The Three-Tiered Identification Process

Before a child can be referred for evaluation for special education services, school personnel are required to show evidence of implementation of appropriate interventions that have had little or no impact on the child’s current educational progress. The term “response to intervention” (RTI) signifies that the student has been identified as being evaluated on one of the following three tiers of intervention. Tier 1 indicates that the student is not progressing satisfactorily. The student then moves through each successive tier (Tiers 2 and 3) until he or she has been successful (Mellard, 2005). If, at the end of Tier 3 intervention implementation, the student is still struggling, he or she will be referred for a formal eligibility evaluation under the requirements of IDEA 2004 (Harader & Fullwood, 2010). Federal legislation requires that all schools receiving federal funding follow specific procedures in assessing children who have been referred to the IEP team for a comprehensive evaluation. The steps in this evaluation process, according to the New York State Department of Education’s (2009) guide for parents, are the following: • Referral • Evaluation • Eligibility • IEP • Placement • Instruction • Annual review The guide describes each step, with clear guidelines for parents regarding how to exercise their own and their child’s rights to an appropriate educational placement. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires agencies to provide information regarding federal and state laws on their websites; these can be found through the department of education or education agency for each state, as well as through U.S. Government websites. The information is presented in a user-friendly description of the special education process in order to provide parents with the knowledge they need to ensure that appropriate educational programs are provided for their children with special needs. Involvement of the parents is basic to the various procedures, beginning with the referral, which requires written parental consent before the evaluation can proceed. Components of a Comprehensive Evaluation Once a request for an evaluation has been received, the IEP team has met, and the parents have given their written consent, a team of specialists prepares a comprehensive assessment of the child’s skills and abilities. IDEA 2004 states that to conduct the full individual evaluation, a local education agency (LEA) must “use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, developmental, and academic information, including information provided by the parent” (NICHCY, 2010). It also states that (1) the LEA must “not use any single measure or assessment as the sole criterion for determining whether a child has a disability or for determining an appropriate educational program for the child,” and (2) it must “use technically sound instruments that may assess the relative contribution of cognitive and behavioral factors, in addition to physical or developmental factors.” The components of a full individual evaluation are outlined in Table 9.2. The IEP team arranges to obtain the necessary information through a variety of assessment tools and strategies within 60 days of receiving written parental consent for evaluation and to schedule discussion of these findings at an IEP team meeting, in which the district must make every effort to ensure parental participation. The goal of the evaluation is to arrive at a recommendation that summarizes a child’s present level of educational performance, establishes educational goals and objectives for each school year, describes program components needed to meet these
A child may be found ineligible for special education when the IEP team finds that the student cannot be identified as having one of the disabling conditions defined in Table 9.1. Such “ineligible” children may, however, qualify for a variety of educationally related support services (e.g., short-term counseling or speech– language improvement services) through Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Under Section 504, “‘no qualified individual with a disability shall be excluded from, denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under’ any program or activity that either receives Federal financial assistance or is conducted by an Executive agency of the United States Postal Service” (U.S. Department of Justice, 2009, p. 19). FAPE means the provision of general or special education and related aids and services designed to meet the student’s individual educational needs as adequately as the needs of nondisabled students are met. According to the U.S. Department of Education, an appropriate education for “a student with a disability under the Section 504 regulations could consist of education in regular classrooms, education in regular classes with supplementary services, and/or special education and related services” (Office for Civil Rights, 2009). These services may be developed and implemented through a “504 plan.” On the other hand, when a child is found to be eligible for special education services, the IEP should detail the specific nature of the recommended educational placements, accommodations, modifications, and related services, following the principle of LRE. For example, if a child’s abilities in a specific area (e.g., math) qualify him or her to participate in a “regular,” or general education, math class, this placement must be implemented. Special class instruction, when indicated, will specify conditions such as student–teacher ratio, accommodations and modifications required, supplementary aids and services to be included, related services to be provided, and teacher training required, along with the student being grouped according to the similarity of his or her learning needs to those of other children. The Role of the Social Worker in Special Education Some school social workers work primarily or exclusively in special education programs, but the job descriptions of most school social workers include working both with children who have been classified as disabled and with children in the general school population. The specific responsibilities of the social worker related to special education include contact with parents; counseling parents through the evaluation period (and afterward, when indicated); obtaining and writing children’s social histories; participating in IEP team meetings; advocating for the children; and working with the teachers, special education staff, building administrator, and families to implement the goals of children’s IEPs. Sometimes the social worker provides individual counseling with a child and/or parent or family counseling (which may include home visits). In addition, the worker may provide group interventions with children, as well as with parents who have similar needs. In summary, the role and functions of the social worker in special education programs are similar to those of any school social worker. However, the special education social worker must also have specialized knowledge regarding disability categories and procedures, as well as the skill and sensitivity to implement this  knowledge with other professionals and with parents. Some of these functions are illustrated in the following case, which is a composite of typical cases.
THE CASE OF PEDRO, AGE 7 Family Information Family Members in the Child’s Household Paternal grandmother Mrs. Lopez, age mid-60s. Father Mr. Lopez, age 30; itinerant construction worker. Child client Pedro, age 7, first grade (see the following for details of classification and educational placement). Other Family Members Mother (deceased) Anna, died abruptly of complications from a heart attack when Pedro was 4. This is a South American family. Mr. Lopez immigrated to the United States from Ecuador when he was 22 years old, settling in New York. He met and married Anna 2 years later, and Pedro was born a year after that. There was considerable discord in the marriage, and on several occasions Mrs. Lopez left, taking Pedro with her to live with her parents in Florida. Anna was a native of Peru and was bilingual in Spanish and English, as was Mr. Lopez. The couple spoke to each other and to Pedro in English. Pedro had exposure to Spanish and learned to speak it during his first 3 years, when he visited his maternal grandparents’ home. Shortly after the Lopezes’ last reconciliation, Anna died in her sleep from a heart attack. Pedro, then age 4, had been sleeping with her at the time. When Mrs. Lopez’s body was discovered late the next morning, Pedro was found lying on the bed in a fetal position, crying. Within a month, Mr. Lopez took Pedro back to Ecuador, where they would both have the support of his family. While there, Pedro began attending the Spanishspeaking local school. Mr. Lopez stayed with Pedro for several months and then returned to the United States to work, leaving his son with his parents. Pedro spent a total of 2 years in Ecuador with his grandparents, and Mr. Lopez visited periodically. Tragically, the area in which they lived was struck by an earthquake, and Pedro witnessed the devastation of his school and community. A month later, Mr. Lopez brought his mother and Pedro back to the United States to live. Presenting Problem Soon after returning to the United States with Pedro, Mr. Lopez went to the neighborhood school and asked to speak to someone about his son, whom he had just registered for the new school year. He was referred to the school social worker and the school psychologist. Mr. Lopez was proactive in apprising the school of his son’s unusual and traumatic history in anticipation that he would have special needs. Mr. Lopez also reported significant difficulties with Pedro’s behavior at home. He described his son as extremely hyperactive, with difficulty sleeping at night, very finicky eating habits, and disturbing oppositional behavior. Pedro became easily frustrated and physically aggressive (throwing himself and/or objects to the floor) when he did not get his way. Furthermore, he rarely spoke or made eye contact.