Why more focus on ELL than special education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school gets money for ESOL. Our children are U.S. born but school insisted on keeping them in ESOL for money-which they indicated multiple times. One child was special ed.-significant push back on getting services under IEP. School just did not care.

Where did those additional funds come from? I have seen paperwork for Medicaid for severely disabled children, but nothing for ELL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school gets money for ESOL. Our children are U.S. born but school insisted on keeping them in ESOL for money-which they indicated multiple times. One child was special ed.-significant push back on getting services under IEP. School just did not care.

Where did those additional funds come from? I have seen paperwork for Medicaid for severely disabled children, but nothing for ELL.

The school does not get money for ESOL. The school does get money for FARMs students in that if school meets a certain percentage they get title 1 status which means extra resources. I have never heard of schools or school systems getting money for ESOL kids. Maybe they were referring to their teacher allocation which is based on the number of ELLs and their ESOL levels in a school (at least in mcps). But not money. I don’t know why they would discuss that with you though. It’s always ultimately the parents’ decision to not have their child receive ESOL services even if we don’t necessarily agree with it. —ESOL teacher

[Anonymous]

Another dyslexia mom here- I am part of Decoding Dyslexia and we have managed to get a lot of universal screening legislation passed.

But the teacher’s comment made me wonder- how can we better engage teachers? I have to admit I have been very frustrated with the teachers in my child’s schools who have said things like:
-she can’t be dyslexic, she’s too smart will defend it to the death
-don’t waste your money on a private assessment, you can’t diagnose dyslexia before 3rd grade
-we have to do 1 year of this inappropriate reading intervention before we can implement an OG program (the only kind that works)
-and the whole language nonsense that has taken over the colleges of education and yet is ineffective for so many learners, but those people will defend it against any research because they’ve seen it work

So how can we break through to those teachers?

Our local dyslexia advocacy group has some teachers but even they say their colleagues are very close-minded about the science of reading.

Should we fund scholarships for OG training to give them a lucrative tutoring sideline? Do we need to start with admins? Do we need to get to the universities first?

[Anonymous]

If Sped students are getting more resources and help it's likely because parents of Sped students are more vocal and willing and able to advocate for their kids than the typical ELL parents are. Often ELL families are also low income whereas this is not true of Sped students. Sped kids come from all socioeconomic households.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another dyslexia mom here- I am part of Decoding Dyslexia and we have managed to get a lot of universal screening legislation passed.
Our local dyslexia advocacy group has some teachers but even they say their colleagues are very close-minded about the science of reading.

I don't know of one single teacher who is close minded against the science of reading. Not one. Perhaps where you are though you are seeing teachers who cannot support this one tiny piece of reading science because their districts don't support it? In any case, the gen ed teacher won't ever be the one to deliver OG instruction. That's a special education need and you need to work with the sped office. GL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Sped students are getting more resources and help it's likely because parents of Sped students are more vocal and willing and able to advocate for their kids than the typical ELL parents are. Often ELL families are also low income whereas this is not true of Sped students. Sped kids come from all socioeconomic households.

We forget that in Bethesda, CCMD, and Potomac, there are MC and UMC ELLs. Most are from Israel, the former Soviet Union, and East Asia, but there are some who are Spanish speaking as well. And quite a few of those students are embassy kids who stay a year or two before returning to their home country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another dyslexia mom here- I am part of Decoding Dyslexia and we have managed to get a lot of universal screening legislation passed.
Our local dyslexia advocacy group has some teachers but even they say their colleagues are very close-minded about the science of reading.

I don't know of one single teacher who is close minded against the science of reading. Not one. Perhaps where you are though you are seeing teachers who cannot support this one tiny piece of reading science because their districts don't support it? In any case, the gen ed teacher won't ever be the one to deliver OG instruction. That's a special education need and you need to work with the sped office. GL.

Actually it is really critical that all teachers in elementary schools are familiar with dyslexia (prevalence, signs, age it can be identified) so they can refer students for evaluation. And regular teachers can absolutely teach reading in a universally effective way with systematic phonics as in the Wilson Fundations curriculum which works for all learners. Dyslexic kids will definitely need additional support through special education resources. But with knowledge teachers can better support/ accommodate their dyslexic kids as they catch up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Sped students are getting more resources and help it's likely because parents of Sped students are more vocal and willing and able to advocate for their kids than the typical ELL parents are. Often ELL families are also low income whereas this is not true of Sped students. Sped kids come from all socioeconomic households.

We forget that in Bethesda, CCMD, and Potomac, there are MC and UMC ELLs. Most are from Israel, the former Soviet Union, and East Asia, but there are some who are Spanish speaking as well. And quite a few of those students are embassy kids who stay a year or two before returning to their home country.

Why on earth wouldn’t these kids go to an international school taught in their language? That is what most corporate expat families do overseas. Private school tuition is part of the compensation package.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another dyslexia mom here- I am part of Decoding Dyslexia and we have managed to get a lot of universal screening legislation passed.
Our local dyslexia advocacy group has some teachers but even they say their colleagues are very close-minded about the science of reading.

I don't know of one single teacher who is close minded against the science of reading. Not one. Perhaps where you are though you are seeing teachers who cannot support this one tiny piece of reading science because their districts don't support it? In any case, the gen ed teacher won't ever be the one to deliver OG instruction. That's a special education need and you need to work with the sped office. GL.

Actually it is really critical that all teachers in elementary schools are familiar with dyslexia (prevalence, signs, age it can be identified) so they can refer students for evaluation. And regular teachers can absolutely teach reading in a universally effective way with systematic phonics as in the Wilson Fundations curriculum which works for all learners. Dyslexic kids will definitely need additional support through special education resources. But with knowledge teachers can better support/ accommodate their dyslexic kids as they catch up.

I can agree with some of what you are saying. Yes, as a gen ed teacher who really cares about my work, I do want to support all my students. Currently I am in a school with ZERO reading curriculum. Fortunately, I have a lot of reading training and have put in a lot of hours over the past number of years essentially creating my own curriculum. I do spend a LOT of time on phonics, balanced with heavy reading comprehension, fluency and more. That is what the Fountas and Pinnell tests require. I rarely end up with a kid who doesn't have the phonics piece of it down pat. And by rarely, I can think of 3-4 kids over the past 10 years. Two were kids who came in with no English whatsoever and were overwhelmed, one had 50 absences in a year and another had some kind of learning disability. Yes, I provided appropriate RTI. Yes, I documented everything. And yes, I referred the child for a sped evaluation based on him not responding to RTI over 18 weeks of additional support.
But I do reject this idea that teachers in general are not using research and science based methods in their teaching. Maybe a handful of teachers aren't, but all the ones I know are.
And hey, if you can convince districts to purchase curriculum, more power to you. The teachers in my district beg every year, but really it comes down to money. I have no idea where they are spending it, but it isn't on curriculum. They did buy it for one subject area, but it was the cheapest one they could find. Fundations, if I recall, is expensive. Perhaps a wealthier district will buy it for their students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Sped students are getting more resources and help it's likely because parents of Sped students are more vocal and willing and able to advocate for their kids than the typical ELL parents are. Often ELL families are also low income whereas this is not true of Sped students. Sped kids come from all socioeconomic households.

We forget that in Bethesda, CCMD, and Potomac, there are MC and UMC ELLs. Most are from Israel, the former Soviet Union, and East Asia, but there are some who are Spanish speaking as well. And quite a few of those students are embassy kids who stay a year or two before returning to their home country.

Why on earth wouldn’t these kids go to an international school taught in their language? That is what most corporate expat families do overseas. Private school tuition is part of the compensation package.

I don’t know why this particular families chose MCPS, but they do. Tilden MS has Japanese and Israeli ESOL students in notable numbers.

[Anonymous]

Wait- naive parent here- there isn’t a reading curriculum/ textbooks provided to teachers? What county/ district is this? I definitely want to ask more about this one.

Where does the money go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait- naive parent here- there isn’t a reading curriculum/ textbooks provided to teachers? What county/ district is this? I definitely want to ask more about this one.

Where does the money go?

I am the teacher who stated we do not have a reading curriculum. I won't say what district. I can tell you that this is something worth asking about before purchasing a home anywhere. Talk to the principal. Ask him or her to name specifically which curriculum is provided for each subject area. Then, ask a trusted teacher in that district if they are telling the truth. I'm dead serious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Sped students are getting more resources and help it's likely because parents of Sped students are more vocal and willing and able to advocate for their kids than the typical ELL parents are. Often ELL families are also low income whereas this is not true of Sped students. Sped kids come from all socioeconomic households.

We forget that in Bethesda, CCMD, and Potomac, there are MC and UMC ELLs. Most are from Israel, the former Soviet Union, and East Asia, but there are some who are Spanish speaking as well. And quite a few of those students are embassy kids who stay a year or two before returning to their home country.

Almost without exception kids who are embassy or foreign service kids from other countries already speak English quite well when they get here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Sped students are getting more resources and help it's likely because parents of Sped students are more vocal and willing and able to advocate for their kids than the typical ELL parents are. Often ELL families are also low income whereas this is not true of Sped students. Sped kids come from all socioeconomic households.

We forget that in Bethesda, CCMD, and Potomac, there are MC and UMC ELLs. Most are from Israel, the former Soviet Union, and East Asia, but there are some who are Spanish speaking as well. And quite a few of those students are embassy kids who stay a year or two before returning to their home country.

Almost without exception kids who are embassy or foreign service kids from other countries already speak English quite well when they get here.

Can’t speak to all embassy kids, but I must have gotten all the exceptions every year as ESOL 2s.