling and orthography

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Shefelbines Framework
1999 California Reading/Language Arts Framework,
page 20
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Academic Language
Accelerating Academic English A Focus on the
English Learner -by Robin Scarcella
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Academic Achievement at Three Levels of Academic
Background Knowledge
Marzano 2004
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Developing Academic Language

• Vocabulary
• Factors affecting vocabulary development
• Ways we learn words
• What it means to know a word
• Choosing which words to teach
• Characteristics of effective vocabulary
  instruction
• Research-based instructional strategies

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Developing Academic Language

• Reading Comprehension
• Comprehension Monitoring
• Graphic and Semantic Organizers
• Generating Questions
• Recognizing Story/Text Structure
• Summarization
• Reciprocal Teaching
• National Reading Panel, Put Reading First p. 49-54

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Developing Academic Language

• Writing
• Writing is a skill, and skills need practice
• Writing should be a regular part of the
  curriculum
• Writing should be purposeful
• Writing should be read
• Darin Hallstrom, Tustin USD

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Ten Suggestions for Creating an Effective Writing
Program for You and Your Students

• There is a difference between assigning writing
  tasks and teaching writing skills.
• If you dont do this, you are inviting
  disappointment
• Be crystal clear with your kids what do you
  want?
• Darin Hallstrom, Tustin USD

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Response to Intervention

• It is
• A structure for allocating instructional
  resources efficiently, targeting them to specific
  student needs
• A commitment to use our current knowledge base in
  our instruction
• A commitment to use a logical decision-making
  framework to guide our instruction
• A function of General Education
• W. David Tilly, The Special Edge Winter/Spring
  2006

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Response to Intervention

• Features
• High-quality research-based instruction and
  research-based interventions
• Universal screening and continuous progress
  monitoring
• Fidelity measures
• Tiers of intervention
• Implementation of differentiated curriculum

• Instruction delivered by staff other than
  classroom teacher only
• Varied duration, frequency, and time of
  interventions
• Categorical and noncategorical placement
  decisions
• Structure for allocating resources

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Important Points to Remember
Without proficient reading and writing skills,
students access to subject content areas and
prospects for academic and life success are
greatly limited 1999 Reading/Language Arts
Framework for California Public Schools
Kindergarten through Grade Twelve
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For More Information

• ptupy_at_ocde.us