The Referral Process

1
The Referral Process
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Pre-Referral

• Teacher/Parent/Counselor/Student Concern
• Teacher/Parent Contact
• General Education Interventions
• Child Study/Student Assistance Team
• Additional General Ed. Interventions
• GEI Plan
• Revision of GEI plan
• Section 504
• Suspected handicapping condition leads to referral

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The Special Needs and Characteristics of our
Students

• Autism (ASD)
• Communication (CD)
• Deaf-Blind (DB)
• Developmental Delay (DD)
• Emotional Disability (ED)
• Hearing Impairment (HI)
• Learning Disability (LD)
• Mental Disability (MI/MO/SEV)
• Multiple Disability (MD)
• Orthopedic Impairment (OI)
• Other Health Impairment (OHI)
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• Visual Impairment (VI)

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

• Autism
• Aspergers Syndrome
• These are lifelong disabilities characterized by
  impairments in communication, learning and
  reciprocal social interaction generally evident
  by age 3
• Other characteristics often include marked
  distress over trivial changes, persistent
  occupation with an object or part of an object,
  resistance to environmental change or change in
  daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory
  experiences

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Communication Disorder (CD)

• One or more of the following characterizes a
  communication disorder
• 1. Articulation disorders that are incorrect
  productions of speech sounds such as
  substitutions or additions
• 2. Fluency disorders that are disruptions
• In the rate of rhythm of speech
• That occur frequently and
• That is markedly noticeable to the student or
  listener
• Continued

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Communication Disorder (CD) Continued

• 3. Voice disorders that are abnormal productions
  of pitch, intensity, resonance or quality
• 4. Language disorders that are impairments in
  the comprehension or expression of spoken or
  written language
• 5. A severe communication deficit which may
  require the use of an augmentative system such as
  gestures, sign language, picture/word/sentence
  boards or electronic devices

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Deaf-Blind

• Deaf-Blind is a concomitant hearing and visual
  impairment, which causes severe communication or
  other developmental and educational problems.
  Students with dual sensory impairments include
• 1. Those who are deaf and blind
• 2. Those with hearing/visual impairments of mild
  to severe degree with additional learning or
  language disabilities
• 3. Those with severe multi-handicaps due to
  central nervous system dysfunction.

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Developmental Delay (DD)

• Developmental Delay for students ages 3-5 not
  eligible for kindergarten means a delay that
  adversely affects daily life or educational
  performance of either two standards deviations
  below the mean in one of the following
  developmental areas or one and one half standard
  deviations below the mean in any two of the
  following developmental areas

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Developmental Delay (DD) Continued

• 1. Gross or fine motor development
• 2. Cognitive development
• 3. Receptive or expressive language
  development
• 4. Social or emotional development
• 5. Self-help or other adaptive development.

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Emotional Disabilities (ED)

• 1. A tendency to develop physical symptoms or
  fears associated with personal or school problems
• 2. A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or
  depression
• 3. An inability to learn that cannot be
  explained by intellectual, sensory or health
  factors
• 4. An inability to build or maintain
  interpersonal relationships
• 5. Inappropriate feelings under normal
  circumstances

• An emotional condition that, over a long
  period of time and to a marked degree,
  consistently interferes with students learning
  progress. Emotional conditions include, but are
  not limited to the following

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Hearing Impairment (HI)

• Hearing impairment is a hearing loss that
• 1. With or without amplification adversely
  affects educational performance and developmental
  progress
• 2. May be permanent or fluctuating
• 3. May be mild or profound in nature
• 4. May be unilateral or bilateral and
• 5. May also be referred to as hard of hearing or
  deaf
• Audiological evaluations shall be conducted
  annually for all students with hearing
  impairments enrolled in special education

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Learning Disability (LD)

• Characterized by severe specific deficits in
  perceptual, integrative or expressive process
  that severely impair learning efficiency.
• It may be manifested in disorders in listening,
  thinking, speaking, reading, writing, spelling
  and/or arithmetic.
• Criteria for determining eligibility shall be a
  severe discrepancy between academic achievement
  and normal or near normal potential.

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Mental Disability (MI, MO, Severe)

• A mental disability is demonstrated by
  significant delays in intellectual functioning
  and adaptive functioning and adversely affects
  educational performance.
• 1. Mild is generally 2 standard deviations below
  the mean. ((IQ 50-70).
• 2. Moderate is generally 3 standard deviations
  below the mean. (IQ 30-50)
• 3. Severe is generally 4 standard deviations
  below the mean. (IQ lt 30)

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Multiple Disability (MD)

• A multiple disability is two or more disabilities
  interacting and resulting in learning needs so
  complex that a single disability cannot be
  identified as primary. The term does not include
  deaf-blind.

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ORTHOPEDIC IMPAIRMENT (OI)

• An orthopedic impairment is a physically
  disabling condition which is determined to be a
  serious impairment of a students locomotion or
  motor functions and which adversely affects
  educational performance.
• The term may include impairments caused by
  congenital anomaly, disease such as muscular
  dystrophy, or impairments from other causes such
  as cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or
  burns that cause contractures.

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Other Health Impaired (OHI)

• A medical condition that adversely affects a
  students performance and is manifested by
  limited strength, vitality, and alertness due to
  chronic or acute health problems.
• It may also be manifested by heightened alertness
  to environmental stimuli that results in limited
  alertness with respect to educational performance.

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Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

• Traumatic Brain Injury is an acquired injury to
  the brain caused by an external force, resulting
  in total or partial functional disability or
  psychosocial impairment or both, that adversely
  affects a students educational performance. The
  term applies to open or closed head injuries
  resulting in impairments in one or more areas
  such as
• Cognition, language, memory, attention,
  reasoning, abstract thinking, judgment,
  problem-solving, sensory, perceptual and motor
  abilities, psychosocial behavior, physical
  functions, information processing and speech

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VISUAL IMPAIRMENT (VI)

• A vision loss that, even with best correction,
  adversely affects educational performance. A
  student is considered blind when they cannot
  successfully utilize vision as a primary channel
  for learning and exhibits such a low degree or
  amount of visual acuity or visual field that
  vision is not considered as a primary mode of
  learning.
• A student with low vision exhibits a reduced
  visual acuity or limited visual field that
  inhibits optimal processing of information
  through the visual modality and requires
  modification to enable the student to benefit
  from the educational program.

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Referral Process

• Child Study Team completes referral form
• If parents initiate referral process it should
  still go to Child Study- before referral if
  possible.
• Counselor meets with parents to review referral
  form and procedural safeguards.
• Counselors should explain evaluation procedures
  and obtain permission to evaluate

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Referral Process

• Referral paperwork goes to Special Services
  office.
• Joni Golde sets up a Case Conference date
  approximately 60 school days from when request
  was received.
• Student is evaluated by a multidisciplinary team
• Case Conference is held within 60 school days.

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Referral Process

• The eligibility criteria for the areas of
  suspected disability are reviewed and discussed.
• Eligibility is determined by the Case Conference
  Committee at the Case Conference.

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If student is eligible

• An Individual Education Plan is developed
• There will be a yearly Annual Case Review
• Additional meetings can be requested as needed.
• There will be a re-evaluation every three years.

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The IEP (Individualized Educational Plan)

• I
• is considered a legal document.

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If student is not eligible

• Any relative weaknesses and/or needs are
  discussed
• The student may be referred for a 504
• General education interventions may be discussed
• A GEI may be written
• A behavior plan may be written
• Suggestions for home may be generated
• Parents should leave feeling that their concerns
  have been addressed in some way.

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CONFIDENTIALITY This is not simply a matter of
not using names, but rather of maintaining
silence.

• Know the laws pertaining to confidentiality. Use
  records properly.
• Only reveal information that identifies a
  particular child to a person who has legitimate
  need to know that information to provide services
  or education about a child or family.

• Do not discuss confidential matters in the
  presence of other students.
• Do not discuss confidential matters outside the
  school.
• TALK TO YOUR TEACHER ABOUT ANY SITUATION YOU DO
  NOT UNDERSTAND.

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Zionsville Community SchoolsSpecial
Services/Evaluation Services

• Cathy Fuelling, Director
• Joni Golde, Manager
• Nancy Tillett, Psychologist
• Judy Foote, Psychologist
• Eileen Williams, Ed. Specialist
• Lisa Wagner, Ed. Specialist
• Carol Foulke, SLP/Eval Services
• Resource Teachers/SLPs
• Therapists (OT/PT)
• Contracted Psychologists
• Instructional Assistants
• You can reach all staff via email. Example
  jgolde_at_zcs.k12.in.us
• Or call 873-2858 11260

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The Sea Star

• Early one morning, on a long beach, and adult
  decided to go for a walk and came across a young
  woman, throwing something into the sea. What
  are you doing? he asked. Pretty soon,the sun
  is going to come out and dry up all these sea
  stars, so I am throwing them back before they
  die. But there are millions, the man pointed
  out. What difference do you think you can
  really make? The young woman considered his
  question for a moment and surveyed the long
  expanse of the beach, which was indeed filled
  with sea stars washed up on the shore. She bent
  down and picked up a sea star, resuming her
  efforts. Well, she said, Ill make a
  difference with this one. And with that, she
  tossed the sea star into the sea.