Lower School
Lower School Academic Support
The tasks that the Lower School Learning Coordinator carries out are best divided into three categories:
Other Links of interest:
Prevention (action occurring prior to direct intervention)
Support Services provides a collaborative referral system. An administrator, teacher, or parent can refer a student for whom they have concerns to the Learning Coordinator. It is always preferable for a parent to first discuss with the classroom teacher any concerns he/she has. Collaborative staffings take place on a biweekly basis (or more often if necessary) at every grade level. At these meetings, the teachers and Learning Coordinator discuss strategies that have been employed in an attempt to meet a child’s needs (particularly on a one-to-one basis) and the results of these strategies. At these staffings, resource teachers often contribute their observations and strategies, as well. The Learning Coordinator also organizes professional development for the Lower School faculty as it applies to special needs students. This professional development may include pertinent articles or books. Recently, the Learning Coordinator assisted in the K-12 in-service day devoted to Mel Levine’s A Mind at a Time. The Lower School Learning Coordinator has also been asked to provide curriculum adaptations, and instruction in performance-based assessments of students’ reading, writing, and spelling achievement. The Learning Coordinator also arranges K-2 speech and language screening provided by an outside agency on an annual basis.
Intervention
When either a behavioral and/or an academic concern arise, an intervention process begins. The concern may initially begin with the student, a parent, or a faculty/staff member. The teachers and Learning Coordinator will then collaborate to find strategies to meet a student’s needs, and will proceed to test them out with the student. Sometimes, the Learning Coordinator will work with a referred student for an interim period of time. In the first grade, the Lower School Learning Coordinator offers an early intervention literacy program to those students that the Kindergarten and first grade teachers feel would most benefit from this program. This intervention is based on the International Reading Recovery Program. The Learning Coordinator delivers early literacy intervention on a daily basis, in 30-minute individual lessons, for three to four first graders for up to 20 weeks. Once the teachers and Learning Coordinator have collaborated on the interventions and assessments, they will then meet with the parents to discuss the student’s options. If interim support by the classroom teacher or Learning Coordinator has not met the student’s needs, the Learning Coordinator will recommend qualified academic coaches/ tutors, further assessment by an Educational Psychologist or Neuropsychologist, an occupational therapist, or a speech and language therapist. If the student receives financial assistance to attend Bush, the family will have access to the Tutoring Scholarship Fund, which helps defray the costs of additional specialists. The Learning Coordinator will recommend the most appropriate intervention or support service and will coordinate the communication between teachers, outside resource people, and parents. The cessation of tutoring is determined through a collaborative process that includes the Learning Coordinator, classroom teacher, and parents.
Maintenance
This monitoring can include one or more of the following:
- one-to-one sessions with students,
- teacher contacts,
- tutor contacts,
- contacts with outside agencies, such as educational psychologists.
The Lower School Director or parents may also request communication updates. During regular parent conference periods, the Learning Coordinator is expected to attend as many conferences for students on her caseload as possible.
- www.allkinds of minds.org
(for Parent Training Kit) - www.organizedstudent.com
- www.rfbd.org
(Recording for Blind and Dyslexic website to obtain membership and books on cd/tape) - www.SchwabLearning.org
(“Overcoming Dyslexia”: A Chat with Dr. Sally Shaywitz) - www.LDOnLine.org
(Who can diagnose LD and/or ADD?)
- Developing Minds Video Library,
Available at The Bush School Library - Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz, MD
- The Organized Student by Donna Goldberg
(Help with homework and organization skills) - Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents: a Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare
