Special Education Referral Process

Assignment:
Most schools in the United States use Response to Intervention (RTI) to identify and monitor struggling
students and intervene with teaching strategies for improving students' academic and behavioral
performance. Teachers are critical in the process of identifying students who may need special services.
Therefore, it is important to understand the special education referral process and signs to look for in a
struggling student. In this activity, you will have the opportunity to interview regular and special
education teachers about the referral process in their school. Write a blog that includes a summary of the
answers to your interview questions and a comparative analysis of what you learned about the referral
process and the role of special education in tomorrow's learning world.
Jan Zwolinski

1. What is/was your position/responsibility/duties related to special education at your

school?
I am a special education teacher at the secondary level whose responsibilities include the
creation and implementation of special education services as dictated by each student's
Individualized Education Program (IEP). I have also served as the LEA (Local Education
Agency) for IEP meetings which include initial evaluations and reevaluations. The LEA is
the designated school official who has been given permission to allocate resources.
2. What, if any, age does the referral process for special education begin at or cut off?
Referral age can begin at early childhood (prior to preschool) up to high school graduation.
3. How is a student identified for special education referral?
A student can be identified for referral for evaluation of special education needs by a parent,
teacher, or other school personnel such as administrator, social worker, or school
psychologist. There must be Response to Intervention (RTI) data to support procedures that
have been documented to support student prior to referral.
A parent must be provided with written notice of intent to evaluate a child. Parental
permission must be granted for evaluation. There are time restrictions related to these
procedures. Exceptions are outlined in the Procedural Guide that I forwarded to you
4. Who takes responsibility for the progress of the child before and after the referral?
The responsibility of the special education teacher upon referral is to become a member of
the IEP team who will be responsible for the educational aspects of the special education
evaluation process. This will include gathering educational records, perform standardized
testing, and interviewing student, parents, and educational personnel. Special education

teachers will collaborate with other involved members and prepare and present reports at an
initial evaluation meeting. If a child is identified with special education needs, the sp ed
teacher will most likely help create an IEP for the student.
5. What provisions are made for students identified for special education?
If a student is found to be in need of special education services, than an IEP will be created
for him/her by the IEP team (which includes student, parents and any others who were
involved in the evaluation process, (which may include outside persons such as doctors or
therapists). The student will be provided with the services and/or resources which are
specified in the IEP.
6. What is the level of parent involvement in referral process and special education?
The involvement of the parent through the referral process could include being the one who
referred the child as well as assisting in the evaluation process by providing substantiating
information in relation to the referral issue. Parents must give consent for evaluation. The
parent will be a member of the IEP team until or if a child is receiving services until his 18th
birthday (upon which the student is the responsible party). The parent would be involved in
yearly IEP meetings as well as periodic reevaluation meetings to determine continuing need
for services.
7. To what degree are students integrated into classes with non-special needs children?
Students are included with non-disabled peers to the degree that conditions are met for the
Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). This could include regular education classes, cotaught classes with both a regular ed and special ed teacher, self-contained classes, or a
combination of any of these.
8. In your experience, how does being referred for special education affect a child's
confidence in the classroom?
The level of confidence that a student experiences as a result of receiving sp ed services is so
dependent on the individual student, and, I believe, their level in school. I think younger
students have more confidence in relation to services primarily because they do see
view receiving services as a "stigma". I think some older students (high school) seem to be
less confident because they are being supported. There are plenty of students, however, who
are absolutely comfortable with support, accept it, and are much more confident as a result. I
think that teachers have a great deal to do with how a student feels about his abilities.
9. As a teacher, how do you feel about different medicines to treat some learning
disabilities such as ADHD?

Wow, medication is such an issue. Meds can be very helpful to students when all the factors
are in place. The biggest factor is how the meds make the student feel. Many students do not
like the side effects they experience. But, if the student feels ok and meds help him make
progress toward his goals, then there is a place for that. But, medication should not be an
answer alone, and is definitely not for all students.

Tiffany Zwolinski
1. Have you referred a student for special education before? What was that experience
like (eg paperwork/people involved)?
Yes. There are 2 initial forms you have to fill out- one for the school psychologist, and one
for the parents. You have the request permission from the parents before you can even begin
the referral process. In my case, there are always extra steps required because I have to get
the paperwork translated into the parents native language. Once the parents approve, then
you begin the first RtI for 12 weeks, while progress monitoring every week. After 12 weeks,
you decide if that RtI strategy is working. If not, you change it or alter the amount of
interventions. After the initial 12 weeks, an outside team will come and observe the student
in various classes, and they will also administer a series of tests to determine the students
intelligence level. After all the tests and observations are completed, then the initial IEP is
held where parents come and review data, and the teachers are told whether or not the student
qualifies for special services.
2. How do you identify a student for special education?
For me, being the ESL teacher, I can usually tell a student is struggling when they have been
in the country for more than five years, and still have not made basic gains in their language
acquisition. For example, if a student started school in the U.S. in K4, and has had all
academic instruction in English, but is not able to decode words or fluently read a passage by
the time they are in 5th grade, thats a red flag. It is the same for math. If a student has had all
academic instruction in English, and still cant add two numbers by 6th grade, something is
not quite right.
3

What are the signs of a struggling student that you look for before referring them
for special education?

Difficulty retaining information, difficulty following along during whole group instruction,
inattentive, illegible handwriting, inability to structure writing samples, sometimes
awkwardness when in social settings
4

Are there alternative methods of instruction tried out before referring the student
for special education? If you, what are they?

Yes, usually the student is placed in an RtI group where they receive one-on- one or small
group interventions daily, or weekly. The student is also progress monitored using some sort
of data. In MPS, we use something called the STAR test. If this does not help after a
specified amount of time, then the referral process would take place.
5. What is the most common learning disability that you see as a teacher?
The most common is SLD, Specific Learning Disability. This is the category that students
fall under if its not something super obvious like ADHD, Autism, Hearing Impaired, CD, or
EBD
6. What changes in the policy of special needs learners in you school or district would
you like to see?
I think I would like to see more support in the actual referral process. There needs to be a
way that teachers can refer students without feeling like they have an entire additional class
to teach. We are lucky enough at my school to have a Reading Intervention teacher at the K-5
grade levels, so she takes care of RtI and progress monitoring, but at the middle school level,
its all left up to the teacher. When you are already responsible for teaching 6 other classes,
when do you have the time to plan and implement interventions? Its really just a time issue,
so it would be nice if a person could be assigned to each building to do referrals. Also, during
the referral process, there is an outside team of psychologists from the district that come and
observe the student. A lot of the end result is reliant on these observations, which to me isnt
right because these people dont ever work with the student, so they dont really have a
proper understanding of how the child thinks. That whole part is kind of irritating to me.
7. What is the level of parent involvement in referral process and special education?
The parents must give permission to even start the referral process, and then they are invited
to the initial IEP, where they are asked a lot of questions about the student. Some examples:
Did the student have a normal birthing process and infancy? When did the student start
talking, walking, etc? Did the student ever undergo a traumatic situation? Is the student
independent at home, or is he/she dependent? What are the students interests? Basically any
and all questions you can think of that would help the IEP team (which usually consists of a
regular ed teacher, a special ed teacher, a district assigned school psych, and the parents)
understand how the students brain works. If the student qualifies, then the parent continues
to be invited to every IEP meeting after that. They happen once or twice a year, depending on
the specific needs of the student.
8. To what degree are students integrated into classes with non-special needs children?
At my school, the students are fully integrated. Depending on their IEP, they can get pulled
out for specific amounts of time per day or per week. For example, one student I work with
has a reading IEP and he is pulled out for 30 minutes each day to get additional reading
support. At some schools, they have MRE rooms for students with severe disabilities; this
means they would spend part or all of their day with a special education teacher and other

children with more severe disabilities. There are also EBD rooms where students with severe
emotional disorders go. In the U.S., the trend right now is to have kids with disabilities stay
in the LRE (least restrictive environment), meaning they are integrated with non-disabled
students.
9. What happens when the parents reject the referral and the child continues to
disrupt or fall behind the class?
Well, there is only so much the school can do at this point. Ive never actually experienced
this personally, but I would assume the teacher would rely on certain people in the building
to help out. Maybe a para could pull out the student and work one-on- one with them, or the
school psychologist or social worker could meet with the student daily or weekly to develop
coping strategies. It really depends on the situation. Unfortunately, there is only so far we can
legally take it without the support of the parents.
10. In your experience, how does being referred for special education affect a childs
confidence in the classroom?
I have not seen it affect a childs confidence at all really. As long as you are honest with the
students, they are usually willing to try whatever they can to help themselves learn. I just
finished the referral process with a 6th grader, and I told him that we wanted to try a few
different styles of teaching to see if any helped him learned, and he was excited. Kids arent
stupid; they know when they learn slower than their peers, and they definitely know when
they learn differently, so I think when they understand that their teachers are only trying to
help them succeed, they are ok with it. Its also not usually that obvious when a kid is being
referred. They may get pulled out every once in a while, but for the most part, its kept very
private.

Just to give background- my position is Middle School ESL Teacher. Its usually pretty difficult
for me to refer students because, most of the time, teachers assume its a language issue,
therefore they wont want to put in the time and effort to make the actual referral. This is where
I come in. If I know the student should be more proficient in the language, or if I know the
student IS proficient in the language, and still is not making academic gains, I will step in and
volunteer to do all interventions and paperwork, etc
Michael McBride: Views from Child/Adolescent Psychiatry

1. What is/was your position/responsibility/duties related to special education at your

school?
Parents would bring their child to me, either self-referred because the recognized there was a
problem, or referred by their pediatrician, or referred from their school. My job was to perform
a psychiatric assessment incorporating information from the teachers and parents, resulting in a

diagnosis. The diagnosis would lead to a treatment plan which could include intervention in the
school.
2. What, if any, age does the referral process for special education begin at or cut off?
Ideally, the referral should come sooner than later. Early childhood educators are in a unique
position to identify children who would benefit from further assessment. On the other end, there
really is not cut off. Some kids slip through the cracks and become adults with problems. I see
it every day.
3. How is a student identified for special education referral?
Multiple ways: via the parent, teacher, pediatrician, or child psychiatrist. I have been part of
them all.
4. Who takes responsibility for the progress of the child before and after the referral?
The IEP (Individualized Education Plan) should articulate the problem, goals, methods, and
evaluation. For example, your brother had an IEP for a speech disorder. His IEP provided
ongoing speech therapy until the team (therapist, teacher, student, parents) felt they had met the
goal.
5. What is the school administrations directive for special education?
Follow the laws established to provide appropriate education for kids, oversight of the IEP
process, and advocate for children so they can have the best education possible.
6. What provisions are made for students identified for special education?
Depends on their needs.
7. What is the level of parent involvement in referral process and special education?
Partners with the educators every step of the way.
8. To what degree are students integrated into classes with non-special needs children?
Mainstream when appropriate.
9. In your experience, how does being referred for special education affect a child's
confidence in the classroom?

Depends on how it is handled. Ideally, the childs needs are identified, a plan is established
protecting the confidentiality of the child, and special education is conducted towards the goal of
functionality.