Ingraham+Special+Needs+Interview

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We conducted this interview on November 12, 2008. I (E-chieh) added any other additional notes I had in orange. I hope this is helpful for everyone. I have written on my notes "Brigance Test, Developmental Appropriate WASL", but I have no clue why.

(Mark) I wrote down "Each year students at Ingraham take Brigance Test." Then my notes say "Developmentally Appropriate WASL - DAW, solution not acceptable to Feds.

(Linda) I wrote down that the Special Needs kids used to be able to take the WASL that met their current learning level - for example if they were in 9th grade but were reading at a 6th grade level, they would take the 6th grade WASL. This was not acceptable under NCLB. So now they take the same WASL as everyone else, but their scoring targets are lower.


 * What is the name of the contact person for this process, and what is his/her professional role?**
 * Sid Schaudies
 * He was the head of the Special Needs Department at Ingraham.
 * The Special Needs Department splits the students into two different categories: Low Incident & High Incident. Low incident students are students who are more effected by their special needs. High incident students are students who have few IEP and are in more general education classes than special needs classes. Sid works with the high incident students.
 * There are 5 full-time special needs faculty and 1 para-pro.


 * What is the process for requesting and getting support at the school level, when a teacher has a concern about a student?**
 * The referral/request process is for "high incidence" special needs (see below).
 * Anyone can refer a student for special needs considerations, i.e., teacher, parent, etc.
 * There is a Student Intervention Team (SIT) that meets once a week. It consists of the school psychologist, interventionist counselors, and administrators.
 * Linda Mundinger is the 504 coordinator and is also on the SIT. She is the Intervention Specialist, according to the school roster.
 * If the SIT decides to further evaluate a students potential needs, the school psychologist formally evaluates the student in a variety of ways using a variety of techniques. It is a Federal requirement for a 30-day turnaround on this evaluation.
 * If the psychologist deems the student needy, they make a recommendation to the SIT.
 * Process:
 * Referal from someone
 * SIT - determines if student needs formal evaluation (if yes, then continues)
 * School psychologist - determines if student is eligible for IEP service with the following
 * interviews the teachers of this student
 * observes behavior of the student in the classrooms
 * does a psychological evaluation (if parents agree)
 * testing in organization, math, writing, reading
 * physical evaluation
 * IEP teacher, administrator, and general education teacher meets with parents at school to sign papers for IEP services. If there are any other individuals who, are not scheduled to be at the meeting (i.e. lawyer), attend then the meeting is canceled by law.

He seemed very fuzzy and imprecise on this question, in part because he seemed imprecise on the specific process. So, it was hard to point to the two points in the process--"teacher asks for support" and "the meeting"--be clear that we were talking about the same points in the process and then get his answer for the duration.
 * What is the usual amount of time between when a teacher asks for support and the meeting is actually held?**

At one point I heard him say "30 days," but my confidence is low that he was answering this question as intended.

(Mark) The 30 days is a federally mandated limit to the time between a SIT recommending services and the school meeting with parents to implement services.

<span style="color: rgb(255,117,0);">I think he is unsure of the timeline because he is not the person to contact for the IEP evaluation process. He is the special needs department head, but is not involved in the actual evaluation. I'm still fuzzy as to which person at school a teacher would send a referal to if they were concerned about a student. I believed it was implied that Lisa Mundinger (a school counselor who is on the SIT team) is one of the person that takes care of referals. (Which leads me to think, should we have interviewed her instead of Sid?)

He identified the following "service areas," when asked this question:
 * What types of support are typically available to the student and teacher (be as detailed as possible)?**
 * Reading
 * Writing
 * Math
 * Behavior
 * Study skills

He did elaborate on these--I guess he assumed their meaning was self-evident--and he did not identify specific services that were available to teachers. <span style="color: rgb(255,0,0);"> (Mark) He mentioned devices, hearing aids, amplifiers. <span style="color: rgb(255,117,0);"> For Students: Initial IEP includes an annual goal that the student should meet with at least two supporting objectives. Students with IEP's are formally tested every year to see if they meet their goal(s) and reevaluated every three years by the school psychologist to determine if the student needs to continue on the IEP and/or if the IEP needs to be amended. There is also a post secondary transition plan that is complete along with the IEP to help the student transition into a job or college. Special needs students need to pass the 10th grade WASL at a level of 2 which is one level below general education students. For Students with Behavior IEP: Students with behavior IEP's cannot be suspended for more than 10 day without a Manifestation Determination hearing. The Manifestation Determination hearing determines if the issue of suspension was manifested by the IEP. If it is, than the student can only be suspended for 10 days. If it is not, than the students will be treated like any other general education students with the length of suspension or possible expulsion.

For Teachers: The special needs department puts out a list with the students' names, students' ID#, and their respective case managers a few times a year. Teachers are to contact the case managers for individual student's IEP.

I (Alec) never heard a clear answer to this question, even when asked directly multiple times. The closest thing to what we are looking for seemed to be their saying that
 * How many students are referred each year?**
 * There are roughly 60 referrals to the SIT (Student Intervention Team) per year, and
 * Roughly 10 new/initial IEPs.
 * <span style="color: rgb(29,40,180);">I thought I heard the school nurse say that the 60 referrals were not all necessarily Special Needs referrals. I don't think we were able to really nail down how many referrals there were specifically for Special Needs. (Linda)

At the high school level, you don't expect many new referrals, because would suggest late diagnosis, according to him.

These are some other, related factoids:
 * There are roughly 110 IEPs at Ingraham vs. a student population of roughly 1,200.
 * An IEP is considered "high incidence," meaning it occurs more frequently.
 * There are also 145 "low incidence" students who have greater challenges. (Since these are less frequent pro rata, Ingraham must be some sort of magnet school for low-incidence students.
 * <span style="color: rgb(0,16,255);">(I thought there were only 45 low incidence students. - Linda <span style="color: rgb(38,20,235);"><span style="color: rgb(19,58,231); font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0,0,0);">)
 * <span style="color: rgb(38,20,235);"><span style="color: rgb(19,58,231); font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> I have in my notes - approximately 145 total high & low incident, 110 high incident & 35 high incident
 * Later he said that there were roughly 20 new students / year with IEPs. These are predominantly new freshman who already had IEPs in middle school. This is about 1/4 of the IEP population, which makes sense, since seniors would account for roughly 25%, on average.

It seemed like nothing was/is given to returning teachers every year. He suggested (but didn't seem 100% sure) that this process was covered for new teachers in orientation.
 * How are staff informed of this process every year?**

As far as I (Alec) could tell, there is no written outline of the overall process. (Mark) Yes, that is my impression. Mr. Yudin has no such outline, and said that if he needs to refer a student he just goes to Sid or another counselor.
 * Is there a written outline of this process given to staff (if so, include a copy)?**

He had some generic suggestions: <span style="color: rgb(255,0,0);">
 * What suggestions would you have for a new teacher in asking for support when they have emerging concerns about a student?**
 * Find out which of your students is receiving special needs services and which ones
 * Look at their case file; determine the diagnosis
 * Develop rapport with these students
 * <span style="color: rgb(255,0,0);">(Mark) He said "The best thing a teacher can do is develop rapport with individuals."
 * <span style="color: rgb(255,0,0);"> Pay attention at new teacher orientation - the referal process and how it works is included in the orientation
 * <span style="color: rgb(255,0,0);"> Ask a colleague who has been at the school longer or a mentor teacher

This is all I have in my notes. Based on my notes, and my impressions at the time, I don't think we got solid answers for most of the questions, but I guess that is useful information in and of itself. Can you elaborate these notes any?

He seemed happy to talk long enough to get out of the faculty meeting.