tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394715790416688043.post7204774076438828213..comments2014-07-13T21:03:54.672-04:00Comments on Musings of an Urban School Psychologist: The Ins and Outs of Intellectual DisabilitiesMusingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10480917815609331244noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394715790416688043.post-75979834444416488302012-04-25T07:36:14.956-04:002012-04-25T07:36:14.956-04:00Quite glad to be of service!!Quite glad to be of service!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394715790416688043.post-54801187088480343302012-04-24T23:29:44.815-04:002012-04-24T23:29:44.815-04:00Thanks once again for all of your help! The studen...Thanks once again for all of your help! The students in my class really seemed to enjoy the real-life examples and I think it illustrated my "individual differences" point well. :)Monicahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02760305977403804864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394715790416688043.post-9807893615563926462012-04-21T11:25:06.593-04:002012-04-21T11:25:06.593-04:00In our district, we have one life-skills program w...In our district, we have one life-skills program where all scores must be in the 50s, but those students are often difficult to come by in a public school environment (and when I do come by them, I get totally angry that someone didn't find this get and get them placed for their needs sooner). Otherwise, we are able to service ID students in 15:1 classrooms, community based programs, or outside agency placements, depending on their level of need.<br /><br />Erika, I also struggle with those 70s standard score kids and that we need more to meet their diverse needs. When they're low functioning like that and don't respond to interventions, it's hard to tease out whether their LD or ID (though it seems like with your district's guidelines, it would be LD). We have students with those profiles in both Integrated Co-Teaching programs (as we do not have a Resource Room pull-out program in my building) or 15:1. However, kids like that are going to struggle once they get into HS and beyond, if they can make it that far given the fact that they've probably been retained a few times and are highly stressed academically due to their deficits. We have trouble with how to best serve them. I'm lucky in that my district does offer a variety of quasi-vocational programs for 15:1 level students, including theatre tech, hospitality, horticulture, automotive tech, etc. These programs often pair with businesses in the community like Wegmans to provide jobs after high school. It's hard to admit that 70s level kids may not be capable of college, but sometimes meeting them where they're at and teaching them something practical and useful is much more important.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394715790416688043.post-79817710134010422902012-04-20T09:03:41.712-04:002012-04-20T09:03:41.712-04:00As with Monica, most people in my neck of the wood...As with Monica, most people in my neck of the woods do not start discussing ID until after IQ falls below 70, however, this year I have had many conversations about the ability of students who score very low cognitively being able to function in classrooms with students who are much higher than they are - pull out or not. I am fortunate enough to work in a district that offers many options to support the diverse caseload we have.Mohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10973398662942617522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394715790416688043.post-50511988127918830392012-04-19T20:30:04.841-04:002012-04-19T20:30:04.841-04:00Does your district recommend a second intellectual...Does your district recommend a second intellectual measure when suspecting an intellectual disability? (in Fl, we go by IND.. interesting... and it's considered best practice to administer two). Looking at these scores, it's very obvious these students need a significant level of support, however, in my county, not a single one of those children would be classified as IND except the first fifth grader you mentioned. Especially not the kindergartener with only a WPPSI and the rest of the scores higher.. however I bet the argument could be made for Other Health Impaired (OHI) served in an IND or Varying Exceptionalities (VE) classroom.<br /><br /><br />In my district, scores have to be below 70 in all areas. If a student has a inconsistent profile, (maybe one iq sub 70, one above, adaptives mid 70s, academics scattered) they go before a disproportionality committee to determine if the child should be classified as IND.<br /><br />Honestly, it's so crazy now because they've moved to IND from the EMH, TMH, SPMH classifications, yet even then all of those students were mostly sub 70 iq on at least one assessment.<br /><br />What I think is actually pretty awesome is that there is such a wide variety of service in NY that can be provided to students with such diverse profiles. We're doing RtI (or trying, at least) and what's beginning to occur is that the majority of our 70s kids (flat profiles.. iq, achievement, adaptive) are qualifying for SLD because they're not responding to interventions sufficiently (or, the interventions required are unsustainable in the regular ed setting). All of this is very arbitrary of course, depending on your site, your kids, your admin, your staffing specialist, etc. Which is really not the best for the students much of the time! It's frustrating because in all honesty, would you expect a student with a 75 iq to progress at the same rate as a student with a 100 iq? Probably not, yet no one has seemed to research that fully yet... either way, I think there needs to be more done for those students who are in the 70s with some substantial strengths and weaknesses rather than tossing them in an SLD classroom (or giving them SLD pull-out resource services) with other children who are completely different from them. And it looks like your state does it! So please send some of those people our way lol. (end long-winded rant)Erikahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12099293095371128839noreply@blogger.com