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Referral is a formal, ongoing process for reviewing information related to learners who possibly have disabilities and show potential signs of needing special education services. The referral process includes district review of screening and other information on referred students, and the district's decision about whether to conduct a formal special education evaluation.
| Key Topics: Length of Time for Prereferral Interventions Procedures for Receiving Referrals Student Support Teams Infant and Toddler Referral Limited English Speaking Families |
Before a student is referred for a special education assessment, the district must conduct and document at least two instructional strategies, alternatives, or interventions while the pupil is in the regular classroom. The student’s teacher must provide the documentation. A special education assessment team may waive this requirement when they determine the student’s need for the assessment is urgent. This section may not be used to deny a student’s right to a special education assessment.
MN.Statute 125A.56(a)
Once the presenting problem is identified by general education staff, it is necessary to conduct pre-referral interventions. Pre-referral interventions are planned, systematic efforts by the problem solving team to resolve apparent learning or behavioral problems. The design and outcome of these interventions must be documented. Several intervention forms are available for district use.
Prior to or as a part of the intervention process, the student's classroom teacher has the responsibility of informing the parent of the concerns and give the parent an opportunity to share information that may have bearing on the student's problems. It is conceivable that the teacher may gain insight from parents that makes it no longer necessary to refer the student. It is critical that parents are involved early in the process so that trust with the staff and school district is developed and nurtured.
A school district shall use alternative intervention services, including the assurance of mastery program under section 124D.66, the supplemental early education program under section 124D.081, or an early intervening services program under subdivision 2 to serve at-risk pupils who demonstrate a need for alternative instructional strategies or interventions.
Early intervening services program.
Early intervening services are not the same thing as early intervention. Early intervention services are for babies and toddlers with disabilities; early intervening services (EIS) are about catching problems early in school-aged children. EIS are aimed at grades K-12, with an emphasis on K-3. This process is about identifying children who are struggling to learn, especially apparent in the early grades, and quickly intervening to provide support.
A district may meet the requirement
under subdivision 1 by establishing an early intervening services program that includes:
(1) a system of valid and reliable general outcome measures aligned to state academic standards that is administered at least three times per year to pupils in kindergarten through grade 8 who need additional academic or behavioral support to succeed in the general education environment. The school must provide interim assessments that measure pupils' performance three times per year and implement progress monitoring appropriate to the pupil. For purposes of this section, "progress monitoring" means the frequent and continuous measurement of a pupil's performance that includes these three interim assessments and other pupil assessments during the school year. A school, at its discretion, may allow pupils in grades 9 through 12 to participate in interim assessments;
(2) a system of scientific, research-based instruction and intervention; and
(3) an organizational plan that allows teachers, paraprofessionals, and volunteers funded through various sources to work as a grade-level team or use another configuration across grades and settings to deliver instruction. The team must be trained in scientific, research-based instruction and intervention. Teachers and paraprofessionals at a site operating under this paragraph must work collaboratively with those pupils who need additional academic or behavioral support to succeed in a general education environment.
(b) As an intervention under paragraph (a), clause (2), staff generating special education aid under section 125A.76 may provide small group instruction to pupils who need additional academic or behavioral support to succeed in the general education environment. Small group instruction that includes pupils with a disability may be provided in the general education environment if the needs of the pupils with a disability are met, consistent with their individual education plans, and all pupils in the group receive the same level of instruction and make the same progress in the instruction or intervention. Teachers and paraprofessionals must ensure that the needs of pupils with a disability participating in small group instruction under this paragraph remain the focus of the instruction. Expenditures attributable to the time special education staff spends providing instruction to nondisabled pupils in this circumstance is eligible for special education aid under section 125A.76 as an incidental benefit if:
(1) the group consists primarily of disabled pupils;
(2) no special education staff are added to meet nondisabled pupils' needs; and
(3) the primary purpose of the instruction is to implement the individual education plans of pupils with a disability in this group.
Expenditures attributable to the time special education staff spends providing small group instruction to nondisabled pupils that affords more than an incidental benefit to such pupils is not eligible for special education aid under section 125A.76, except that such expenditures may be included in the alternative delivery initial aid adjustment under section 125A.78 if the district has an approved program under section 125A.50. During each 60-day period that a nondisabled pupil participates in small group instruction under this paragraph, the pupil's progress monitoring data must be examined to determine whether the pupil is making progress and, if the pupil is not making progress, the pupil's intervention strategies must be changed or the pupil must be referred for a special education evaluation.
MN Statute 125A.56(b)
Pre-referral interventions, as a part of early intervening services are the responsibility of general education teachers with the support and consultation of the principal, special education teachers, school psychologist, school social worker, and other specialists. This process is typically conducted by a problem solving team. Existing data from MCA II and curriculum based measures (CBM) should be reviewed in order to clearly identify the issue of concern. The problem solving team needs to develop criteria and indicators to determine whether or not an intervention is successful. Response to intervention (RTI) is an approach for sorting out whether a struggling child really is a "child with a disability" as defined by IDEA or just needs more intensive regular education strategies to succeed in school. RTI usually consists of 3 levels of assistance. When a student is identified as struggling to learn either through a system wide screening test or through teacher observation or testing, an RTI process may be used to see how the student responds to deliberate research-based interventions and other direct supports. If the student fails to make satisfactory progress at any level, the problem solving team should review the progress and determine if the frequency, intensity or change in the intervention should occur.
The ASEC recommends the use of CBM measures for frequent progress monitoring. Limited access to the AIMsWeb data management system is available to the districts by contacting ASEC. At least two pre-referral interventions are required before a special education assessment may be conducted. There may be an exception only if the parent requests an assessment and/or if there is some urgency in the student's situation.
Generally, before referring a student for special education assessment, there needs to be documentation of the interventions tried, over at least a 30-day school period by the problem solving team. Before referring a student for behavioral reasons, the documentation of interventions used in the regular classroom should generally occur over a six-month school period. Sometimes these interventions may have been started in the previous grade and continued the following year.
Even when the classroom teacher decides not to refer a student for special education assessment, the documentation should be placed in the student’s cum file so that a history of academic difficulties may be established for possible later referral.
Notwithstanding any age limits in laws to the contrary, special instruction and services must be provided from birth until July 1 after the child with a disability becomes 21 years old but shall not extend beyond secondary school or its equivalent, except as provided in section 124D.68, subdivision 2. Local health, education, and social service agencies must refer children under age five who are known to need or suspected of needing special instruction and services to the school district. Districts with less than the minimum number of eligible children with a
disability as determined by the commissioner must cooperate with other districts to maintain a full range of programs for education and services for children with a disability. This section does not alter the compulsory attendance requirements of section 120A.22.
MN Statute 125A.03(b)
General education teachers can effectively meet some of the needs of many students with learning and behavior problems within the general education classroom. Situations arise, however, when a teacher needs a support system to help with students who present unique learning and adjustment problems. Student support teams may assist general educators in solving these problems by determining appropriate pre-referral interventions. Pre-referral interventions help determine if the student's learning problem is specific to the student or a result of the method of instruction or other classroom variables. A pre-referral team meeting is particularly important in creating a partnership between the school and family; it is an opportunity to collect information about the student.
In districts without student support teams, referrals should be given to whomever has been designated by the district to facilitate the referral process. In districts with student support teams, the team is generally composed of regular education teachers, counselor, school nurse, building principal and others as appropriate such as licensed special education personnel, speech clinician and school psychologist. Some districts have combined the functions of the team to include Section 504 referrals as well as referrals for special education. Those teams may have a somewhat different mix of special and regular education personnel.
When general education resources are unable to resolve the presenting problem, the referral should be given to the student support facilitator to be discussed at the next student support meeting. The facilitator is responsible for ensuring that the learner’s cumulative file, health record, etc. are made available for the meeting. The review of existing data is the first step of required parent involvement under IDEA '97. The team must make a determination, given the presenting problems and data gathered to date, whether a referral for a special education assessment is warranted. If deemed necessary, the student is formally referred for a special education assessment and the parent's written permission is required in order to proceed.
The function of the student support team is to:
The student's parent must be provided an opportunity to participate in this review. Best practice would suggest that the parent be contacted by phone prior to sending a Notice of a Team Meeting in order to schedule a convenient date.
For children birth to age seven suspected of having a hearing or vision disability, the team must include a licensed teacher in each area of suspected sensory impairment.
The Interagency Early Intervention Committee must develop and implement interagency policies and procedures concerning the following ongoing duties:
establish and evaluate the identification, referral, child and family assessment systems, procedural safeguard process, and community learning systems to recommend, where necessary, alterations and improvements.
MN Statute 125A.30(b)(3)
The child find system must include procedures for use by primary referral sources for referring a child to the appropriate public agency within the system for:
Evaluation and assessment or
As appropriate the provision of services.
The procedures required in this section must:
Provide for an effective method of making referrals by primary referral sources;
Ensure that referrals are made no more than two working days after a child has been identified; and
Include procedures for determining the extent to which primary referral sources, especially hospitals and physicians, disseminate the information, prepared by the lead agency on the availability of early intervention services to parents of infants and toddlers with disabilities
Each district is a member of an Interagency Early Intervention Committee (IEIC) that has established a referral procedure that utilizes the school social worker in Red Lake county and the public health nursing service in the counties of Polk, Marshall and Norman as the central intake point for referrals on children who may be eligible for an Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP). An IFSP is a written plan for providing services to a child between the ages of birth through age 2 and the child’s family through interagency agreements. The procedural and program requirements for the IFSP are the same as for an Individual Education Plan (IEP). Referrals on preschool children age 3 through 5 should be made to the resident school district.
The following referral system was developed with input from the Interagency Early Intervention Committees:
Within 45 calendar days after it receives a referral, the district shall complete the evaluation and evaluation activities and hold an IFSP meeting. In the event of exceptional circumstances that make it impossible to complete the evaluation and evaluation within 45 calendar day (e.g., if the child is ill) the district will:
Document those circumstances; and
Develop and implement an interim IFSP to the extent appropriate.
34 CFR 303.322
Limited English Speaking Families
If the family is bilingual, the special education director or assistant director should be contacted to assist you with the due process procedures when conducting a minority assessment. See Request For Interpreter form.
For your information: In Minnesota, a Limited English Speaking (LEP) learner is defined as a learner who:
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Communicating with Parents Who are Limited English Proficient (LEP)
Federal laws and state rules require schools to inform all parents of their special education due process rights. This includes parents who do not speak English or who use another communication mode. This necessitates the use of translations and interpretations for parents who are not fluent in English. The underlying goal of federal laws and rules is to enable parents to provide informed consent. In order to give informed consent, parents must receive information in a manner that they can understand. Informed consent also increases school/parent cooperation and understanding. In order to meet the intent of the law, schools should think about both the language of the parent and the best methods of communication
One method of communication is to use the written translations of due process materials. These are available by contacting the ASEC office. Parents, however, have varying abilities to speak and read their native language and English. For example, some parents are highly literate in their native language but do not speak or read in English. These parents can benefit from translated forms. Other parents may speak some English as well as their native language but not read in either. Oral interpretation may be more meaningful to these parents.
Parents Do Not Want An Interpreter
Many adults in Minnesota who are native speakers of another language are very fluent in English. However, cultural values, personal pride and the desire to not create a burden for the school may lead some parents to claim a greater degree of English proficiency than they actually possess. There may be situations where the parents refuse the right to an interpreter, but staff members suspect that they do not fully understand the complex information being presented. In these cases, districts may wish to try the following steps. In all cases, it is important for the school staff and parents to take some time to get to know each other and develop a trusting relationship.
Consult with the LEP staff. These staff members usually have the greatest knowledge of the family's circumstances and may be able to mediate.
Consider whether the parents have a conflict with one particular interpreter. There are sometimes issues of dialect, ethnic group or clan affiliations that make a given interpreter unacceptable to a family. There may be concerns over confidentiality. Gender can also be an issue. For example, it may be inappropriate for a male interpreter to ask a mother very personal questions about her child's birth and development.
Explain to parents that special education can be very complicated and that many English speaking parents have trouble understanding it.
Explain that the school needs help to understand their language and culture. Place responsibility for communication barriers on the school rather than on the family.
Consider the best interest of the child. Is the school missing critical pieces of information that can only be obtained from the family via an interpreter? It is important to be sensitive, but the student' interests may override those of the parents.
Remember that having an interpreter does not guarantee good communication if the parents and the school do not have a good relationship.
Parents are Unable to Read
Because of lack of opportunity for education, some parents of LEP students are unable to read or write in their native language. Districts should provide oral interpretation in these cases so that parents can be involved in their child's education in a meaningful way. Even when parents are unable to read, districts are advised to have their interpreter use the translated due process forms. This is recommended for the following reasons.
In many languages, there are no exact equivalents of special education terms. Different interpreters may use different words to explain special education concepts. Using the written translations can help increase consistency in interpretation. This is especially true if the interpreter is not trained in special education.
Interpretation of special education documents from English into another language is complex and time consuming. Using the translated forms should greatly simplify the interpreter's task.
It is also helpful to tape record oral interpretations of special education materials. Special education is complex and the information shared at team meetings can be difficult to absorb in one sitting. A tape recording would give parents the chance to listen to the information several times to refresh their memory.
Special education laws and rules specifically require schools to communicate with parents in their native language. State and federal special education funds may therefore be used to pay interpreters who help carry out due process requirements ( including implementation of IEP's). Schools can either employ staff or contract for these services. Employees should be claimed as Bilingual Home-School Liaisons (EDRS personnel type 39) Contracts are handled in the same manner as any other outside contract for special education services.