SPECIAL EDUCATION, ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS, & COLLABORATION

During the 2012- 2013 academic school year, in the Northshore school district , 2660 students with disabilities were served by Special Education services, and 5.4% of the Northshore student population was classified as English Language Learners. (Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction). Understanding the basic foundation and history of special education and English language development programs, can assist an educator, in better serving the needs of a diversified classroom.

According to the Federal Government, special education is composed of three major pieces. First, the unique needs of a student with a disability, must be met through individualized instruction, with no cost to the parent/guardian(s). Second, special education must include related services, which are defined as various types of support that, assist students with disabilities access education. In other words, a related service makes education accessible to students with disabilities (e.g. school bus with a wheelchair lift, an elevator, wheelchair ramp, etc.) (Friend, 2014, p. 5). And finally, students with disabilities must be given access to supplementary aids and services, an example of a supplementary aid or service is a computer software that transcribes a lecture, an ASL interpreter, etc. (Friend, 2014, p7).

Special education is the vehicle through which students with disabilities receive an individualized education, and it ensures the proper supports are in place for the student to reach their learning potential. In the same regard, English language development programs support English Language Learners (ELL) so they don’t fall behind in their general education while acquiring English proficiency. To further understand English...

... middle of paper ...

...ure, the lecture notes can then be uploaded to a Learning Management System (Canvas, Blackboard, etc.) for student with disabilities or even all students to use a reference material. Another technology that could be evaluated is the use of video recording hardware and software. Lectures can be videotaped and then posted to a LMS for future reference.

And, finally evaluation and next steps. Each individual on the multidisciplinary team, will complete a unique evaluation form. Then collectively as a team, they will discuss their individual assessment, and as team recommend next steps. The team can deem a technology not suitable, or recommend for further evaluation, or recommend for implementation. If recommend for implementation, the teams recommendation and evaluations will be forwarded to the Disabilities Services team for final review and financial approval.