on the folder

1- You are asked to be a member of an interagency work group including teachers, specialists such as Speech and Language Pathologists, administrators, and parents to address the inclusion of young children between the ages of 3 and 5 years who qualify for services under IDEA and who have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) in a range of preschool programs (i.e., Head Start, State Preschool, local private preschools, and public school Transitional Kindergarten [TK] programs). Discuss the strategies and steps that should be taken to support effective processes for the interagency work group and evidence-based practices to support positive outcomes for all students. (7 points)

Strategies and steps that support interagency as well as evidence practices:

2- A young child just celebrated his second birthday and he has recently received a diagnosis of Autism from a pediatric neurologist. His family lives in a working class neighborhood in a suburban area. Both parents work outside of the home and the child is cared for by his maternal grandmother and an aunt during the day. He has one older sister (age 3 years, 6 months) and one younger brother (age 3 months) who are not manifesting any unusual development or delays at this time. Both parents are Cuban and they speak both Spanish and English fluently. The grandmother speaks predominantly Spanish and is a first generation Cuban immigrant. The aunt is the sister of the child’s mother and she speaks fluent English as well as Spanish. The child is demonstrating delays in age appropriate adaptive (e.g., feeding, dressing/undressing, etc.), fine motor, language and communication, and social (e.g., interactions with caregivers and siblings; appropriate play with toys, etc.) skills. He appears to be developing as expected in terms of overall health and physical development including gross motor skills. He has been referred to the Early Start program for assessment and the development of an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP).

Your role on the IFSP team is to determine the family’s concerns, priorities, and resources in relation to the needs of the child. Discuss (1) the information that you plan to collect to address the assessment question, (2) the specific methods or approaches you plan to use to collect the information, and (3) how the information can be used by the team to facilitate decision-making regarding the development of the IFSP. Course Objectives 5 & 9 (10 points)

The family’s concerns, priorities and resources guide the entire IFSP process. Early intervention should be seen as a system of services and supports available to families in order for them to receive the appropriate care for their child. The information that we plan to collect are observations during age adaptive skills such as feeding, dressing and undressing. As well as collecting data of the child’s social skills during distinct environments. The reason for assessment is to gather and exchange information between family members and early intervention providers so that early interventions can be provided to families. Also, to carry out evaluations about the child’s developmental standings, as well as family resources, that will later on influence the child’s participation at home and with their community.

First of all, if we are observing the child’s behavior during social play, the team will observe the behavior by using anecdotal records, running records, checklists & rating scales, DRDP assessment and if needed visual documentation. These techniques are appropriate and are evidence based practices that help us understand the child’s behavior as well as finding out about the child’s developmental growth. By taking note of the child’s behavior or weaknesses, we are uncovering developmental concerns, program issues or environmental factors that are affecting the child’s learning process. This step involves working closely as a team to increase learning opportunities, to use the child's surroundings to facilitate learning, to select the most effective strategies to bring about the desired outcomes, and identify reinforces that best support the child's learning. Therefore by observing and assessing the child’s behavior we can then find an appropriate intervention method that will help promote generalization within the home and community.

After collecting the above data, the team can then proceed to implement the information given to facilitate decision making regarding the development of an IFSP. An effective assessment process to facilitate decision-making to develop a IFSP should include:

· Team members being able to address the family's questions about enhancing their child's development while focusing on each family member's concerns and priorities.

· Information collected will be specific in regards to what is being observed or measured. For ex: the evaluation conducted by the early interventionist at the beginning of the IFSP process determines if the child is eligible for services.

· After the assessment has been done, it will reflect a complete and accurate picture of the child's strengths, needs, preferences for activities, materials, and appropriate environmental accommodation (if needed).

· If the team decides on further observations, the team will appoint a person familiar to the child to conduct observations and other assessments in settings familiar to the child (e.g., home, outdoor play area, child care program).

1- Use the information in the Case Study attached to the Final Exam questions. You have had the student described in the case study in your preschool special day class setting for the last five weeks and it is time to develop the annual IEP. There was a 30 day review meeting last week and the Speech and Language Pathologist provided progress on the IEP goals related to Communication Development as identified in the case study materials. Discuss how you, as the current teacher, would assess this student for the development of their new annual IEP. Include a clear description of all steps in the assessment process including the tools and approaches that you would use and how the family would be involved. Course Objective 5 & 10 (10 points)

Steps in developing Watson’s Annual IEP:

a) Identify the Student, in this case is our 4 year old student, Watson.

b) Inform the parents that we are making an IEP for their child and tell them when the meeting will take place to go over the IEP and if they have any suggestions or concerns regarding goals or objectives for their child.

c) Introduce participants which are the child’s parents, Special Ed teacher, Speech and Language Pathologist, Administrator, Gen Ed teacher.

d) Through evaluation and team collaboration as determined that the child is eligible for services.

e) Identify the student’s strengths, needs and skills. Student’s strengths are he is socially active, affectionate, works well in small group instruction and to use two hands to manipulate objects. Area of need is in social play because he doesn’t know how to appropriately play with others, imitate oral motor exercises with the class, expressing himself to ask for items such as asking for a toy, food and to go to the bathroom and in the area of daily living skills which includes dressing himself and toileting. Watson is skillful enough to separate identical items in small group instruction. The above statements were concluded thorough daily structured observation and documentation such as anecdotal records, running records, checklist and rating scales as well as video documentation by asking parental permission. After the assessments were observed and documented a copy of the observations were sent home to show parents the child’s area of strengths and weaknesses.

Watson’s goals and objectives are as followed:

 Communication Development – By 4/25 will imitate oral motor exercises with 80% accuracy on 4/5 trials.

 Communication Development- By 4/25 will be able to ask others to remove an item or stop and activity by using pictures or words in 4/5 trials.

Objective 1: By 6/25 when given a verbal direction by an adult, Watson will begin to comply with the direction within 10 seconds.

 Writing – By 4/25 will participate in activities within the classroom curriculum by copying simple shapes and 3 letters of his first name, choose visual cues to make a prediction about a story or event 4/5 trials.

 Adaptive/Daily Living Skills- By 4/25 will complete a routine for toileting and dressing with an adult in the bathroom in 4 out 5 trials.

 Social Emotional/Behavioral – By 4/25 will participate in group activities with no fewer than two other students to look over social stories to imitate appropriate social play in 4/5 trials.

 Math – By 4/25 will sort non identical items into 3 different categories in 4/5 trial.

The above goals and objectives will be done by the teacher, speech pathologist and paraprofessionals as well we would like parent participation and implementation to take place at home.

· Final Exam Case Study

The student who is the focus of the case study is a 4 year old boy named Watson who has developmental delays in language and communication, adaptive skills, fine motor skills, and pre-academic skills. He is eligible for the Individualized Education Program (IEP) in the category of Intellectual Disability (ID). He has age appropriate gross motor skills and he does not have any impairment of hearing or vision. He originally received early intervention services in the home at the age of 2 years and he started receiving services in a preschool special day class at the age of 3 when he qualified for an IEP. Recently, the family moved which resulted in the change of placement within the same school district.

According to the last annual IEP, areas of necessity explained in terms of goals and objectives in order that the student receives educational benefits include: (a) Adaptive/Daily Living Skills; (b) Communication Development; (c) Social Emotional/Behavioral; (d) Writing.

A few things you have noticed about Watson are that he is functionally non-verbal even though he can talk. He will say words randomly and without purpose or meaning, but he will not imitate sounds in speech therapy. He leaves large group activities repeatedly but he will stay in small group activities at a table when there are less than three other kids there and an adult. He does not appear to know how to play and he sometimes grabs the arms of peers or adults and sinks his fingernails into the flesh. He is very affectionate toward adults and has an endearing smile and laugh.

The following are the goals from the last annual IEP with the status of the Communication Development goals provided by the Speech and Language Pathologist:

Goal# Annual Goal & Status

1 Communication Development - By 4/25 will produce bilabials /m/, /b/, /p/p with 80% accuracy on 4/5 trials. NOT MET

2 Communication Development – By 4/25 will imitate oral motor exercises with 80% accuracy on 4/5 trials. NOT MET

3 Communication Development- By 4/25 will be able to ask others to remove an item or stop and activity by using pictures or words in 4/5 trials. PARTIALLY MET

Objective 1: By 10/25 will ask for 10 items that he wants using pictures in 4/5 trials. PARTIALLY MET

Objective 2: By 1/25 will be able to ask for or reject offered items and activities using head movements to specified Yes or No in 4/5 trials. NOT MET

4 Writing – By 4/25 will participate in activities within the classroom curriculum by placing objects in a form box, pegs in a peg board, coloring and painting independently in 4/5 trials.

5 Adaptive/Daily Living Skills- By 4/25 will complete a routine for toileting with an adult in the bathroom in 4 out 5 trials.

6 Adaptive/Daily Living Skills – By 4/25 will use a fork or a spoon to eat 10 bites of solid foods and will be able to bite into whole items such as: hamburgers, sandwiches, pizza etc., with 100% accuracy.

7 Math – By 4/25 will sort non identical items into 3 different categories in 4/5 trials.

9 Social Emotional/Behavioral – By 4/25 will participate in group activities with no fewer than two other students to imitate a gross motor activity matching the speed of the model in 4/5 trials.

10 Reading – By 4/25 will be able to follow instructions to touch clothing items on his own body in 4/5 trials.

Objective 1: By 10/25 will be able to follow instructions to touch an object vs. a distracter in 4/5 trials.

Objective 2: By 1/25 will be able to select objects and pictures named by the instructor while using a variety of instructions in 4/5 trials.

3- Briefly describe the characteristics of each of the team models used in special education. Discuss the benefits of providing services in Early Childhood Special Education using the transdisciplinary team model in comparison to the other team models. Course Objective 12 (4 points)

The benefits of providing services in Early Childhood Special Education using the Transdisciplinary team model in comparison to the other team models are the fowling:

In a Transdisciplinary approach members commit to teach, learn, and work across disciplines in planning and providing integrated services. The benefits of having a Transdisciplinary team in comparison to other team models is that the service is efficient, cost-effective, less intrusive on the family as well as less confusing; this service provides more coherent intervention plans and service delivery, and professional skills and mutual respect are enhanced through the use of this approach. Additionally, the Transdisciplinary approach requires the most commitment in Early Childhood Special Education. The reason being is that this procedure requires parent inclusion. The level of commitment varies and it is based on the concerns, priorities and resources of families. Families, can still be committed and participate without necessarily being the most active. Also, Transdisciplinary method requires more time to learn other disciplines and approaches to assessment. Additionally, this method provides approaches to intervention especially through the use of coaching. Kids benefit from this method because academic areas and functioning are addressed in multiple settings. The major benefits to kids in the Transdisciplinary module because therapy can happen beyond school hours. On the other hand, kids can also benefit from other modules, but in different way because they still get assessment, services but integration might take longer or lead to children becoming bored or dislike learning.