To begin my search for answersI conducted a Google search for information regarding ESL students who have disabilities. My search led me to an article titled "Learning Disability or Language Development Issue?" (http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/special_education.php) by Susan Litt. In this article, the author tackles the question of what to do if you suspect that an ESL student may have a learning disability. She begins by outlining the preferral process and the steps that must be taken, such as identifying the problem, presenting it to the IR&S committee at a meeting attended by the ESL teacher, the classroom teacher, and the parents, as well as developing an action plan and follow-up. The article goes on to discuss further steps and strategies that will help to identify the special education needs of ESL students. Specifically the article states that ESL students should be tested in their own language and that it is the legal responsibility of the school to provide and administer tests in the child's native language. This statement makes me wonder what should be done if the student cannot read nor write in their native language or their second language? Are the tests administered orally? I will have to investigate this further...
I found it interesting that the article suggests using a portfolio assessment with input from the child's ESL teacher, classroom teacher, and family as the basis for assessment. Litt states that assessment should take into account the many aspects of the ESL student's life, such as the length of time they have lived in the U.S., their emotional well-being, and their caregivers. I agree that the assessment process should take a more holistic approach because it would offer a more accurate picture of the child and their individual needs. I feel like this should be the process for identifying the needs of any child, not just those for whom English is a second language.
The article also discusses the importance of determining language dominance and proficiency and that the screening process take place in both of the child's languages. This process requires the input of the family to compile a family history regarding the child's language abilities, such as whether the child attended school in the native speaking country, and which the child best expresses themselves in. I think this may be hard to do though if the parents do not speak the child's second language. The child would likely not speak English at home because he/she would not be able to communicate with their parents if they do not speak English.
Overall I found this article to be an informative resource and a good starting place for my quest for answers about ESL students with disabilities.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThis is great. It is one thing to focus strictly on children with disabilities, but it is a completely different story when the individual in question is an English language learner. Your resources look very useful and your questions set the stage for some great inquiry. You are definitely on track here--keep it up.
Gabe
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI was particularly interested in the thought that the evaluation should take place in both languages. My initial reaction was that when you do this you would then find the dominate language. After additional consideration of the comment that a student may have a larger vocabulary in L2 and a stronger grammar in L1, the assessment then appears to be more complicated then I originally thought. I find this similar to the SAT and ACT college assessment where college will accept the highest score, but in this case they do not evaluate the strengths of the individual within each test.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI was aware that legally you had to test the student in their native language, however, I had never thought about what would happen if the child was unable to read/write in their native language. It would be a good idea to test them verbally, however, how could you document their reading and writing abilities?