Accommodations and Goals for Esther in the General Education

classroom:
1. Using the whole word recognition approach, Esther will recognize
words from the pre-primer and primer sight word lists to increase
vocabulary and reading fluency.
2. Recommendation of ESL services 3 times weekly for 1 hour to
improve overall language and communication skills. Once
progress monitoring and ELL learner specific interventions,
student work samples and ACCESS test score show a lack of
adequate progress, we recommend that Esther be retested for
disability if the need is still seen. The ELL specific interventions
should be explicit in instruction in oral language, listening
comprehension, reading comprehension and have a read aloud
routine with explicit vocabulary and scaffolded retelling.
3. Esther will receive accommodations through the help of a
bilingual aide for 2 hours, 4 times a week with decreasing time
by 5 minutes, bimonthly. Esther should continue to receive
assistance rom a bilingual aide for cueing, explanation or
shortening of directions and task completion in the classroom.
After the team has taken all assessments, current levels and
background information about the student in making this decision, we
conclude that although Esther may qualify under the disability
category of Cognitive Disability based on her evaluations but additional
evaluations and interventions are needed first before a true decision
can be determined. We feel that due to the circumstances of Esthers
background and time spent in the United States that there are many
special factors to consider before referring for special education
services. Esther began her life living in Mexico until the age of 9 and
never receiving any formal education. She lived with her birth mother
from birth until age 7, with suspicions of being abused, neglected
mentally, emotionally and educationally. At age 7, she was abandoned
in a bus station and then lived in an orphanage of children with
disabilities until age 9, where she assisted in taking care of the
younger babies which is where her self care and socialization abilities
were acquired. Mr. and Mrs. Ramirez adopted Esther from Mexico and
moved her to the United States where she began attending school for
the first time at Colby Elementary School. The language that she was
surrounded by in Mexico was only Spanish, and then she came to the
United States and began to learn English. Both of her languages are
underdeveloped due to her lack of educational experience. The testing
probes given in English are not appropriate because her first language
was not English, so we cannot be completely positive that the scores
are not skewed due to a language deficit. Also, the probes test
concepts that are formally taught through an education and because

she never attended a school until age 9 1/2 in a new language, they
will not be accurate either. We do believe that she should be tested in
Spanish due to Esthers limited English proficiency before a decision be
made.

Section II
The Ramirez family is very supportive and involved in the
progress of their adoptive daughter Esther. They want the best for their
daughter, and although were anxious of the evaluation, quickly signed
off so they could receive answers. I believe that these parents want to
be involved and kept in the know on the progress of their daughter. I
would preferably like to ask the parents which way they preferred to be
contacted weekly regarding the progress of their daughter. I would first
start with setting up a communication notebook that would let the
parents know each day what Esther had worked on and any notable
incidents or concerns that arose during the day. The teaching staff
could always write any questions that had for Mr. and Mrs. Ramirez
also. The notebook would go home with Esther every night and her
parents could write in any concerns or questions they had for the
school or staff. This leaves an open line of communication that will be
seen every night and day by the school and parents. I believe this
would be the best way to keep the lines of communication consistently
open with the parents because Esthers parents appear to want to be
actively involved in her schooling. I would also supply the parents with
my phone number and email and tell them to feel free to contact me
whenever a question or concern came up and they did not have the
notebook to write it down in. The lines of communication will be free
and open between school and home to best serve the needs of Esther.