According to the Unit 4, Activity 2 assignment,
“most schools in the United States use Response to Intervention (RTI) to
identify and monitor struggling students and intervene with teaching strategies
for improving students' academic and behavioral performance. Teachers are
critical in the process of identifying students who may need special services.”
How does the referral process work at an
international school in the Netherlands? As a case study, I interviewed International
School of Hilversum (ISH) staff including psychologist Marleen Schulte, and teachers Sandra de Jager and Tjeerd Schuitemaker. The
purpose of the interviews was to better understand the special education
referral process at this school.
School Philosophy on (Special) Education
The International School of Hilversum works with the International
Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum and incorporates an inclusion policy influenced
by the IB student learner profile. The inclusion
policy is based on the philosophy that all students have a right to education
regardless of race, gender, disability or special educational need. It states that all students who meet our
admissions policy may gain access to the Middle Years Program and will have
provisions made in school to support their personal needs. Further, it goes on
to define a special educational need (SEN) as “any permanent or temporary
diagnosed need that could put the student at a disadvantage and prevent him/her
from being able to demonstrate skills and knowledge adequately.” (ISH Inclusion policy, 2014)
The school puts all of the students who are diagnosed with
having a special need into a database that is updated and accessed by the
administration, faculty, mentors and councilors. There aren’t provisions or
trained staff to deal with severe special education needs. However, there are
provisions made for students with ADD/ADHD, autism and related conditions,
dyslexia/dyscalculia, communication and/or language disorders, second language
barriers, social and emotional support needs.
Teacher Identification of Special Needs
ISH, like most schools in its area, doesn’t guide children
with more severe special education cases. The school, according to Ms. Schulte,
isn’t properly equipped and staff isn’t trained to handle these cases. In situations where a student’s needs are
determined to be more than what the school can provide, a referral is made to a
school better suited for the individual. This being said, it is more often the
case that students’ special needs have already been identified or diagnosed
before entering ISH, elaborates Ms. Schulte. A key to success is an agreement
with the student, their parents and the school that the extra support is a
collaborative effort and the process can only succeed if everyone involved
takes responsibility for their part.
If a diagnosis hasn’t been made in advance and takes place
after the student has entered the ISH high school program, then a referral is
given to see a psychologist who works with the school on treating students who
have an apparent problem with learning – often Ms. Schulte herself. According to Ms. de Jager, who leads the
mathematics department at ISH, a teacher or mentor is usually the one to
identify a student that might need special education support based on their
observations in the classroom. Usually the indicators manifest themselves in
ways such as the child doesn’t work well with other students or isolates
themselves from a group, erratic behavior in class, and losing focus or moving
around in class. Below-standard test results after one-on-one help has been
given can be a sign that something more is impairing a student’s ability to
learn.
The referral process begins with advice from the mentors (teachers)
and assistant principle to the parents to have their child tested for a special
education need. This advice comes from observations of behavior patterns in the
classroom or from failing test reports. Testing of the child can happen at
school but if more testing is necessary the school psychologist will refer them
to an outside source. Then it is the responsibility of the parents to follow
through with the subsequent visits. Afterwards, the school will investigate the
level of support needed by the student and in some demanding cases, limitations
of the school will be taken into consideration as to how much support can be
given.
Once Special Needs Have Been Identified
Mr. Schuitemaker
is a student mentor who is experienced with this process. Once a year plan has
been made in cooperation with the stakeholders, the student will work with a counselor
who keeps track of the support given and progress made in each class. The extra
support comes in the form of:
-
Weekly meetings with a personal coach to discuss
any problems the student may be having in class or during the school day.
-
During tests and exams the student will be
allowed extra time, the use of a laptop, text to speech (dyslexia), exam papers
are printed with larger text.
Both Mr. Schuitemaker
and Ms. De Jager have taught students
requiring special needs provisions. Teaching strategies change for these
students as well to help facilitate the learning process in each individual
case. These may include all or some of the following:
•
Extra
time to complete assigned work
•
Enlarging
texts.
•
Simplifying
complex instructions
•
Breaking
long assignments into smaller parts
•
Assisting
students into setting short term goals
•
Pairing
oral instructions with written ones
•
Repeating
instructions
•
Permitting
assignments to be typed
•
Permitting
video reports or oral delivery
•
Use tech option to present content in a visual
way.
•
For students with concentration problems the
teacher will follow up after class with the student to have them repeat what is
being asked of them to ensure comprehension of a task.
Parental involvement is very important in supporting the
special needs of the children and the level of involvement depends on the
individual. Until a diagnosis is made parents often find it’s the school
responsibility for the student’s situation, says Ms. Schulte. When a diagnosis
is made and more that’s known about the condition, the easier it is to
cooperate with parents on finding the proper care for the student.
Occasionally, when the school or teacher detects behavioral problems with a
student it’s an emotional problem and not a learning disorder. In that case,
the school councilor will interview and determine what’s the cause by inquiring
what’s going on at home and with parents.
Personal Experience with Special Needs Referrals
As a mentor teacher myself, I have been involved in numerous
situations where either I have had to make a special education referral myself,
or have been in discussions with parents and faculty on how to make provisions
for a student who needs them. Although it does happen often that students enter
the school with a special needs diagnosis, it is the students who do not have
that diagnosis where the role of the teacher really becomes critical. ISH
typically has a high level of parental involvement, and it has been my
experience that when a special need is not pre-identified, it is often because
it plays out in rather subtle ways.
As was discussed in a previous Teach Now module on
differentiated instruction, it helps a great deal at ISH to begin the school
year by getting a better understanding of the students in class. As a teacher
when I know a certain student’s ability level but do not see this reflected in
their work in class, this can be a quick indicator of a special learning need.
Behavior can also be an indicator. As a teacher of certain year levels
year-after-year, I understand that I am in a unique position of seeing many students
perform and behave at a certain level and am able to make useful comparisons at
times that can aid in a special needs diagnosis. This is important to
understand as a teacher and often puts one in a position that even the
student’s parents are not able to see.
Reflections on Personalized Learning and Special Education
Trends
The system at ISH seems to work in line with the way the
future of special education appears to be headed, at least for certain types of
students with special needs. As we’ve learned in the assignments over the
course of this module and in cohort discussions, many schools across the world
have been trending towards a model of more special needs inclusion within the
regular classroom. Like many of its peers, ISH had adapted an inclusion system that
should enable students with special needs to have differentiated instruction
within the same classroom.
On the topic of the future of personalized learning, there
are still leaps and bounds to be made at ISH in terms of the way material is
delivered in order to accommodate a wider range of learners and needs. At the
moment the school is not heading in this direction. This may be due to the
demands of the IB curriculum, which sets ISH apart. That said, many public
schools in the Netherlands are now working on personalized learning modules to
include a greater group of students using technology. An example of this can be
seen in the following video: http://o4nt.nl/wat-een-o4nt-school-voor-uw-kind-doet/
