Part 2: School Support Teams
If classroom adaptations aren’t enough, and you think the suspected disability is negatively impacting the student’s learning, refer the student for screening by the school’s support services team. Each school has a support team that provides screening and consultation on a range of issues, including assessment for special education eligibility.
Who makes up the student support services team?
All schools have a support team and a process for identifying, assessing and developing supports for students. State and federal law define the make-up of the school support services team. It needs to include:
- A teacher who is highly qualified to teach students with disabilities (usually a special education teacher),
- A general education teacher (usually the child’s home room teacher),
- A person qualified in assessment (usually a school psychologist) and
- A district representative.
Referrals for screening can come from anyone who has concerns about the child (parents, teachers, and other staff). If, after consultation and screening, the team recommends that the child be evaluated, then parents must be notified and must provide written informed consent for the evaluation.
What does the support services team do?
Consults and screens
The support services team takes in referrals for screening and helps teachers and parents to problem-solve concerns about students. Referrals might be about a child’s behavior problems on the playground – maybe he has had more than one detention for fighting. The team could help plan ways to teach the child positive behaviors and support him in that setting. The team can screen for more serious concerns, issues that might need individual evaluation with parent consent. If a teacher suspects a child may have a previous head injury, the support services team can help problem-solve next steps and provide consultation with the teacher and/or parents.
Evaluates
For a comprehensive evaluation, the team becomes an eligibility team, which must include the parents of the child being evaluated. For an evaluation, parents become a part of the team, providing their unique and rich sources of information about their child. More team members may be added, based upon the child’s suspected areas of disability. For example, if a child may have had a brain injury, a district nurse trained in TBI may join the evaluation team. Since a medical report stating the child has experienced a traumatic brain injury is required for eligibility, a health care provider may become part of the team through consultation. Federal law requires that all areas of suspected disability must be evaluated. Evaluations could include a physical therapist, speech-language pathologist, or behavior specialist as well.
(For more information see: http://www.cbirt.org/tbi-education/assessment-eligibility/)
Determines eligibility for special education
The disability category is decided by the team. Federal law says that children should be identified for special education based upon “the category that is most appropriate for the child,” and each category has its own specific criteria. A child may have both primary and secondary categories, but only one is required. For example, if the team decides that a brain injury is primarily responsible for learning difficulties –and the child meets the criteria for that category – then TBI may the appropriate category, rather than Specific Learning Disability.
The point is that the team decides on the most appropriate category, based upon the evaluation, team member’s judgment, and the eligibility criteria. Not only does the student need to meet criteria for being a child “with a disability,” but also the disability has to adversely impact his or her educational performance. In other words, the student is only eligible for special education services if he or she needs special education services.
The series continues tomorrow in part 3 of 4, Becoming eligible under TBI.
