SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
Describe two effective pre-referral interventions you would consider for a child in your classroom. Identify the weakness/disability. Describe the population, what you noticed in the classroom, does the child have good days and some bad days, does he/she have problems with word problems.
Two pre-referral intervention approaches that I would consider using in the classroom would be Teacher Assistance Teams, (see: Chalfant, 1991), and Collaborative Consultation (see: Turben, 1998). The student I have identified for these is a young six year old girl who has been labeled as a problem learner because of the fact that she speaks only when spoken to and then only a few words. She is not at all interactive with the teacher or the other children. She has a slight speech impediment. She has some good days when she appears more interactive and engaged in classroom activities but she also has very bad days when she will hardly speak at all to anyone. She tests as in the normal IQ range and her mother reports that her physician says she is fine. The weakness or disability could be either a hearing problem or inordinate shyness. Nobody is sure which but her parents feel sure it is shyness because at home they say she is full of energy and talks a mile a minute. They have noted no hearing difficulties.
The Teacher Assistance Team or TAT intervention will consist of a team of three teachers and the referring teacher as a fourth member. The teachers will gather together to brainstorm ideas for identifying and managing the problem.
The Collaborative Consultation pre-referral intervention also uses a team approach. However, in contrast to the TAT model, this consultation model brings specialists into the situation (e.g., hearing-speech-language clinicians, resource room teachers, etc.) who work directly with the referring teacher in terms of planning, implementing and evaluating teaching/manag
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