ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS DUALLY IDENTIFIED ELL/SpEd

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ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS DUALLY IDENTIFIED
ELL/SpEd

• Summer COSA Conference
• June 2008

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Purpose of Presentation

To provide information, rationale and strategies
to create bridges and span borders in order to
meet the needs of English Language Learners
dually identified ELL/SpEd.
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So, Why Do We Need this?
Knowledge? Sensitivity? New Knowledge and
skills?
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Because----Legal and Policy Reasons

• Title VI of Civil Rights Act of 1964
• May 25th Memo
• Section 504 of Rehab Act of 1973
• Lau v. Nichols
• Castaneda v. Pickard

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Summary of legal requirements

• Schools must provide programs that include
• Identification
• Language proficiency assessment
• Instructional placement (core content and English
  Language Acquisition)
• Performance assessments
• Exit criteria
• Adequate yearly progress and Annual Measurable
  Achievement Objectives
• Program evaluation to determine effectiveness
• Appropriate referral and access to special
  education services.

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Overall Picture

• Educators feeling frustrated
• Professionals working in isolation
• Parents feeling uninformed and isolated
• Confusion about assessment for SPED eligibility
• Students caught in the middle

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Systems Thinking
Community District School Classroom Student
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Systems Response Suggested 8-Step Process

• Parent checklist
• English proficiency identification and initial
  assessment
• Student placement
• Concern about learning/ behavior

• Classroom interventions
• SPED referral
• SPED ID process
• Specialized instruction support

Adapted from Colorado Department of Education
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Community Responses

• Collaborate across the community
• To identify resources
• Train interpreters
• Hire and use cultural mediators
• Establish supports for
  newcomers

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A thought

• We need to understand that as powerful an
  influence as the culture of the student and her
  family is, the culture of American education is
  equally powerful. If we cant see that our own
  culture has its own set of interests, emotions,
  and biases, how can we expect to deal
  successfully with someone elses culture?
• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, p. 261

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School Strategies

• Establish effective child study teams
• Include those knowledgeable of second language
  acquisition and culture
• Provide research based instructional strategies
• Develop coordinated and collaborative services
  and supports
• Invite and encourage families to participate in
  class and school activities
• Develop buddy systems for new and/or reluctant
  students
• Encourage families to support other families

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DEGREE OF DISABILITY AND ITS EFFECT ON ESL
PROGRAMMING

• The distinction between students with mild
  disabilities and those with moderate to severe
  disabilities directs both the program focus and
  the need for specialized knowledge to deliver
  appropriate instruction and to modify the
  instructional environment.

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DEGREE OF DISABILITY AND ITS EFFECT ON PROGRAMMING

• Mildly Disabled. SpEd-ESL programs for mildly
  handicapped students parallel mainstream ESL
  programs and focus on both oral language
  development and literacy development in English.
  The instructor modifies instruction to account
  for the student's disability by employing
  specialized teaching strategies, by applying
  positive reinforcement and behavior management
  techniques, by providing more practice, or by
  attending to self-concept concerns.

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DEGREE OF DISABILITY AND ITS EFFECT ON PROGRAMMING

• Moderately or Severely Disabled. SpEd-ESL
  programs for moderately or severely handicapped
  students may be developmental for younger
  students, in an attempt to establish basic or
  self-help communication skills in the second
  language (requesting assistance, giving personal
  information, interacting with friends).

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DEGREE OF DISABILITY AND ITS EFFECT ON PROGRAMMING

• For older students, these programs may have a
  life-skill focus concentrating on the functional
  communication skills needed by the individual at
  home, in the workplace, and in the community
  (e.g., shopping, using public transportation,
  getting along with neighbors).

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DEGREE OF DISABILITY AND ITS EFFECT ON PROGRAMMING

• While the need for knowledge of specialized
  teaching techniques, adaptive equipment, or
  prostheses exists for both groups of SpEd-ESL
  students, the need for such knowledge increases
  incrementally with the degree of disability.

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DESIGNING RESPONSIVE SpEd-ESL PROGRAMS

• A responsive SpEd-ESL program will take into
  account both the learner attributes critical to
  second language learning (aptitude,
  attitude/motivation, personality, learning style,
  and learning strategies) (Oxford-Carpenter, 1986)
  and those to be considered in designing any
  special education program (cognition, motivation,
  strategic behavior, learning style preferences,
  etc.).

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DESIGNING RESPONSIVE SpEd-ESL PROGRAMS

• Essential learner attributes to consider in
  designing an SpEd-ESL program include the
  learners
• - disability (ies)
• - proficiency level and
• - particular skills by area (strengths and
  weaknesses in listening, speaking, reading, and
  writing).
• - age, personality, and interests
• - communication needs in the second language
• - degree to which the learner is integrated into
  the target language community and
• - language learning style.

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DESIGNING RESPONSIVE SpEd-ESL PROGRAMS

• In general, the more factors accounted for and
  responded to in planning second language
  instruction, the more successful the SpEd-ESL
  program will be for a particular individual
  (Oxford-Carpenter, 1986 Spolsky, 1988).

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Teaching Strategies
Direct Instruction
Interactive Instruction
Indirect Instruction
Independent Study
Experiential Learning
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I S T R U C T I O N S K I L L S
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Capitalize on the Commonalities of SPED and ESL
Instructional Strategies

• Use of visual and verbal prompts most especially
  for proficiency levels 1,2,3
• Repetition and Modeling
• Use of language that is comprehensible to the
  learner based on the students proficiency level
• Activities with high functional value
• Use of environmental cues
• Use word walls

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Cultural Mediators/Brokers/Representatives

• Someone who merely converts words into English,
  however accurately is of no help whatsoever.
• I dont call my staff interpreters, I call them
  cultural brokers. They teach me. When I dont
  know what to do, I ask them. Go find yourself a
  cultural broker!
• The Spirit Catches you and You Fall Down

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Use students native language.

• Allow students to use their native language to
  respond to questions asked in English.
• Use students native languages for concept
  development/clarification.
• Use students native language in order to develop
  competence in English.
• State clear language goals to support text
  students are expected to read.

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Structure activities to promote students
active use of language

• Allow students to interact with others for class
  activities, tasks.
• Dont correct ungrammatical utterances of
  students unless the grammatical structure in
  error has been taught.
• Teach and assign students to cooperate on
  instructional tasks.
• Ensure that student talk dominates the lesson.

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Frequently Observed Miscellaneous Factors

• Focus on English language development as integral
  part of lesson.
• Make use of visuals or manipulatives to
  teach ESL content.
• Show sensitivity to students language and
  culture.
• Pre-teach the grammatical structure in texts
  prior to presenting the text to students.

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Differentiating a language difference from a
language disorderTwo critical questions must be
asked

• Is the child able to be an effective, fluent and
  appropriate communicator using authentic
  communication behaviors in typical contexts?

• If not, is this due to factors intrinsic to the
  child, extrinsic (i.e. environmental) factors, or
  a combination?

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To conclude that a student with limited English
proficiency has a language disorder, the assessor
needs to rule out the affects of different
factors that may simulate a language disorder.
These include the following
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1. Length of residence in the United States. A
student may manifest "language problems" in
English (poor vocabulary, slow naming speed, low
verbal participation) because of limited or
interrupted exposure to English.
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2. Attendance-disruption of schooling.
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• 3. Types of classrooms attended.
• Specific methodologies followed in bilingual
  programs need to be taken into account, because
  these methods vary considerably.
• It is also critical to determine what language
  was used in the instructional program across the
  various subject areas.
• Moreover, it is necessary to investigate what
  instructional modifications within the regular
  program were used.
• The assessor must eliminate instructional
  methodology as a factor causing the student's
  academic failure or lack of progress in acquiring
  the second language.

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4. Uses of language. When a student does not
respond readily to a particular task, the
assessor has to rule out factors such as
experience or exposure to certain linguistic
activities.
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5. Peer comparisons. Stereotypic perceptions of
language-minority students gloss over unique
intra-family traits that impact on linguistic
skills. The speech and language pathologist needs
to be familiar with the language experiences of
the student being tested.
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6. Health and developmental factors. Because a
language disorder may manifest itself in cases of
mental retardation, malnutrition, visual,
hearing, motor, and emotional handicaps, it is
important to rule out these factors by taking a
careful look at the health and developmental
history.
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Strategies

• What strategies have you used in your district?
• Which ones might you try?

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(No Transcript)
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Read a book/article

• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down A
  Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the
  Collision of Two Cultures, Anne Fadiman,Farrar,
  Straus, Giroux, New York, 1997
• Con Respecto Bridging the Distance Between
  Culturally Diverse Families and Schools,
  Guadalupe Valdes, Teachers college Press, New
  York, 1996
• Voces Community, Parents, Teachers, and
  Students Individualized Educational Plan (IEP)
  Meetings and Mexican American Parents Let's Talk
  About It , Loretta Salas, Department of Special
  Education/Communication Disorders, New Mexico
  State University in Journal of Latinos and
  Education, Volume 3, Issue 3 January 2004, pp
  181-192.

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Make a new friend

• Community members from various cultures
• District ELD professionals
• International students at local colleges
• ODE staff and outside consultants
• SPED contact Robyn Perry robbi.perry_at_state.or.u
  s
• ELD/Bilingual Education Carmen West,
  carmen.west_at_state.or.us
• Julie Esparza Brown Portland State University
  jebrown_at_pdx.edu

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Take a peer from another district out for lunch

• To learn about
• An enthusiastic team thats made a difference
  Nyssa SD
• On going ELL staff development Reynolds SD,
  Centennial SD, Portland Public SD, SOESD
• A persuasive team that got their cultural
  mediator - How a director can support a team
  Developing a collaborative district plan
  Gresham-Barlow SD,

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What is one personal strategy you can use on
Monday?
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Borders, bridges, dreams---

• Hay tantísimas fronteras
• Que dividen a la gente,
• Pero por cada frontera
• Existe también un puente
• Gina Valdes, 1982

• There are so many borders
• That divide people,
• But for each border
• There also exists a bridge.

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May the work we do together

• Smooth the borders,
• Build the bridges,
• Create the dreams -
• And give us the courage to do so!

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Smooth the borders, Build the bridges, Create the
dreams