Disc 1

WEEK FOUR INSTRUCTOR GUIDANCE

Welcome to Week Four! In the first half of this class, you have learned about the legal and historical foundations of the current assessment and evaluation process in Special Education, different kinds of assessments, including formal and informal assessments, the assessment and evaluation process in Special Education, Response to Intervention (RTI), the purpose and role of the Child Study Team (CST), and the need to take cultural and social factors into account.  This week, as we move into the last half of the class, we focus on the role of the special educator in the assessment and evaluation process, the role of the Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team, and the importance of parental and student participation in the assessment process.  By the end of this week you will be able to explain the Special Educator’s role in the use of assessment and evaluation results to develop an appropriate Individualized Education Program (IEP) for a student and describe how participants of the multidisciplinary evaluation team contribute to the development of the IEP.

Week Four Discussion Guidance

Wearing Many Hats. As you are learning, special educators wear many hats in the assessment and evaluation process for children with mild to moderate disabilities.  These roles include working with, or as a member of several teams, reviewing and evaluating information, and acting as a liaison for parents and other educators.  In the Week Four discussion board you are to review the Initial Referral to the Multi-Disciplinary Evaluation Team form on p. 112 and 113 of your text and compare the information needed in that form with the information you provided in the Referral to the Child Study Team that you filled out last week for Manuel.  You are also to compare the RTI data you have collected over the past several weeks and compared those data to Part ONE of the comprehensive report written by the school psychologist. Click on the link below to access Part ONE of the Comprehensive Report for Manuel.

Comprehensive Plan for Week Four Discussion

As a special educator, you will need to understand and be able to explain the different purposes and functions of the various teams involved in the assessment and evaluation process.  You will also need to be able to explain the data on the various forms in a way that families can understand.  Finally, you will need to be familiar with the requirements for the membership of your state’s school's Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team.  The two teams you are focusing on in week four are the Child Study Team and the Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team. The Child Study Team As you are now aware from your readings, the Child Study Team is a group of school-based professionals who support the classroom teacher in his or her quest to discern how to best help a student who is struggling with some aspect of school (Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2012). The work they do happens prior to the initiation of a formal evaluation for the purposes of determining eligibility for special education services and is called the pre-referral process (Stump, n.d.).  The Child Study Team makes recommendations for further classroom (Tier One) interventions, Tier Two interventions and/or for a formal evaluation for the purposes of determining eligibility for special education services. This more formal and more comprehensive assessment and evaluation will be undertaken by the Multidisciplinary Team.  It is important to note that while it is common for the Child Study Team to request a formal evaluation, others may also initiate a formal referral for a child with a suspected disability (Great Schools Staff, n.d.).  These include the child's parents or guardians, the child him/herself if he/she is over the age of eighteen years, and the child's advocate.  The Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team The Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team consists of those professionals who are involved in the formal assessment and evaluation of a student for special education eligibility (The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, n.d.).  As your text describes, these members typically involve at least the school psychologist, the special education teacher the general education teacher, and the child's parents.  The team does a comprehensive assessment and evaluation of the child to determine whether the student is eligible for special education services.  Each state has its own requirements for the composition of the Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team so it is important that you know the requirements for your state. Below is a flow chart showing the sequence of steps in the referral process.

Please review the discussion board rubric prior to your initial post to ensure you are fully meeting each of the set criteria to earn full credit.  As per the rubric requirements your initial post should include relevant professional, personal, or other real-world experiences in a manner that is rich in thought and provides valuable insight into the topic.

Additionally, all elements of the discussion board prompt should be thoroughly addressed with strong and precise connections to previous and/or current course content, or to real-life situations.  When substantively replying to your peers’ post, be sure to provide a thorough and constructive analysis relating the response to relevant course concepts that incorporates pertinent follow-up thoughts or questions about the topic, and demonstrates respect for the diverse opinions of fellow learners.

Finally, it may be difficult to do for all the responses to your posts, but please make an effort to respond back to those who took the time to respond to your initial posts with at least a simple "Thank you for your response to my posting."  It is the courteous and gracious thing to do, and has the potential to make our classroom community discussions more interesting and rich.  In addition, answering questions posed by your peers invites continued learning, meaningful application, and relevant extension of the discussion.