Region 10 and Alaska Native T/TA Health Conference Call Notes
Topic: Disabilities Early Intervention
Moderator: Dawn Williams
February 20, 2008 1:00 pm CT
Coordinator:
Welcome and thank you for standing by. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. During the question and answer session, please press Star 1 on your touchtone phone.
Today's conference is being recorded, if anyone has any objections you may disconnect at this time. I will now turn the call over to Ms. Dawn Williams, you may begin.
Dawn Williams:
Good morning everyone and welcome to the call and good afternoon to (Lucia). This morning's call is going to on response to intervention as it relates to early childhood programs. And I just want to cover a few logistics before we get into the call.
There was a PowerPoint and evaluation form emailed out to you this morning. If you had any difficulty in receiving or opening that PowerPoint presentation you can call or email Annelle Bogus, her phone number is 206-615-3648 and her email is annelle.bogus@acs.hhs.gov. And you're having difficulty with that you can contact her and she will send it out to you.
And also, there will be a transcript of the call which will be posted on the (TNTA) Web site afterwards. And we're going to have a question and answer period at the end after we go through the PowerPoint, so if you could hold on to your questions until then that would be perfect.
And now I would like to introduce (Lucia). (Lucia) is the bilingual research and information specialist at ET, it's the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities. And she has a Bachelors Degree in Physiology and a Masters Degree in Education in Human Development and is also working on her Doctoral in Early Childhood Special Education.
(Lucia) has extensive training in typical and atypical early childhood development and early intervention services for children with disabilities. She's worked with children from birth to five years old at their homes and it includes a childcare setting and also as an assistant teacher at a daycare center.
She also worked at as a case manager fro county early intervention programs and she provides information about (IVA) the special education laws and to the public at national conferences. So, she comes with a wealth of experience that's quite relevant to early childhood. I'm very pleased that she could do this call for us. (Lucia)?
(Lucia):
Hi, good morning and thank you for having me. It's my pleasure to be here today and to be able to do this call. I'm a little soft spoken, so if people can't hear me, just let me know and I'll speak up.
But as Dawn was saying, you know the topic of this presentation is just response to intervention and early childhood programs. So, I'm just basically going to go through the PowerPoint and hopefully you guys will have it in front of you and you can see it and again if you don't, then we can always try to email it to you.
But the agenda that I have is just to have a basic history of the law as an introduction. Then to have the review of what RTI is, response to intervention, how RTI impacts early childhood programs, and then an overview of recognition and response, what that is. We're going to have a few resources for you and again, the questions and answers will be at the end.
The history of the law, in 1975 (PL94142) was passed. And this was to provide a free and appropriate public education for school age students with disabilities who were eligible for special education. And then of course services were provided under their IEP.
Throughout the years there have been more and more reauthorizations and these reauthorizations place more emphases on prevention. We wanted to catch these kids earlier, that's when pre-school programs were established and (Part C) came into effect. I believe that was in '97.
So, IDEA 2004 now, this is the first time that the law includes language from No Child Left Behind. No Child Left Behind has been around for a long time and the last reauthorization the name has changed that's why many people think it's a new law.
But, now with this new language they hold district, schools, administrators and teachers accountable for student's proficiency in reading, writing and math skills. It also talks about creating a system to decrease the number of students failing and those that are in special education do to lack of instruction versus an actual disability.
And then a little bit about the discrepancy model versus RTI. A discrepancy model was used to identify children with learning disabilities, but it also did not distinguish between students who actually had deficients do to lack of instruction versus an actual learning disability. So, this is sort RTI comes in to play.
The next Slide talks about what IDEA 2004 says. And I put in there just a small section of the new language and the legislation. I'm not going to read it all to you, but basically this part of the law prompted a growing movement in the learning disability field to shift the focus again away from that discrepancy model and towards early intervening combined with high quality instruction.
And the reauthorized IDEA included the RTI approach as one of the options that schools can use to identify students with learning disabilities. (Ideal) also authorizes the LEA to use funds for RTI services to children beginning at kindergarten.
Now, we hit the second topic on our agenda. A review of what RTI is. So what is it? Well, we know that that the origin is already, as I had been saying traced to the field of learning disabilities, we shift away from that discrepancy model.
It is also an approach for school age children, it's used with school age children. It is based on quality of general education curriculum and it benefits all students, not just those that have learning difficulties. It also provides intervention right away instead of having to wait for an evaluation, seeing if a child is eligible for special education. Its purpose is to keep children from having to wait and fail before they receive services.
Woman:
(Lucia), does RTI only apply to children with learning disabilities and not any other disabilities?
(Lucia):
No, no its just that's where it, that's the background that, you know it began with children with learning disabilities. But, it can be provided to any child. It could be behavior issues, it could be any difficulties that a teacher or an adult observes, they could try to provide services right away.
Woman:
Okay.
(Lucia):
But, with everything you read mostly about learning disabilities because that's where it originates.
Woman:
Okay.
(Lucia):
So, again RTI is just a new approach for sorting out whether a struggling child is really a child with a disability as defined by IDEA or if he or she just needs more intense regular educational strategies to succeed in school.
Next it says, we'll look at some of the requirements or some of the components in this new approach. It's a systematic approach using research based interventions. We'll go into this a little more. There should also be collaboration between the general and the special education teachers.
There have to be goals and expectations throughout the whole approach. It also provides explicit instruction. So, this could be things to address a (unintelligible) awareness, fluency, comprehension, things of that sort. There has to be progress monitoring.
There has to be formal assessments. Some models of this approach also include a problem solving process in which one, they identify the problem. Two, the problem is define, an intervention plan is designed, that plan is implemented and there's a continuous evaluation of that plan to make changes as needed.
So, in theory the results of all that problem solving process should solve the problem and should provide the additional support that a child needs to succeed in school.
RTI is basically a three-tier model. It usually consists of three tiers or levels of assistance. It is used to serve academics and behavior. It's also used for service delivery and to assist with decision making when a student should move from one tier to another.
So, the first tier is what is called the universal or the core tier. And this includes all research base, it provides quality instruction to all students. Students should be monitored and screened to make that they're learning at this level.
The second tier is what's called targeted or the strategic tier. And it consists of providing more supplemental intervention and it has additional progress monitoring. So, we want to make that these kids are, if they're not doing well continuously monitoring their progress. These are the students that are at risk and the ones that need additional supports.
The third tier is the intensive tier. And this is, students in this tier have more intense needs. They're provided with intense instruction. Their progress is monitored much more frequently and they may also receive more comprehensive evaluations instead of just screening.
So, when a child is identifies as struggling to learn either through screening or through teacher observations, RTI may be used to see how the child responds to deliberate research based interventions or any other kind of direct support.
If the child still fails to learn adequately in that first level of help, then he or she is moved to that second level. And if he's failing to learn in that second level then he would go to that third level.
You know then the supports and the strategies become more intense as he moves through the tiers. And progress should be closely monitored so that the school will know if the child is learning or is improving.
And if the student is not responding then there may be a referral for an evaluation under IDEA to determine if the child is eligible for special education or related services.
One of the things that I think concerns people about this model is that there's no clear knowledge about the duration or the intensity of the intervention that should be provided to the children. And also that there isn't really what known benchmarks should be used to figure out when more intervention is needed.
So, I guess one of the negatives is that maybe the teachers will continue to try different things or will just provide intense instruction instead of making that referral. But, a referral can always be made at any point, whether they're using RTI or not if there's a true concern. I just wanted to clarify that.
So, now that brings us to the third topic on our agenda which is RTI's impact on early childhood programs. And we know that, we all know, I mean we all work with early childhood, so we know that early intervention is effective. And that's why the law has changed its emphasis on prevention and early intervention throughout the years.
There's a study that (Lion) and others did, which shows that prevention studies in reading commonly show that 70% to 98% of at risk children, which is the bottom 20 percentile in Kindergarten through second grade can learn to read in average range. So, that's huge, I mean that just really shows that we can make a difference early on for those children that are at risk.
So, what does RTI mean to early childhood programs? RTI is a really good match with early childhood because early childhood studies stress the importance of program quality to all children. We're always hearing about that. Children have to be in a good quality childcare or daycare in order for them to learn and succeed.
The other thing is that more and more States are beginning to offer some type Pre-K program to children around age four that means that these young children are in school earlier. There's also an emphasis on helping children to acquire school readiness concepts prior to Kindergarten to help close that achievement gap. So, early childhood program now teach early literacy, they need to meet early learning standards, all of which begin to teach academics, ready, writing, math skills.
But, that also means that when teachers are working with these young kids, we can try to detect early on when a child has, of course showing a learning difficulty.
And the last is that there are, there's a system in place to provide for free and appropriate public education to pre-school children. Now the (unintelligible) with that is that they have to be eligible for special education. Many times the difficulties that we see with children is that the difficulties that they're showing are pre-cursers to learning disabilities, but that may not necessarily make them eligible for special education, but its important to provide services earlier.
And when these children aren't eligible for special education that's really the only type of service that can be provided at this point. So, RTI in early childhood programs really does make sense.
Our next Slide basically again it just, it helps to identify learning disabilities earlier in young children. Because of this, parents can become aware of their child's difficulties earlier. They can advocate for their child. They can, you know makes those referrals earlier for special education under learning disabilities.
And it's also important to know that skills that prevent learning disabilities can be taught, but these skills must be taught early in school. Again, we know providing these services early on really makes sense.
Another thing is that RTI uses sound instructional strategies that means research based strategies. It helps the kids now, again we just talk about how usually children are not provided services until later when they're eligible and for special education. And usually children are not identified eligible for learning disabilities until their second or third grade. That's a big gap between early childhood and eight or nine years old. And the referral to special education can be more appropriate.
And now, I guess will just bring us to the fourth topic on the agenda, which is an overview of recognition and response. And this is really, this is what's known, this is basically like the RTI model, but for early childhood.
It's an emerging practice, it's based off of the RTI model. It's also just a new way of thinking about making sure that all children have the best opportunities to learn.
It helps identify young children at risk for learning disabilities. Young children being children in between the three and five age group. It provides strategies to the care takers. It's designed to insure that these young children in all types of early care and education settings receive the attention they need to be successful in school.
It also prevents children from failing, from being referred for an evaluation, for being place in special education when they may not be eligible again, because of, you know we had talked about before.
But, recognition and response is really meant for all children. And it helps adults pay attention to the overall quality of the early learning experiences. And when children show any signs of struggle, then this approach can be used and it includes steps that should be taken to modify the program to individualize the instruction and to provide very specific types of support to help that particular child.
It also makes sure that adults are always monitoring the child's progress and that's done over time and in different environments. And all of this information is shared among all of the child's care takers. That includes teachers or parents, anybody.
So, then how does recognition and response work? Again, it's built on the RTI approach, we had said that before. And when parents and teachers recognize that a young child may not be learning in an expected manner, then they can take the steps to enhance the child's early childhood success.
It's a systematic process to the child's learning difficulties. And recognition and response has basic elements that RTI has. Like RTI, it consists of three tiers of instruction and intervention. It uses screening and progress monitoring throughout the multiple tiers to make sure that more intense interventions or instruction can be provided. It also uses that problem solving process to aid in decision making and also in providing more intense instruction.
The first tier, I don't think I added that onto the PowerPoint, but I'm just going to talk a little bit about the tiers. Within that first tier the most important thing is to make sure that all of the children in the class are receiving high quality instruction.
To make sure or at least observe whether the children are responding to the curriculum and that can be done through screenings, through observations. And those should most likely be at the beginning of the school year and then throughout the year that way you can have more, have a better idea of how the child is progressing throughout the school year.
It will also help to notice any child that appears to be struggling or who may in fact be at risk for some type of learning difficulty. And classroom adjustments can be made to try to meet the learning needs of those children.
In the second tier, the teacher may work with smaller groups of children who appear to be struggling in the similar types of, or with a similar type learning difficulties.
In the third tier, some of these children may continue to have difficulties even after working in a small group or more intensely with a teacher. They may be, then a teach may consider more special Ed instruction or if needed, this is where a referral can be made also for special education.
It's really about individualizing the education for each child, observing them, assessing them, trying to figure out if something needs to be change in the curriculum of if any accommodations need to be made. It's really, really individualized for them.
I think I just spoke through the whole thing. I went so fast. Now I just have a few resources for you. I was trying to find something about what or how RTI has implemented in each of the States. There is an information page that Washington State has and I put that link on there and it basically provides information about screen, about progress monitoring, model programs, the policies and procedures.
Then there's also an electronic learning community that Idaho has, and it's just to provide a lot of information on RTI. Oregon has another site which provides assessment to determine whether school districts or the readiness for RTI as well as other resources.
The (NECHE) has a lot of information on IDEA and we have a training curriculum and there's a section on RTI and such, but the link for that is in there as well.
One of the other things that I kept thinking about was how does this all work in a State? How do administrators put this in place? Where does the funding come from? Where do, you know there's so many questions. And I was able to find a resource from the State of Colorado, which looks at implementation initiatives.
And it's just a document, it was from 2006 and it looks like it may be something that's not fully, I think they're still working on it, but it brings up a lot of the points that I was thinking about. So, that may be a good resource in case any of you are interested in learning a little bit more about how a State would do this.
And then for recognition and response there are a few resources. There's a report in the Child Development Institute in North Carolina. And I got a lot of my information from them. There's also a recognition and response dot org Web site that provides a lot of information on this approach. And just one of the documents from that particular Web site.
Again, I think I flew through this whole thing, but I don't if I was able to provide enough information? If you guys have any sort of questions?
Dawn Williams:
I think so, this is Dawn. And I'm sure there will be some questions and that. I'm also wondering does recognition or response apply to children ages 0 to 3?
(Lucia):
No, everything that I have seen is from 3 through 5. And I'm assuming that it's because there's more of that academic. You tend to look at some of these more academic concepts, pre literacy, even though you can teach a child all those pre literacy skills from day one, but I think that that's probably why. And I think the other reason is also because pre-schools start providing that sort of level of instruction at that age.
Dawn Williams:
Uh-huh.
(Lucia):
Yes, so I haven seen anything for 0 to 3 on it.
Dawn Williams:
(Unintelligible) response to intervention begins at the school age level, like at age 6?
(Lucia):
Exactly. That is Kindergarten and up. So, Kindergarten, I guess starts at age 5 and that's really because that's where Pre-K services begin and that's when the children are actually in schools and they can provide that level of instruction.
Dawn Williams:
Okay, so what our Head Start program is the recognition and response because they (unintelligible) until 5 years old.
(Lucia):
Exactly. Which is, that's a new approach that is, that's what the new approach for these young children is called. But, it's still sort of an RTI model. It's based on RTI, but they're using this new name for the younger children. And it's an approach that came out of a lot of work through (NAEYC).
And the North Carolina group that I was just telling you about, the (FPG) Child Development Institute, another organization, oh I forgot their name, but it's a learning disabilities organization. So, all of those groups came together, did a lot of research on how this RTI model could be implemented for younger children.
And they came up with this approach. And again, the resources that I provide gives a lot of information about that particular approach and how that all got started.
Dawn Williams:
So, what might be some of the things that the staff might be asked to do for recognition and response?
(Lucia):
I'm sorry Dawn, can you say that again, I didn't hear you.
Dawn Williams:
Oh, sure. What are some of the things that Head Start staff might be asked to do for recognition and response?
(Lucia):
I think with Head Star, and I'm a little familiar with Head Start, I've never really worked in a Head Star setting, but I think Head Start does a lot of these things. You guys already observe, you do screenings; you know you provide those referrals when needed.
I know a lot of Head Starts work directly with the school districts to provide services at the Head Start setting. So, I think a lot of that is already being done. I think at this point it would be to get information and to train personal on being able to provide some of that more intense instruction and individualized instruction at the Head Start setting.
And I believe that that's what this other organization that response to www.recognitionandresponse.org, they provide a lot of information on how that training can be provided to personal that work with young children in early childhood settings.
Dawn Williams:
Okay.
(Lucia):
Its basically just like following an IAP, you know, figuring out, and again it's not through special education, but it's that same sort of concept, observing the child, identifying where that child is struggling, modifying the curriculum, providing different accommodations, modifying certain aspects of the classroom, whether it's smaller settings or whether it's less ratios, you know for that one particular child. But, it's really about individualizing everything so that that child can learn and can prosper in the classroom setting.
Dawn Williams:
Well I agree many of the interventions sound like things that Head Start programs already do.
(Lucia):
Uh-huh, yes. And that's why I found that one article from the State of Colorado and it brought up a lot of interesting issues. And I don't know about funding, I don't know that sort of administrative level information, but it really makes you wonder, you know if these programs, Head Start program for instance, if you start providing some of those RTIs and recognition and response, you know is there funding available?
Will there be funding available to provide additional support and additional training? Right now IDEA says that LEA can provide or can use some of that special education funds to provide RTI to children who are not eligible for special education yet. But, yet you know they can get some money from there to provide these services. But, they're only saying that for children Kindergarten and up.
Dawn Williams:
Oh, I see.
(Lucia):
So, you know what can States do? I don't know that financial aspect of it, but I think they are very good question. And it would be interesting to find out how, if any States are implementing this and how they've done it.
Dawn Williams:
Uh-huh. I think one concern has risen in the Head Start programs, is that this may slow down or prevent the referral process.
(Lucia):
Well, and I think that's why its very important to know that at any point if a person has a concern that, that referral can still be made. And you don't have to go through this, its one of the options, its something that is suggested and that has come out as again, the whole learning disability world because so many children had waited and waited and waited to go through the evaluation process, to go through the eligibility process when they could have been receiving services right away.
Dawn Williams:
Right.
(Lucia):
Or some sort of support. So, that's why it came to be, so that if there's some obvious, if there's a child that has some obvious struggles and that a teacher has observed that there are just certain things that can be change to help that child.
You know this is the way to start providing the service right away instead of having to refer a child to go through the whole process of evaluation and eligibility and all of that and finally become eligible and receive services. And with young children, pre-school settings, you know they don't provide a whole lot, so again, you know its just to try to promote some proactive and to be more proactive and provide some of these strategies earlier on.
Then if we look at learning disabilities, to identify and to evaluate a child to be able to determine if a child has a learning disability, and again this whole approach is not only for learning disabilities, it can be used with anything.
But, just looking at that, a lot of the tools that are used to evaluate children for a learning disability, they're going to have to be able to read, they have to be able to write, to do some sort of math, some basic level academic skills to see where they're at, to see if they're behind. And the young children 3 through 5, they're not at that level. That doesn't mean that they're not showing some of these signs.
You know, its just, overall I think it's a really good system, I'm not sure, again financially, administratively how all of this is being implemented. But, it is, it really seems like it could be something that can be very proactive for these kids.
Dawn Williams:
Thank you for being so clear and concise. I think this would be a good time to open up for questions.
(Lucia):
Sure.
Dawn Williams:
So, (Vicky).
Coordinator:
Thank you, we will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question please press Star 1. To withdraw your request, press Star 2. Once again to ask a question, please press Star 1. One moment.
At this time we have no questions.
Dawn Williams:
Okay. I think we can just hold on for a couple of minutes and give people a chance to get their questions in.
(Lucia):
Sure. They have to think about it.
Coordinator:
(Debra Bruno), you may ask your question.
(Debra Bruno):
Hello Dawn and everyone, this is (Rural Cap). (Deb) and bunch of wonderful coordinators around the table.
Dawn Williams:
Hi (Deb).
(Debra Bruno):
Hi. I just, I mean we're still really our heads are still spinning as far as the new Head Star requirement of we're going to have to have all of our 10% children, with a disabilities, diagnosed prior to entry into the program and that's going to be an extreme challenge for some of our communities.
I'm interested, this has, I guess almost no, there's no connection that I can think of right now between RTI and that because that new requirement for Head Star programs is going to, its like we have to get, somehow get a system in place for children are diagnosed prior to entering Head Start.
And the RTI is just children that we pick up once they're in the program that we happen to notice, but is there any other connection that we're just not thinking of?
(Lucia):
That's a very good point. I think RTI would be most useful for the children that are already in the program that you are identifying, but like you said that doesn't help you with the 10% that have to have before they begin any Head Start programs.
The only thing that I can think of, and again I don't know if there are States that are implementing, have implemented this approach, but I'm thinking that maybe if some of those universal pre-K programs that aren't necessarily Head Start program that may use, you know this RTI approach, maybe make those referrals earlier with some of the kids.
And because Head Start does have the capabilities of providing services to a certain percentage of children with disabilities that some of those referrals may come to you from those private daycares or from some of those other early childhood programs.
Whether they're State funded or private centers. I'm not sure how this program is being implemented in other States, but that's one of the possibilities that I would say. If there are, for instance, what is it South Carolina, I think has the universal pre-K program that receives money from the State and they have agreements with a lot of different private daycares, with Head Start programs, with different resources around.
And so that would be one of the lengths that I would say. That some of those State programs may be able to go through this process whether they can provide that instruction or not, you know some of them may not feel qualified and make those referrals to Head Start programs or directly to special education.
I don't know if that makes a lot of sense, but I mean that's just one of the ways that I'm thinking there could be a connection between Head Start and RTI.
Dawn Williams:
This is Dawn, I think that your 10% requirement they also lead to programs having even more then 10% similar disabilities in their programs as they do recognition and response and refer more children. I think that there are going to be even higher numbers (unintelligible) disabilities in the classroom.
(Lucia):
Yes, that's a very good point because I've worked with a lot of, I used to work in Florida and I worked with a lot of children that were in the early intervention system that we would try to get into the early Head Start programs or the Head Star programs and of course those children were already identified, they were already eligible because they're in early intervention.
And I always found it difficult because those Head Start programs weren't meeting their 10%. And some of them also did not feel, I guess that they had a lot of expertise with some of the more severe disabilities.
But, that's a very good point, I mean that this could just bring the numbers up as well if more children are identified when they're already in the Head Start program. And it may just be children that have some learning difficulties that need more instruction, that need more on one, that need more sort of that intense level of help. But, may not necessarily qualify for special education services.
Dawn Williams:
Does that answer your question?
Coordinator:
Your line is still open.
(Debra Bruno):
Hello, this is (Deb Bruno) again, can you hear me?
Dawn Williams:
(Deb) we can.
(Debra Bruno):
Okay, great. I have one more question. And it seems like now there's no extra support for teachers, extra consultations or anything for teachers until they get down to tier three for special Ed staff. And even then it's if they can do an evaluation or a referral for evaluation.
Is there any additional support being talked about for regular classroom staff as far as consulting with special ed teachers about strategies to try things to do before they get to the evaluation, referral evaluation level?
(Lucia):
Yes. I wish. I don't know of any talk of any additional support. You know all of these approaches, they're and that's why I think I love IDEA because it is an idea, you know it makes sense, but practices something completely different, reality is different. And it is very hard to provide all this individualized support and small groups when you're under staffed and you have a lot of children in your classroom.
So, I don't know. And again, I'm not that familiar with the funding end of this or more of that administrative side, so I don't know when States are implementing this approach, how they're doing that, how they're managing the financial aspect of it. It would make sense to provide additional support so that you can have more of that individualized instruction for all of the children, but I don't know.
I don't know if there is any sort of funding or if there's anything that can be provided to States to assist with that.
Dawn Williams:
Do you have any other questions?
Coordinator:
Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press Star 1.
Dawn Williams:
I think what's been happening across the region is that, (or) some programs have been asked to do response intervention and some programs haven't at all, it's been very different in each State.
(Lucia):
Yes, and that's what I've been seeing when I look through a lot of the different pages to try to find information and some States have it down pack and have been doing it for years, even before the law was passed. And other States have been asked to do, but have not bee provided any sort of support. It's just like, oh yes now figure it out.
You know and the other thing is, there are insufficient funds as it is for special education and now some of this money can be used to provide early intervention services to children that are not eligible for special education yet. So, I think that the money was just sort of shifted around, but they didn't really look at what the true needs are.
And that unfortunately, you know those are financial needs that every State has in order to provide all this help to the children. So, maybe it will change next year.
Coordinator:
We do have some more questions, would you like to take them?
(Lucia):
Yes, sure.
Coordinator:
(Holly Porter), you may ask your question.
(Holly Porter):
I was wondering if you could address English language learners and how this affects working with them.
(Lucia):
A lot of the models from other States that I have seen do address English language learners. And again, it's just, I think there's a fine line to be drawn whether a child should be referred for services because of (writing) difficulties, because of language issues or because of lack of instruction. But, the system, and again from the models that I've seen has been used with specifically with ELL students.
I haven't read up that much on it, so I wont be able to give you that much more information, but if you want, I can try to find the resources because I've bookmarked everything that I was looking through. And I can also send you some of those links if you want.
(Holly Porter):
That would be very helpful. I think because the school districts we work with often don't have somebody who speaks (foreign) language of the children that we're referring.
(Lucia):
Yes.
(Holly Porter):
It becomes a little problematic of when to do a referral and what happens with the school districts once that referral is done.
(Lucia):
Of course, of course. Yes, I mean its just screening and monitoring is one thing and even just being able to communicate with the parents is a completely different thing. Again, no, I did find a lot of resources. I can send that to you and I don't know, I can send that to Dawn or if you want you can just give me your email I can send it directly to you or.
Dawn Williams:
I'll be happy to send that on to you (Holly).
(Holly Porter):
Okay, great. Thanks Dawn.
Coordinator:
(Phyllis Fernan), you may ask your question.
(Phyllis Fernan):
I really didn't have a question, I just had kind of a comment to go with the school districts that we work with here in Idaho. And that is that when we refer a child to be evaluated, they've been really gracious and wanting to provide us with intervention.
And they have also been gracious as to wanting to do some training with our staff to be able to provide intervention in our Head Start classrooms.
So, I think that is a real positive note in building those relationships with your school district in order to be able to have them come in and provide you intervention and help with the RTI and whatever else that a child may need in order to be successful once they go to Kindergarten.
(Lucia):
I think that's a great point. I mean every district is different. Every (unintelligible).
(Phyllis Fernan):
Exactly.
(Lucia):
Unfortunately, I think we all have to learn as we work. I moved to DC from Florida and the State of Florida itself, I think is doing horrible, but the particular county that I worked for had great inter-agency relationships.
There was constant training back and forth, you know not only Head Star, early Head Start, the pre-school settings, early intervention, but so many other community agencies and it was absolutely amazing and it had a lot to do with the personal and administrative staff. But, you're right, it so much varies from county to county. But, I'm glad to hear that about Idaho.
Coordinator:
(Sarah Kinsley) you may ask your question.
(Sarah Kinsley):
Hi, yes this is (Sarah). I'm not sure that I have a question either, but a couple of thoughts that's wondering around in my head. And I think the first one is that at least here in Alaska, you know a Head Start teachers often also are family services providers and follow up on health and really are doing a lot of the work of Head Start with individual families and kids.
And I guess I'm a little bit, we have also done an excellent job of building relationships in this instance with school to support providing both interventions to identify kids, and sharing resources back and forth.
And I see that, I'm worried that this new method, which I understand, from what you're talking about, what I've read about it is it sounds really great, but I'm worried that Head Start is going to be the end all and be all more then it has been before.
And so I'm worried about how that's going to reflect with staff and their training. Who's going to provide that training? Is it reasonable for them to be the interventionist, which seems to me, is going beyond just individualization.
It's getting into an area, a specialty area that I don't think a lot of Head Start -- I'm not aware of -- that Head Start staff have that expertise. I'm also thinking that program and their agreements that they have with school districts you know, some help with knowing how to negotiate that collaborative relationship as well as whatever the agreements are in states around special Ed and early childhood are going to be needing to be discussed.
(Lucia):
Very good points, very good points. I used to be a family service coordinator myself and the paper work almost killed me. So, I can just imagine being the Head Start teacher, doing all that paper work, providing some of these interventions, being an advocate for the family. Yes it's a lot, it's a lot.
And the whole system with negotiation too, I mean that's, you know everybody will have to be trained on that as well, because like we were saying before, this isn't it. You know if someone wants to try this approach it doesn't mean that a child cannot be referred for more intensive evaluations or for special education.
And I want to make sure that that doesn't get lost in how people are thinking of this approach. Because I think that it will. And many times I think that maybe the people that are providing these services are going kind of get stuck. But, it is very important for you to know that those evaluations can still take place as needed.
And that its still go back to the school district responsibility and having them evaluated and go through the whole process. But, your point is very well taken. It is going to be a lot of work. I think if these systems are put into place and this approach is implemented especially from what you say teachers are doing in Alaska.
(Sarah Kinsley):
And, I guess I'm thinking that it's sure true that everybody can be referred, but whether that referral is accepted or they're saying, no I need to see the interventions that you have done in the classroom over the next three to four months.
You know, through our screening assessment process and observations we've identified that we need some special ed further evaluation and assistance with this child, but so we try to do more interventions and then make the referral and the school district may have up to six months before they evaluate that child, that's a whole year that's elapsed, which seems to be, it doesn't mean that its lost, we'd still be working with and trying to work with the (unintelligible) the best that we could.
(Lucia):
Yes.
(Sarah Kinsley):
But, I still think that it's a void there that is irresponsible.
(Lucia):
Yes, you know what though, the law is also very clear, it says that its an option, it doesn't say that RTI must be done and of course this is for school age children, but and we here (NECHO) is tell parents or people that call and have concerns about this is we always tell you to put things in writing.
Because when a person tells you, you know when a person request an evaluation and the district says, oh no we can wait, we can wait, that's going to be something completely different when a written referral is provided to them and they have to respond. If they don't believe that a child should be evaluated, they have to respond in writing and they have to provide information about why they believe that that child would not be eligible.
So, knowing the process is also going to be very important and as the school districts just can't say, no you have to do this, you have to try it, we want to see in writing what interventions you've tried before referrals. Whenever there is a concern a referral should be made and it's the school districts responsibility to provide (out) services as needed.
But, I can see a lot of school districts, saying no, no , no, we need to look at what sort of intervention have you done before that referral. I can see them doing that. It's very important to know the process and tell parents to put it in writing as well.
(Sarah Kinsley):
Great, thank you.
(Lucia):
Sure.
Coordinator:
(Jan Thompson-Obergas), you may ask your question.
(Jan Thompson-Obergas):
Hi, I'm calling from Oregon, I'm an early childhood specialist provider. And I'm interested in knowing more about whether or not there are particular assessment tools or curriculum that are identified as meeting the evidence based standard related to the question of RTI?
(Lucia):
As far as RTI is concerned within the law itself, within IDEA, it doesn't specify any particular tools. The State may choose specific evidence based research based assessments or screening tools. I think that that would be more at a State level.
As far as recognition and response, because that's a very new approach that's through the University of North Carolina or at least they're the ones that spearheaded it. I don't know if they recommend any specific screenings or evaluation tools. I didn't look that much into it.
But, again that may just be, that may depend on the State that's implementing it and what they choose or what they feel meets the criteria for evidence based and research based, you know what tool they think that would be the most appropriate to use.
(Jan Thompson-Obergas):
Thank you.
(Lucia):
Sure.
Coordinator:
At this time we have no further questions.
Dawn Williams:
This is Dawn I also would like to, I would think that inter-agency agreements between LEA and Head start programs would also be a place(unintelligible) recognition and response could be clarified and maybe training supports could also be identified within those agreements. So, perhaps that could provide some type of support to Head Start teachers that maybe asked to do some of the recognition and response.
(Lucia):
Yes.
Dawn Williams:
Well, if there are no further questions I think we'll end the call. (Lucia), thank you so much. I can't thank you enough for doing this call and providing this information (unintelligible).
(Lucia):
Of course, of course. I'm sorry I kind of rushed through it all.
Dawn Williams:
That's okay, we had plenty of questions and (Nancy) has been wonderful and supporting our region and providing these conference calls for us, so thank you, thank you very much.
(Lucia):
Sure, sure. And I will email you the resources for ELL. And I'll also try to find any information about the specific assessments, but I really believe that that's going to be more State specific. But, if I can find anything I will definitely email it to Dawn and Dawn you can pass it on.
Dawn Williams:
I will do that. (Lucia), did also like an evaluation form filled out, it was also attached to the emails sent out this morning along with the PowerPoint and on the bottom of that form is fax or an email where you can send it back to (Nancy) for the evaluation.
(Lucia):
And that's just for me, that's just so that I can know if I'm ever asked to do this again, you know whether, how to prepare, obviously make it a little bit longer, not talk as fast. And that would just help me out a lot. I would appreciate it.
Dawn Williams:
Well, thank you so much. I appreciate everyone's participation and thanks for the call.
(Lucia):
Sure. Thank you and thank you for all of you listening. Bye-bye, thank you.
Dawn Williams:
Bye, thank you.
Coordinator:
This concludes today's conference call, thank you for participating. You may disconnect at this time.
END
Posted on 2/29/2008.