Tate J.

Hedtke

SPED 608

Assignment #3

Standard # 7

Cross Categorical Special Education/ Learning Disabilities

Artifact Summary:

The following is an overview of the IEP process, and the role of a special education teacher in its
development. The process starts before the school year, and involves organization and planning
in order to ensure all deadlines are met, and accommodations are provided for every student in
the appropriate setting.
 Being an IEP manager for special education students can be difficult at times. Not only

do we have students with learning disabilities, not only will could our students have emotional or

behavioral disorders, they could have both of those issues combined with traumatic brain injuries

and cognitive disorders. With large caseloads, it can be difficult for special education teachers to

spread themselves amongst their students and adequately serve their constituents.

With all of the different abilities and difficulties of special education students, things are

not made easy on the special education teacher. As a high school cross categorical special

education teacher whom works primarily with learning disabled individuals, they are integrated

into the regular education setting, while I teach primarily pull out classes. It can be very time

demanding to chase students around the building while keeping them up to date on their grades,

scheduling testing and ensuring their IEP goals are being met. It can be even more difficult with

the way IEP timelines are staggered throughout the school year. One needs to be extremely

organized, and diligent in order to assure students are assessed and reevaluated in a timely

manner in order to maintain accurate individualized education plan (IEP) requirements.

A teacher begins their year by reviewing all of their students IEPs, and compiling a list

of accommodations entitled to each individual. These lists must be shared with a students

regular education teachers in order to ensure an individuals needs are being met from day one. I

would also recommend a special education teacher establishes a testing schedule for their

caseload in order to allow adequate testing time, and gaps between testing in order to fulfill IEP

meetings.
 Testing is required in order to observe a snapshot of an individuals intellectual and

academic abilities. While there may be scores of tests which need to be run on a special

education student, typically the only types of testing an IEP case manager will facilitate are the

Woodcock Johnson IV test, or another type of academic functional level testing for those with

cognitive delays. These tests are crucial in order to determine which areas an individual has

delays in and needs additional accommodations. Students with emotional disorders may be

given surveys and tests as well in order to accommodate behavioral issues, and those with

extreme delays may be testing using a daily living skills test in order to determine what that

individual is capable of doing on their own. Also, these tests are required by law for three year

evaluations in order to determine eligibility in a special education program. These tests can also

be used in order to judge a students growth over the years.

The Woodcock Johnson test is not an extremely difficult one for an educator to facilitate,

it is however time consuming. At the high school level, students do not typically have large

amounts of free time throughout the day, nor do certified staff. This can cause stress on students

and staff alike as they are forced to miss class time, and inevitably fall behind either their

instruction, or learning.

Another type of testing becoming more and more prevalent in Wisconsin schools is the

introduction of ACT testing. Now, all freshmen sophomores and juniors will undergo some type

of assessment during the course of the school day, even the ACT. This adds additional

responsibility to educators as they are now required to administer additional standardized testing

for the state. Teachers are forced to miss instructional time, and students will also miss time in

the classroom.
 Instructional techniques can vary widely in the special education field. An educator can

spend their day teaching daily living skills such as hand washing, bath-rooming, and eating or

could be accommodating a junior level chemistry class. Typical instructional techniques for a

cross categorical special education teacher include in class modifications and support. These

students need only a bit of additional support such as having tests read, or perhaps being pulled

from a classroom during independent work time. These students have delays in their math and

reading abilities, which can affect them in any area of their academia.

Another area of instructional support of a special education teacher, or assistant for that

matter is the facilitation of accommodations during regular classroom assessments. Often times

students are pulled out of the regular education classroom to another, quieter environment during

tests and quizzes. These accommodations are the direct result of the IEP, and are often times

ridiculed by regular education student and at times regular education teachers. It has been said

that students are given the answers, or spoon fed during these sessions. It is a major point of

frustration and confusion between regular education and special education staff and students.

During these sessions, special education teachers read the tests, and explain the questions. No

answers on the test are given, the tests are simply read in a different way. Special education

students commonly have difficulties with academic vocabulary and memory which can lead to

extreme difficulties and frustrations on tests. Simply rewording questions, or explaining things

in a different way can lead to the success of a student with delays in vocabulary and retention.

The process of writing an IEP for a student requires not only a large amount of

background knowledge on a student, but a large amount of knowledge of special education

students and involvement of the parent and student alike. All too often in my experience parents

of special education students are not involved in the process of writing an IEP, and therefore it
can be difficult to pinpoint the strengths, weaknesses, and worries of a student. Special

education teachers need to be very humble, and yet forward with regular education staff while

compiling their observations of special education students in order to create an effective list of

accommodations for that student.

The process does not end with the creation of an IEP however. Sped teachers need to be

constantly monitoring their students grades. They need to be in constant communication with

their parents as well as their teachers. They need to be constantly ensuring the appropriate

accommodations are being offered to the individuals in order to compensate for the individuals

delays. All of these things combined equate to an average day for the special education teacher,

and hopefully, the success of a disabled student.