Assessments, AtRisk Students, and Special Education

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Assessments, At-Risk Students, and Special
Education

• Amy Maynard
• EDF 435
• April 11, 2005

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Children at Risk

• Children at risk for educational problems
  include children who have certain predisposing
  factors that may cause them to be low educational
  achievers, to be placed in special education, to
  drop out, or to be retained.
• Two major categories of at-risk factors
  biological and environmental.
• (Banks, 2005)
  

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At-risk Factors

• Biological risk factors include prenatal
  problems, maternal drug/alcohol use during
  pregnancy, toxin exposure, or birthing problems.
  Two examples of this type of at-risk factor,
  which are under considerable scrutiny for
  producing disabilities, are fetal alcohol
  syndrome and lead exposure.
• Environmental risk factors are usually family and
  social interaction problems in early childhood.
  This includes abuse and neglect, and often stems
  from adverse socioeconomic conditions.
  Dysfunctional families, low maternal educational
  level, or poor maternal-infant interactions are
  most associated with at-risk problems. Low
  socioeconomic backgrounds seem to have a more
  adverse impact on males than females.
• (Banks, 2005)

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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

• FAS is a medical diagnosis that is usually based
  on these three characteristics
• 1. Growth deficiency/low birth weight
• 2. Certain facial physical abnormalities
• 3. Central nervous system dysfunctions
• Leading cause of mental retardation in the
  world.
• Fetal Alcohol Effect (FAE)- physical effects on
  child are not nearly as pronounced, but cognitive
  deficits are as severe as in FAS.

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Exposure to Lead

• Research links childhood exposure to lead with
  neurobehavioral problems.
• Lead in paint is the basic transmittal mechanism,
  but lead in gasoline, soil, and construction
  materials has contributed to the problem.
• 16 of American children have blood lead levels
  in the neurotoxic range.
• Behavioral cognitive factors most affected by
  lead are language functioning, distractibility,
  and attention span.
• Lead exposure may also be linked to learning
  disabilities and ADHD problems.

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Assessment and Children with Disabilities

• Defining aspects of special education
• Regulations and Procedures
• Categories percentages of enrollment

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• Defining aspects, Regulations, Procedures
• Special education provides a free and
  appropriate education for every child with
  disabilities between the ages of 3 and 21.
• Policies for special ed. testing and referral
  are determined by federal and state laws. Some
  of the requirements which are mandated by IDEA
  include
• All children with disabilities have the right to
  the least restrictive environment and should be
  mainstreamed into the regular classroom when
  possible.
• Each child with disabilities should have an IEP
• All assessments used to measure, diagnose, or
  place children with disabilities must be free
  from racial or cultural bias.
• The final decision for placement will be made by
  a
  
  multidisciplinary team composed of teachers,
  administrators, school psychologists, and the
  parents.
• Helpful website
  http//www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/Policy/IDEA

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Assessment and Education for At-Risk Children

• The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
  (IDEA) of 1997 governs the field of special
  education and children who are at risk or
  disabled, especially children under the age of 3.
• Leads to the establishment of an individual
  family services plan, which specifies
  interventions and timelines for the child. It
  also details the types of placement and services
  to be provided.
• Head Start is one of the best known programs,
  beginning in 1965, for low-income preschool
  children.

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Special Education Categories

• Learning disabilities account for over half of
  all placements.
• Speech impairments account for nearly 20 of
  placements.
• Mentally retarded account for 11.
• Emotionally disturbed account for 8, which makes
  it the 4th largest category of special ed.
  Placements.
• These four account for nearly 90 of the 5.5
  million children who receive special ed. in U.S.
  schools, according to the U.S. Dept. of
  Education in 2000.
• Remaining categories of special education
  enrollment include
• hearing impaired (1.27)
  
• visually impaired
  (0.47),
• orthopedically impaired
  (1.25),
• other health impaired
  (3.98),
• deaf/blind (0.02),
• multiple disabilities
  (1.94),
• traumatic brain
  injury (0.23),
• autism (0.96)
• developmentally delayed
  (0.21).

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Major Special Education Categories

• Speech Impairments
• Mental Retardation
• Learning Disabilities
• Emotionally Disturbed
• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

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Diagnostic Characteristics

• Speech Impairments
• The two major types of speech disorders that
  occur in school-age children are articulation
  disorders and stuttering.
• Articulation disorders, a.k.a. phonological
  disorders, are present when a person fails to
  correctly express proper speech sounds or
  phonemes. Children may mispronounce, substitute,
  or omit the proper sounds altogether. This
  almost always involves consonant sounds, like
  r,s,z,sh,th,f,l, and ch.
• More common in males than females.

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Mental Retardation

• Defined by having significantly below-average
  intellectual performance and accompanying
  difficulties in adaptive functioning in ones
  social environment (Banks, 2005).
• To be diagnosed as MR, an individual must have a
  deficit in the level of adaptive functioning,
  which is the ability to complete tasks of daily
  living or the in classroom, successfully.
• Categories of Mental Retardation
• Mild- 55 to 70 IQ
• Moderate- 40 to 55 IQ
• Severe- 25 to 40 IQ
• Profound- Below 25 IQ

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Learning Disabilities

• Learning Disabilities, as defined by the
  National Joint Committee on Learning
  Disabilities, is a generic term that refers to a
  heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by
  significant difficulties in the acquisition and
  use of listening, speaking, reading, writing,
  reasoning, or mathematical abilities. These
  disorders are intrinsic to the individual and
  presumed to be due to central nervous system
  dysfunction.
• Learning disabilities seem to affect between 5
  and 10 percent of young children. There is great
  debate over what causes learning disabilities,
  but there is no one single cause.
• Considerably more common in males.
• Childhood exposure to lead, brain accidents,
  and brain trauma during birth or early childhood
  appear to relate to the onset of some LDs.
• The most common type of LD is
  language-related, sometimes referred to as
  dyslexia.
• At least 3 times more common in males.

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Emotionally Disturbed

• The emotionally disturbed include a range
  of responses characterized by a childs
  degree of departure from socially appropriate
  norms.
• Manifestations of emotional disorders
  include
• A general, pervasive mood of unhappiness or
  depression.
• An inability to build and maintain interpersonal
  relationships with peers or teachers.
• Overly aggressive behavior, including antisocial
  acts.
• Frequent displays of anxiety or inferiority.

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Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

• Characterized by frequent displays of
  developmentally inappropriate levels of
  inattention, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity.
• Signs of ADHD
• 1. Persistent failure to attend to details
• 2. Poor attention span in classroom or play
  activities
• 3. Trouble following teacher instructions
• 4. Problems organizing classroom work/meeting
  deadlines
• 5. Distracted and forgetful about classroom
  assignments
• 6. Constantly fidgeting and squirming during
  activities
• 7. Inappropriate behavior, such as leaving seat,
  running, talking out of turn
• 8. Problems playing with peers/following rules
  for activities

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Other Assessment Issues

• Two assessment practices in the special education
  field are functional assessment and assessment
  accommodations.
• Functional assessments examine a students
  classroom behavior to determine what is the
  purpose or function of certain behaviors.
  Typically requires classroom observations of the
  behavior, teacher interviews, parental
  interviews, school record reviews, and behavior
  ratings scales.
• Assessment accommodations are mandated by the
  IDEA. Two basic types for children with
  disabilities assistive technology and
  conventional accommodations.

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Assistive Technology

• Any type of technological device that can aid
  children with disabilities in the learning or
  assessment process.
• One example,Dyna Vox, is a communication aid
  used to create and send messages electronically
  w/ a simple touch, for students with severe
  speech impairments.

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Conventional Accommodations

• Include a variety of nontechnological
  accommodations that serve to facilitate the
  assessment of children with disabilities.
• Extra time on assessments is one of the most
  frequently used type of conventional
  accommodation.
• Other accommodations can include using tutors to
  read text aloud, administering tests in shortened
  segments spaced with breaks, and an isolated
  assessment situation.

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The End