Let’s take a second to
reflect…
- Have you ever had a child walk into your class that doesn't speak primarily English?
- Have you ever had a child walk into your class that speaks a language you may have never heard of?
- What strategies did you use to help this child and their family feel welcomed?
- Did you feel confident in knowing what to do with this student or did you feel like it was the ESL teacher’s job to help them?
- Does your county have sufficient resources such as interpreters for various languages?
These questions led me to identifying a challenge in my
school system. I often hear teachers
saying that a child needs special education when they are an English Language
Learner and often times especially in preschool that is not true. A challenge
that I see educators with educators is over identifying students as needing special
education. I became interested in this
topic last year when I realized there were limited services available for those
families who speak a different language. I was able to put together a social
for the Spanish speaking families which you can read in the previous blog post
and share important information that some families didn't know were available. I
hope to seek a solution for what factors teachers identify before referring students
for special education and what inclusion strategies they are implementing. Building
the trust of a family assimilating into the American culture is very important
to me.
The
whole reason that I became a Speech and Language Pathologist is because I believe
that everyone deserves a voice. These families deserve to be included and
offered that most ethical solutions for success. With the rise of ELL students entering
school at a younger age there needs to be a protocol or checklist that teachers
can use to identify if the child is demonstrating a disorder or a difference in
their expressive and receptive language abilities. Teachers have to be given
proper and effective training on working with these families. I truly believe
that it is up to the administration to make a plan on how they will include ELL
students and their families and implement that plan through teachers, therapist
and other staff who directly work with these students.
How do you include ELL
families in your classroom?
What factors do you
look for before determining that these students need special education
services?
Resources
Reeves, A & Van
Tuyle, V (2014) Preparing Principals for Success with English
Language Learners Challenges and Opportunities in Illinois. International
Journal of Education Leadership Preparation, 9 (1)
impairment. Applies
Psycholinguistics.
Wonderful post Kara! I agree that teachers often are not trained in working with ELL students, so they do not know the difference between a language barrier and special education needs. As a teacher I do not feel that I have been given proper training to work with ELL students and I don't always feel comfortable determining a child's needs without consulting with one of the many experts at my school. Teachers will always do their best to work with all students but they feel more confident when they feel they have been properly trained. Just like students, when a teacher feels confident they are more inclined to step out of their comfort zone. I think that this topic is so important to the educational system and I look forward to learning more.
ReplyDeleteRandi
I agree 100% I think it all starts with what training and support teachers have in order to ethically help their ELL students.
DeleteKara,
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! I think this is a great challenge to speak about. Just as the post above stated, many teachers do not know the difference between ELL students and students with special needs. I do believe that proper training is need to understand how to respond and communicate effectively with families. I think that it is very important to include the ELL families into the classroom setting. It is also helpful to help non-ELL students to be helpful and respectful.