M2U4A2 Special Education Referral Process (Part II)

Module 2 The Culture of Schooling
Unit 4 Students with Disabilities
Activity 2 Special Education Referral Process Summary of Interviews

Each of the people that I interviewed at the International School Manila (ISM) presented important insight to the Special Education services in their school. I was lucky to have these interviews arranged in such short notice and have all of them disclose different aspects of the program. The process of doing the interviews enlightened me to but a normal part of the special education world. After I completed the individual meetings it was clear to me that these community members are vital to the students and their educational journeys. All three of them agreed that the development of an inclusive, collaborative support system is beneficial for all students.

As the Program Leader for the Learning Support Services at ISM, Holli Gelina’s insight to the administrative channels and referral process was invaluable. Firstly, she states that ISM’s program for special education is called the Learning Support Program. To continue, she mention to the length of time for the referral process by saying, “I get a referral and within two to three weeks the kid is getting services depending on what those services are. It could be six months because we need to do all kinds of assessments and wait till those are done.” She shed light on the different levels of services in a few types of disabilities services. Level 1 support would be for students who can follow the curriculum but need accommodations or modifications. Level 2 was described to be an increased level of assistance to the student with combinations of push-in and pull-out accommodations. While she didn’t delineate Level 3, I followed through to the ISM LS website to gather that Level 3 support “is for students who require significant accommodations and/or modifications to the content of the curriculum. Level 3 students may also require direct teaching in social-skills development. (Learning Support Program, n.d.)” Gelina says that a student would only be disapproved for the program if they believe that their needs could be met in other ways like tried and tested modifications or accommodations. Impressively, she mentions that next year they are looking forward to their new “self-contained” classroom for students with severe disabilities and in need of individualized support. Overall, Gelina’s optimism is high and sees the future of her program to expand for more and different types of students in need of educational support.

Eugene Comer presented the perspective of an elementary school guidance counselor of all students. He states that he does have many students that are in the Learning Support program. His role is to provide social and emotional guidance and support for all the students he has assigned to him. Most succinctly he says, “I am on the Learning Support Research Team or LSR Team. This is the Principal, Vice Principal, myself, my colleagues, Holli [Gelina], Speech and Occupational therapist, an educational psychologist—we are all around the table and whenever children meet us with specific needs that either are or not yet identified—we hash that out in that forum. We decide what level of support they will get.” His commitment to see his students range from occasionally to everyday in some cases. His approach appears to be a friendly, collaborative one to meeting the children's needs.

The interview with Christine Yamanaka proved to be a great resource for observations of students in the Learning Support program. By having students with her throughout the day she can quickly assess the response to modifications and accommodations. Yamanaka explains that she has used assistive learning technology to help her students as well as making full use of the teacher assistance, occupational therapists, and learning support teachers. What I found appealing to the message both Yamanaka and Gelina said the beginning stages of the referral process that, “They also ask that you try different modifications within the classroom to see how that goes and if you can provide support that can be provided there.” Instead of pre-diagnosing students with a disability, they allow them the chance to see what other means of services they can provide. Additionally, Yamanaka explains that she does many observations and collects data about the student before having the Learning Support program leader come in for her own assessments and observations. I admire her collaboration with the TA’s in helping her front-load the kids to help come prepared to the week’s lessons. Yamanaka’s pleasant, hands-on, and holistic approach to her classrooms certainly creates a positive learning community for all her students. Reference:

Learning Support Program. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2016, from http://www.ismanila.org/page.cfm?p=618