Caslon Publishing

How can educators distinguish between learning disabilities and language difficulties? Historically in the United States, there has been a tendency to refer English language learners (ELLs) inappropriately to special education.

This has led to the overidentification of ELLs as having special education needs and a disproportionate representation of ELLs in special education. This handbook advocates the creation of school-based teams that include ESL/bilingual specialists, special education specialists, and other professionals who collectively have the expertise needed to explore factors that influence an ELLs’ response to intervention, including personal and family factors, physical and psychological factors, previous schooling, oral language and literacy development, academic achievement, and cultural differences. The authors provide tools and strategies that teams can use to assess the nature of the ELLs’ learning difficulty, collaborate in service provision, create a continuum of interventions, and measure the ELLs’ response to those interventions.

WHAT REVIEWERS ARE SAYING: « click to expand/collapse

Special Education Considerations for English Language Learners is the true integration of best practice from the fields of bilingual, multicultural, second language and special education. It is a research-based approach that provides the reader with a step-by-step process for serving all English Language Learners effectively from minute one. Grounded in the paradigm of ecological assessment, the authors detail the essential information that needs to be gathered and the means of doing so that educators can accurately differentiate between second language development and learning difference. Yet, even more importantly, all the while practitioners will be able to deliver responsive interventions to their learners by following the instructive advice they provide.

Hamayan, Marler, Sanchez-Lopez & Damico’s deep knowledge of each of seven learner factors that must be addressed is evident throughout the book, and they truly break new ground in their rich discussions of physical and psychological factors, previous schooling factors, and cultural and linguistic factors that affect student performance. These chapters offer sound guidance about how to conduct comprehensive assessments as well as how to offer effective, research-based intervention to at-risk students. This is precisely what has been missing in the field—sound and comprehensive pedagogy for English Language Learners who experience learning difficulties.

I highly recommend this volume to school-based, collaborative decision-making and intervention-focused teams who wish to truly inform their practice and achieve the goal of serving learners fully and well. The many useful tools and resources offered for assessment and the templates and instructional guidelines offered to plan responsive interventions will produce satisfactory outcomes for learners. Each chapter of this welcome resource will engender productive and meaningful conversations among school-based practitioners and the actions teams will collectively take stemming from those discussions will lead naturally to the delivery of a rich continuum of services for all English Language Learners. – From the Foreword, by Nancy Cloud, Feinstein School of Education and Human Development, Rhode Island College.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: « click to expand/collapse

1. The Framework within Which to Consider the Special Needs of English Language Learners

2. A Collaborative Model of Information Gathering and Service Provision

3. Describing Before Diagnosing: Observation of Specific Difficulties that ELLs May Encounter

4. Delivering a Continuum of Services

5. The Learning Environment Created for ELLs

6. Personal and Family Factors

7. Physical and Psychological Factors

8. Previous Schooling Factors

9. Oral Language and Literacy Development Factors

10. Academic Achievement Factors

11. Cultural Difference Factors

12. Putting It All Together

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: « click to expand/collapse

Else Hamayan is a psychologist, language education consultant, and former Director of the Illinois Resource Center in Des Plaines. She advises teachers and administrators across the nation and internationally on issues of second language learning, special education, culture learning, biliteracy, and dual language instruction. She is co-author of Dual Language Instruction: A Handbook for Enriched Education (with Nancy Cloud and Fred Genesee), Limiting Bias in the Assessment of Bilingual Students (with Jack Damico), and co-editor of English Language Learners at School: A Guide for Administrators (with Rebecca Freeman).

Barbara Marler is a Consultant for the Illinois Resource Center in Des Plaines. She has 26 years of experience as an administrator, teacher, trainer, and consultant. Barb has dedicated her career to developing appropriate interventions for ELLs experiencing difficulties at school.

Cristina Sanchez-Lopez is a Consultant for the Illinois Resource Center in Des Plaines. She collaborates with educators in the US and Canada on the ELL/ELD/LD interface, middle school mathematics, literacy across the content areas, parent involvement, and supporting Pre-K educators who serve ELLs. Cristina has taught at the elementary, middle, and university levels in the US and Mexico.

Jack Damico is the Doris B. Hawthorne Eminent Scholar in Special Education and Communication Disorders at the University of Lousiana-Lafayette where he teaches graduate level courses, conducts research, and writes in a number of areas related to language, social interaction, and learning in both children and adults. Dr. Damico, an ASHA Fellow, is author or editor of more than 90 publications. He has also received numerous awards for his scholarly and practical contributions to the field.