Problems With Some Students example essay topic

857 words
As a classroom teacher there will always be problems with some students. These problems can be caused by outside sources, such as family problems, or perhaps the student might have a learning disability that hasn't been brought to anyone's attention. Students show in many ways that they are having difficulties in class. Generally, students won't come to you and ask for help when they are having a hard time.

Most of these students are more withdrawn from the classroom. One telltale sign is they aren't doing their homework, and when you ask them why, they make excuses or refuse to do it altogether. Since they are not doing their homework regularly, their test and quiz grades will drop as well. These are typical warning signs that there is something not quite right. Before sending a child for formal review, there is pre referral intervention. This intervention is designed to create a solution within the classroom without having to go through the formal review process.

Some students have learning and behavior problems that can be solved by modifying teaching methods in the classroom. The process of pre referral intervention has four steps. First, you need to specifically identify the problem. It is important to look for any patterns in the recurrence of the problem. If it only happens after recess / lunch, or during a certain subject matter, that can be easily solved with extra help or tutoring.

Once the problem has been found, a plan involving classroom modifications can be developed to help the student. When the plans have been executed, the teacher evaluates its effectiveness. This evaluation also includes a plan in case any problems recur in the future. These classroom modifications may solve any problems your student may have. If they continue within the 6-8 week period, it is important to continue on to a formal referral using the child-study team.

The process that follows the identification of a possible disability is formal referral. Unlike pre referral intervention, you must follow IDEA guidelines for formal referrals to ensure a fair process. You have 15 days to complete your formal referral, with filling out all of the necessary forms and establishing contact with the appropriate people. Formal referral involves the collaboration of many staff members. Some of these staff members include: general educators, administrators, therapists, counselors, and special education teachers. In addition, the parents and student are also key members of this team.

The team will first decide whether the referral has enough merit to continue onto the comprehensive evaluation. If the team decides to continue the process, notice is given to the parents for a meeting with the child-study team. The parents must give their consent at this stage in order for the team to continue the process. At this meeting, parents are informed of all of the special-education rights, and what is involved with the entire process. The meeting also reviews all information previously collected and a decision is made on whether there is a need for evaluation. If the team decides to evaluate the student, the testing phase will begin.

The student will take series of standardized tests given by a certified evaluator. The general educator will be surveyed to help determine the specific disability. In addition to examples of their behavior, samples of their classroom work might be requested. When all of the required information has been gathered, the team evaluates everything to determine which disability the student might have. They use state-mandated guidelines to determine if the student requires special education assistance. This evaluation process has a time-lime of 45 days.

After evaluation is complete, the parents are given a 15 day period to make a decision whether they agree or disagree with the decision. When a student is found eligible for special education services, an IEP must be created. The persons responsible are part of what is called the IEP team. The people who must be included in the IEP team are: the parents, one general education teacher, one special education teacher, a school district employee, and can sometimes involve the student as well.

The time-line for the development of an IEP is 30 days. An IEP is made up of three important sections. The first is the student's current educational performance. The second identifies reachable annual goals for the student, and the third establishes short-term goals for the student. After an appropriate IEP is set in place, the parents need to approve it, within 14 days. After that has happened, where the student is placed is then decided based on the IEP.

The student is usually placed in the least restrictive environment with any additional services that they might need to accomplish the goals of the IEP. An IEP is normally reviewed every year, to see if the goals were met and to establish new goals for the next year.