Interview about Special Ed Referrals with a 4th Grade Public School Teacher

Val Schwarz, a no-nonsense fourth grade teacher at Mary Munford Elementary School in Richmond, Virgina, is very passionate about her teaching and her students.  She keeps the students on a schedule, yet she is fun and gets them outside for dodge ball and kick ball as much as she possibly can.  I sat down to interview her a day after school was out of session, so her commitment to the field is also admirable as you'll see.

When asked how she identified a student for special education, she answered that she looks for a significant gap with a subject or skill.  She says sometimes the difficulty will be related to handwriting and organizational skills. The gap can also present itself in a way that the student seems to know more in class than what he/she can show on an assessment.

As for what the signs of a struggling student are, the signs could be with organization and knowing how to get started with a task, a low reading level, spelling difficulties, organization on a page, difficulty grasping concepts despite presenting the information in many different ways.  Ms. Schwarz says another sign is trouble remembering some basic general knowledge: place value from lower grades, months of the year, number sense, addition and subtraction by 1, 2, 5 or 10.

She said additional signs could be related to social skills, immaturity, and focusing difficulties.

As for trying out alternative methods before referring, Ms. Schwarz says she always tries alternate strategies and accommodations before, during and after the referral process begins.  It takes a while to complete the process, so the teacher needs to try new approaches to  help the child.

Also, she says, if you haven't tried accommodations and alternative approaches, the child study team will likely have you begin there, before even looking at evaluating the child.

Additionally, students typically need to be earning D's and F's in order to have a chance of getting services.

(Note:  After I had already interviewed my 4th grade teacher, the special ed administrator, Kelli Parson, came back to me and gave me a couple of questions to ask the classroom teacher:  (1) Tell me about the RTI procedures or what type of remediation must be documented before you can make a special education referral, and (2) tell me about modifications that you make for children in your class that are identified as having special needs).

We've talked often in our Virtual Classroom and Learning Forum about modifying the classroom to fit the students' needs, so I understood her want to ask this question.  Personally, I've seen Ms. Schwarz make some modifications in her class for her SPED students (such as moving desks closer to her or out of the middle of the craziness of the 22-student classroom), playing classical musical in the class which I know one of her SPED students loves and is known to calm his nerves, etc...

I enjoyed this interview with the Mary Munford teacher as I usually work with them on a PTA Board basis, so some of them being excited and willing to help me through my education process is overwhelmingly special.

Thanks for the opportunity for the interview.

-Amanda Patterson