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“I think a Pattern of Exposure should be added to the list. Many of our students are lacking the exposure or the skills the need to access prior knowledge they need to be successful. It does not require that the student be referred for SPED services but does require some support. Patterns of Exposure limit a child’s ability to access the same information as their grade level peers.”
I think Dawn’s pattern of exposure is a great addition. That also goes with the mention of cultural differences affecting some of these patterns. There is often a recurring theme of attendance or moving schools for a student which can greatly impact their education. Thanks for the idea.
Patterns of Quality
Quality is defined as a demonstration of a concept or skill in a way that, while allowing the child to accomplish a desired task, is done in such a way that it may hinder understanding of others, the accuracy of the performance, and/or may get in the way. Examples of quality include, issues around intelligibility, application of too much or not enough force, moving too quickly or too slowly, talking too loudly or softly etc. Patterns of quality don’t automatically suggest a concern; rather, they are an important consideration if they are interfering with interactions, physical health, and/or acquisition of future concepts and skills.Comments: I’m still a little confused about the whole issue of patterns. I assume it means that the child is exhibiting these patterns; and the patterns affect the child and/or others negatively. If that is the case, then I think patterns are crucial to understanding data. Trends or patterns are much more beneficial than single points of data. I like the word “too” to describe patterns of quality because it triggers my brain to pay to recognize a quality. The patterns of quality that I often find hard to provide measurable data for are too loud/soft, too anxious, too helpful.
Patterns of Latency
Latency, as it relates to learning or development, is defined as the amount of time it takes for someone to act or “do” after a request or prompt. In other words, how quickly does a child respond? Examples of latency include issues around time to task or verbal responses to questions or prompts, and also include concerns around impulsivity. Patterns of latency may not always be a concern, however they are important to consider if they are negatively impacting learning, development, health, communication, and/or behavior.
Comments: I find latency patterns especially hard to define and put into objective terms for others. Time to task and processing times betweens answering questions or following directions are very common barriers I run across. Patterns of latency are important to recognize because they can cause frustration to others who don’t understand the pattern. It is often hard for the student to demonstrate what they can or cannot do but that doesn’t necessarily warrant an IEP.Patterns of Assistance
Assistance is when an adult, a peer/sibling, or the environment performs part of the concept or skills under consideration. Assistance alone does not warrant concern or a higher tier of instruction (i.e., assistance might be expected based on what is known about developmental expectations); however, when a pattern of needing assistance (e.g., required under predictable circumstances/situations beyond what would be expected of a novice learner, for the child’s age/present level of ability/developmental readiness, culture, and/or prior exposure) emerges, a concern is noted.
Comments:
Assistance is when a peer or staff member assists the child in doing a skill on a regular basis. I would call this enabling vs. empowerment. Most of the time the intention of the other person is to help. Oftentimes the student is more than willing to accept the help. Once the pattern is recognized, it is important to decrease the unnecessary assistance to determine what the real needs are.
Patterns of Latency
List Patterns of Latency: time to task, longer verbal responses to questions, and impulsivity
Pattern Considerations: What do the identified patterns mean? What does it tell you about yourself? What are the implications?
I think within myself, the patterns of latency indicate a tendency of avoidance. I see this pattern especially in procrastination (time to task). For example, I have had six months, give or take, to complete this class. I have left it until the last week to complete it. I swore it wasn’t going to be like this, but it is. I also procrastinate in other areas. I sleep in until I absolutely have to get up. I don’t respond to difficult situations or tasks (verbal response) until I can’t avoid it any longer. I think this is different than a pattern of latency in kids because oftentimes, they have legitimate reasons like processing speed. But I think there are definitely times when they are showing patterns of avoidance also.I like the way you defined the “messy middle”. The word “complex” is a good word to describe the middle. I aso agree with the way you put ownership on the team to figure out how to support the child. It is not up to the child to figure it out. If they could have figured it out on their own, they probably would have.
I really like the idea of kids being triangles. Therefore, I don’t believe all Tier 3 needs are IEP worthy. The needs might be due to a lack of education (excessive absences), just learning English, etc. The needs might also be very specific and able to be taught in isolation quickly. Some tier 3 needs are IEP worthy. This is due to the fact that there should have been a lot of support, time, and effort spent on the child as the lack of progress has been addressed through tier 1 and tier 2 supports too. Therefore, if the student still isn’t making progress, they might need an IEP.
“Messy middle” refers to the time and space in a child’s education where they aren’t making the progress we would expect compared to other typical children. It is a place where teachers and the team should slow down, ask a lot of questions, and be willing to be uncomfortable while the team decides what the next best step is to even out the three legged stool. The “messy middle” is a very important time for me to consider the complexity of skills and patterns. The zig zag process can be used to help guide this process. It is important to figure out the ‘why’ and then the ‘how’ to address the ‘why’.
Yes, a Tier 2 need can be IEP worthy. If the student is not responding to the targeted interventions, the need might be considered on an IEP. I would hope the team would take a lot of time to consider this, as this seems to be a perfect example of the “messy middle”. A student who is eligible for special education may have tier 1 needs also. For example, a student may be very strong academically but have social/emotional needs or be strong in Math but a non reader. Each student is a triangle.
It sounds like your school has many resources outside of special education to support students who need tier two suppots. That is awesome. It also seems like the professionals in your building work well together to support all students. I agree that a robust and meaningful SST process would be ideal. I think many teachers just view SST as a necessary evil to get special ed testing done. If they thought it was useful, that would be great.
In my district, MTSS is in place to support all students at their instructional level. That is the intention, but it is not always implemented to meet needs. We have daily WIN (what I need) time. But like anything else, that is implemented with different levels of fidelity. Often, it is not started until halfway through the year or done sporadically. I think individual educators have the students’ best interest in mind, but the opinion of what that means differs.
We are permitted to work with students who are not on our caseload if it is in the general education classroom. We usually make sure we get parent permission before pulling students who DNQ into the special ed setting. Ideally, we would have enough trained and “bought in” staff to offer small group instruction. If resources weren’t an obstacle, we would have enough curriculum and money. The time to address the students’ needs would be priority during master scheduling.
I would like to say I learned how to do the zig zag process during my undergraduate schooling. Although, I haven’t heard it called the zig zag process. I hope I use it on a regular basis., but it is a good reminder. It is also a helpful concept and visual to share with colleagues.
The part of your post that resonated with me was that determining what matters to the unique child in terms of their access, participation, and progress is critical information to the development of a meaningful IEP. I also like the words that the ABC formula gives a structure to the team as they work through the IEP.
One aspect of the IEP I find insightful and helpful is a discussion about the child’s future. I like asking parents where they see their child when the child is 25 or 30 years old. Their answer then guides the plan for the next year. If the family’s priorities are for the child to become more independent, then the goals should reflect that. If the family wants the student to go to college, the IEP needs to make sure academic goals are addressed. Because of that, I think families’ priorities and concerns should be central to the criteria. I think the key here is making sure the IEP is a discussion and not just paperwork to get through. I think when a child becomes a teenager we should involve them in the discussion too.
The ABC formula can guide us to make sure we are addressing each component of what matters. First of all, we consider what behavior or skill the team believes the child should work toward. Then we need to judge whether there is context in which the child should be able to work on this goal. That is the antecedent. The criteria must be something that is manageable and observable.
Reading your post definitely helped me understand more that certain skills can be best measured with different dimensions. I do think we can often get stuck in a rut with our preferred goals without even considering what would be the most beneficial wa to measure performance and growth.
Frequency: Given a classroom or school setting, Kevin will raise his hand and quietly wait to be called on to participate in whole class or small group discussions with no talk-outs (blurting) recorded per 10 minute discussion period.
This goal measures the decreasing of blurting which would indicate the explicit teaching and pre-teaching of the frequency of the opposite behavior (staying quiet) is increasing.
Accuracy: Given a pattern on a hundreds chart, Scott will identify the next number in the pattern with 80% accuracy over 5 data trials.
There is one correct answer that I am measuring this skill, so I am targeting how accurate the student can be.
Latency: Given the resource classroom setting, Reese will begin work within 1 minute of being given the direction, 80% of the time data is collected.
I am wanting the student to initiate a task therefore it is an appropriate goal. A goal focused on accuracy would be difficult to measure because there is not one correct way to begin work.
Duration: Given the resource classroom setting, Mario will work steadily on an academic task for 5 minutes 80% of the time data is collected.
Duration is measured in time increments so this goal works better than how often he works steadily. I want to measure how long the student is able to stay on task.
Endurance: Charles will state his parents’ names, street address, and phone number every day for 10 consecutive school days.
Endurance is a good choice for this goal because this skill is a skill that definitely needs to be maintained over time.
Intensity: Wendy will decrease engagement in challenging behaviors from physical aggression, eloping, escaping, and self-harm to using her words when frustrated in ⅘ times observed.
Behavior is a good area to use intensity to measure performance because it is cut and dry which behaviors are more intense than others.
Independence: Mary will use the toilet to void, with only verbal reminders, 90% of the time data is taken.
Life skills is an area where independence is a great dimension of behavior to focus on.
Jill,
The way you broke this topc down is helpful. I appreciated the categorization of qualitative vs. quantitative. Intensity and independence seem like behaviors best measured qualitatively. I’m afraid recently I’ve swung too far to quantifying every behavioral goal. It is a good reminder to consider which type of data is most appropriate.Qualitative words can be very helpful when measuring social skills. An example would be the tone of voice a student uses. Words like respectful, sarcastic, or friendly could be used. Oftentimes, the nuances of social interactions make quantitative goals more difficult.
When measuring accuracy, quantitative data is very effective. An example of this is how many correct words read in a minute. It is a clear and concise number. There are not multiple possibilities in one probe. Quantitative data seems to be the best approach when measuring accuracy.
I agree that the 5 steps and 6 purposes are helpful to keep in mind. I, too, think it will be helpful for my team to use these guiding questions in order to make sure we are staying child-centered.
Honestly, I would say we engage in it as much as we are required to. We don’t usually engage in the process thoroughly. It’s more of a checklist to make sure we’ve covered everything. However I work with students who have more significant needs, so the eligibility process is not used as a filter as much as a process to make sure we are on the right track.
Our team struggles with not focusing on what protective supports and the way the family sees the child and the child’s gifts. Another part we don’t consider is this question: What is our hope for the future? If we were to imagine a time without this concern, what would it look like and how would we feel? We rarely consider what success looks like. And we need to ask “What is the worst that could happen if they aren’t eligible?
In general, we have briefly gone over the child’s developmental history, reason for the referral, and academic and/or behavioral achievement.
This DDDM form will be very helpful to start using with my team.
Hi Jill,
I do agree with the needs you mentioned. However, I think these meltdowns could be a part of his diability. Being dysregulated, anxious, and possibly sensory overwhelmed are effects of Autism. Spencer could be taught how to manage the meltdowns and panic attacks.
The other behaviors you mentioned, begging to be homeschooled and failing school most likely are not due to his disability.
I appreciated your thoughts on how adults can change their own behavior (mom ad staff) to help Spencer be more successful whether these are needs or wants.
