It Takes A Team

The bell rings and Jillian is not quite certain where her book bag should go. She turns to the little girl standing next to her and pats her shoulder and points, but the little girl is uncertain of why she was tapped and walks away only after a few seconds of asking Jillian, “What?” “Do you want something?” Jillian doesn’t speak, she signs the word “help” but no one around her, including Ms. Allan, the second grade teacher understands or recognizes the gesture. In frustration, Jillian drops her book bag and sits in the first chair closest to the cubbies and screams loudly in a humming tone. All eyes turn to her, silence envelopes the room…

Jillian is a second-grader in an inclusive school in northern Maryland. Jillian is developmentally delayed and nonverbal, her primary mode of communication is American Sign Language (ASL). According to her Individualized Educational Program (IEP), Jillian is supposed to have two instructors, a special educator who signs as well as the second grade general educator. However, the special educator who was assigned to her class was moved to another program in the county and Jillian was given an instructional assistant who provides ASL support for only two hours of the six and half-hour school day.

Over the course of the next two months, Jillian’s behaviors escalated in intensity and frequency when she did not have the instructional support she needed to access the general education curriculum. The absence of the special educator who could have assisted in specializing instruction, monitoring Jillian’s behavior intervention plan, and implement Jillian’s IEP goals has impacted not just Jillian but the entire class. Much instructional time is lost when Jillian’s behaviors interrupt the class when the instructional assistant is in other classes with other students with disabilities.

The school was in violation of failure to provide a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) to Jillian and the district scrambled to fill these critical special educator positions, offering incentives such as bonuses, tax credits, and loan forgiveness.

Over the winter break, Jillian’s parents, along with the IEP team, a Pupil Personnel Worker, and the Regional Special Education Director met to discuss how to make the general education setting more accessible for Jillian. After sharing a number of ways in which to address Jillian’s needs for ASL support, the team came up with a plan to bring to the school senior, preservice students from a local college who were majoring in one of the states few Deaf and Hard of Hearing Instructional Programs. Two student teachers were identified and assigned to Jillian’s classroom for the remainder of the year.

The addition of the student teachers, with increased instructional aide support, Jillian completed her second grade year on a successful note, mastering most of her IEP goals.

The additional support of the student teachers made a small difference, one can only surmise what more could do.