ITL 604 Cultural Basket Presentation

ITL 604- Students with Speech Disabilities/ Language barriers

Jessica Kuiper

ITL 604
Week 4 Journal Entry

            

Humans are creatures of habit; no matter how small a difference may be, humans will react to change. This is prominent in school systems, kids who differ slightly from the social norm are often viewed as outsiders. In this instance, I’ll discuss students with speech/language disorders. I remember when I was in middle school and high school, there were a significant amount of students who were pulled from class to see their speech teacher. It was bizarre. I remember being caught off guard when I would find out students were in speech. I would think to myself, “wow, John Smith is in speech?!” as if it was this great abnormality, or as it was a negative thing to be in the speech class. When I was in grade school, I could not comprehend that students actually had to see a speech teacher for their speech disorder.

I think one of the main reasons students with speech disorders could be seen as “stupid” by their peers, is that we feel unable to ask questions about a person’s disability. Society has taught us not to ask questions, or stare to long at someone who’s different than us. Instead of trying to find out what disability a person has, we automatically assume the worst: they are stupid, they can’t talk, and I don’t want to offend them by asking them a question. At some point in society, language and intelligence have been linked together. If you don’t know how to speak a language proficiently, then you must have low intelligence. However, there are so many other ways that a person can exhibit their intelligence, it don’t just revolve around how well you can speak the language. 

For example, a person might have difficulty speaking English, but can write and type in English beyond college level. We, as a society, are so quick to judge a person the moment we meet them, that we haven’t given them a chance to express themselves in the way they are most comfortable. What if later you come to find out that the student comes from an immigrant family, both mom and dad only speak Spanish at home. The student is only immersed to English when he is at school, but when he gets home, he spends multiple hours writing in his journal, in English. However, his fellow students, and even his teacher think he’s of lower intelligence, because they can’t have a conversation with him at school. This is an example which I’m sure proves to be true in more than one case around the U.S. That student could be practicing English more than any of this other classmates, he could even be one of the smartest students in the class, but because he does not speak perfect English, all other scholars belittle and tease him.
            In response to the journal prompt, I believe students with speech disabilities and language barrier issues are deemed “stupid” for the simple fact that humans fear what they do not know. Instead of trying other forms of communication, or even imploring what type of “barrier” the student has, everyone is just too quick to judge the student, and the student is already put at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the scholars. 

This is an ideology which I hope changes in the future, and I hope more students and teachers will try more than one way to communicate with students who face language barriers and speech disabilities. 

ITL 604 Assignment #1

To first start evaluate Ms. Begay’s students and their learning tendencies, it would be helpful to know what areas the children are struggling with. Children learn at different paces, and may be likely to understand subjects at different capacities. One of the first things Ms. Begay should look into, would be to pin point what areas are needed to focus on, and what is causing the misconnection for the students. In this case, the student’s are scoring low in math, reading and writing. Ms. Begay is aware that Louisa is getting tested for Special Education, and that Jose has just transferred from another school, and his paperwork has not been sent over yet, and Luke does not have an IEP. This is valuable information for Ms. Begay to be aware of, as she may have to modify assignments to meet their needs. 

            To answer the next question, it is important for Ms. Begay to be aware of her student’s progress because she needs to keep an active log on what methods are working, or may not be working for the students. This benefits the students and herself, because she is able to quickly and easily refer to their progress throughout the year, if they aren’t improving in a certain subject, then she will need to implement new learning strategies for the students. If the students were to qualify for an IEP, monitoring their progress is essential in their learning plan. Being an active participant in the students learning progression reaps many positive benefits. 

            In order to monitor the student’s progress throughout the year, Ms. Begay would benefit from periodically testing students, and reviewing their test scores. For example, if it was a timed math test, which evaluated the student’s knowledge of their multiplication tables, Ms. Begay could give the test to students once a week, or however often she felt obligated to. This would check their understanding of multiplication tables, and show progression in the area of concern. Assessing students on a given subject periodically would be a great aid in monitoring progress.

            Progress monitoring can be more beneficial than annual achievement testing for a variety of different reasons. For example, if the teacher were to use annual testing, it takes far longer to receive results and offer help where needed. Also, progress monitoring is given throughout the year, there are more chances for improvement, and it is easier to keep a long running track of data and progression. Lastly, progress monitoring is more accessible to all parties involved. Students and teachers can both review material together to develop a strategic plan on improving results.

            Progress monitoring has two components: mastery measurement and curriculum based measurement, which differ from each other in a few different ways. In mastery measurement, each skill is planned ahead of time, and the test is followed in order. In order to move on to the next skill, the student must master the each skill before; whereas in curriculum based measurement, skills can be taught in any order, and do not require mastery of a previous skill. Skills in curriculum based measurements are designed specifically for the student at hand. Mastery measurement does not monitor maintenance of skill, and curriculum based measurement does. The two different types of progress monitoring can be very useful in their own way, depending on the needs of the student. 

            Curriculum based measurement can be used in many different way to help at-risk students. Teachers can use CBM to identify what skills students are having issues with. Teachers can also use CBM to verify what teaching strategies are proving effective and ineffective in the classroom. Lastly, CBM helps teachers track progression for student’s who have IEP’s in place.

            Curriculum based measurement can be achieved through 6 steps. These 6 steps include the following: create appropriate tests, administer and score the tests, graph these scores, set goals, make instructional decisions, and lastly, communicate progress. 

            To put CBM into an example, let’s say we are testing a student on their multiplication tables on 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s. The first step would be to create multiplication table tests including 2’s, 3’s and 4’s. We would then give the test to the student, and score the tests. We would graph these scores, or keep track of the amount of problems the student answered correctly and incorrectly. Then, we would make goals on what score the student should receive when the next test is administered. As teachers, it is our job to see where the student is struggling, and find solutions to fix the problem. For instance, if the student is having trouble with their 4’s, it would be important to spend a significant amount of time reviewing these numbers, and going over these numbers on a daily basis. Lastly, we would communicate the results to the student, and/or parent.