English learners with disabilities, also referred to as dually identified or dually coded students, have the right to both language development services and special education services.
But English-language-development teachers don’t always participate in individualized education program meetings. And when ELD teachers get access to a finalized IEP, they may not know how to best use it.
That’s why instructional specialists and ELD teachers from Maryland’s Montgomery County district presented at the annual WIDA conference this September on how fellow ELD teachers can understand key components of IEPs to ensure English learners with disabilities get consistent, predictable services and instruction throughout the school day.
“It is your right to have an IEP summary, and in my opinion, it is your responsibility,” said John Ladesic, an instructional specialist in the K-12 ELD department in Montgomery County, at the conference. “We are all expecting teachers to be language teachers, so I’m going to ask you all to jump aboard the special ed. train and consider yourselves special educators as well.”
ELD teachers play a critical role in IEP meetings
Ideally, ELD teachers participate in IEP meetings by providing language-assessment data, such as WIDA ACCESS test scores, and explaining the results to parents so they can understand where their students are and where they are headed in English-language proficiency, Ladesic said.
These teachers can also provide context as to how and whether dually identified students can meet an IEP goal given their language needs. By participating in IEP meetings, ELD teachers can better coordinate with special education and general education colleagues on how to provide needed services.
Yet both educators and researchers say they often hear the refrain that special education trumps English-language development, which can at times lead to students remaining in English-learner status for much longer than needed or expected. Priority can be given to special education due to scheduling restraints that limit students’ access to needed language services, researchers have said. If ELD teachers can’t participate in IEP meetings, Ladesic encourages them to still request and review IEP summaries or snapshots so they can ensure consistency and align what they are working on with dually identified students.
Doing so can even be as simple as making sure predetermined supplementary supports are used by all teachers.
Ladesic recalled once having a dually identified student who was fixed on sitting on a red cube chair. Without prior knowledge of this, Ladesic had the student sit on a yellow cube chair.
Had Ladesic known about the supplementary aid, he could have saved the student from a three-hour meltdown that day.
ELD teachers can align language instruction to IEP goals
At the WIDA conference, Ladesic reviewed some of the key components of IEP summaries that ELD teachers should familiarize themselves with if they haven’t already:
- Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance, which builds a narrative for dual coded students in a way that a report card cannot;
- Special considerations, including whether a student must travel with a special device;
- Accommodations, which may sometimes overlap with accommodations set in an English-learner plan;
- Supplementary aids; and
- Goals and objectives, where the former is an overarching target and the latter are steps taken toward that goal.
Once ELD teachers understand what information an IEP contains, they can better understand how IEP goals work alongside content and language standards.
Christi Kim, an instructional specialist in the Montgomery County district, walked session participants through an example.
Student A may have an IEP academic goal of demonstrating “improved written expression skills, including the ability to articulate ideas coherently, organize thoughts logically, and provide clear reasons and evidence to support written arguments or explanations.”
An objective could be that “by the end of the first quarter, when given a graphic organizer and a writing prompt, the student will compose a paragraph that includes a clear topic sentence and at least two supporting details.”
Student A’s WIDA language proficiency assessment data shows that they’re strong in listening and reading but can improve in their speaking and writing.
The ELD teacher can then focus on building written expression skills in their language instruction.
What ELD teachers need to keep in mind in all this is “how can we engage in grade-level content planning that integrates language instruction, all in support of the IEP goals,” Kim said.
Family engagement matters
Collaboration, consistency, and alignment aren’t limited to work between teachers and students during the school day.
Johanna Ortega, an ELD teacher in the Maryland district, who presented alongside Ladesic and Kim at the WIDA conference,, spoke about the unique considerations at play when working with families of English learners with disabilities, especially those from immigrant backgrounds.
Ortega works at a school where students have alternative learning outcomes, are certificate bound rather than diploma bound, and receive transition services after schooling is finished at age 21.
Sometimes schools enroll students with medical conditions that prevented them from attending school in their home country. As a result, even when provided with an interpreter, parents may still be hesitant to bring their child to school.
“Communicating with parents will help us learn students’ home behavior, their hidden challenges and strengths, and cultural background,” Ortega said.
It’s important to know how a student communicates at home, instill in families why they should set high expectations for their students, and demonstrate how the school will help meet them.
“We have to work to break the language barriers and build trust,” Ortega added.
