Shadow for ESL student?

[Anonymous]

There's a boy in my son's kindergarten class that is a recent immigrant that arrived speaking zero English. He seems to have a para-educator of some sort that is with him all day, every day. Is this normal for ESL? Or is this probably because he also has some special needs? I guess I should MMOB, but I'm curious -- my son was complaining about something the child had done, and I told him to cut him a break because it must be so hard for him not speaking any English, but then my son told me about the woman that is always with the child in the classroom which made me wonder if there was maybe something else going on beside the language barrier.

[Anonymous]

Elementary ESOL teacher here. That is not typical for an ESOL student. I've only seen this for special needs. Maybe the school decided to dedicate a para educator to this student for the transition period. We have never done that at our school, but different schools may allocate staff in different ways to meet the needs of the students.

[Anonymous]

More than likely, he has significant special needs in addition to not speaking English.

-administrator

[Anonymous]

Another ESOL teacher here, in MCPS. We are really stretched right now, so it seems doubtful that this student has a "shadow" based solely on not speaking English. Young students pick up survival English pretty quickly, and kindergarten is a pretty friendly place for a beginning ESOL student (read-alouds, drawing/coloring, hands on activities).

Could this woman be his mother? If she is a known para, and is with him all day, my bet would be on him having some special needs. Good for you for encouraging compassion in your son!

[Anonymous]

Another ESOL teacher here. Very doubtful he has a shadow just because he is an ESOL student. We barely have shadows needed for students whose IEPs require them.

[Anonymous]

Op here--it does appear to be a SN situation. Came up because I asked my child of he's still getting OT assistance for handwriting and he said no because the teacher who used to help him is too busy with the new student. I'm sort or irked the school couldnt find another body to do this, but he doesn't have an IEP, so I guess we're out of luck until/unless we can get one.