Well, nothing says 'fun' like talking about one of the most important parts of the job, right? Let me soapbox for a moment, though. ;)
Multiple times every year, I am reminding teachers that 'screening' and 'evaluation' do not mean the same thing. They aren't synonyms. "I told the parents you're going to evaluate the kid for speech." Well, that's great that you told them that, but I'm not doing that; I'm screening them to see if I need to ask them for written permission to evaluate. During one school year, many years ago, in a different district, a teacher put in writing to several parents that she was recommending their child for a special ed evaluation. Our special ed director was livid, to put it mildly, as the teacher was committing hours of testing by the school psych and myself without any Child Find, MTSS, or any other intervention to go on. Many of these families were also very upset by getting a letter stating they needed to be evaluated without any other background. They just thought their students struggled 'a little'. And, in 6 of the 7 instances, they were correct. That's right; 7 evaluations, 1 student who qualified for special education. And 6 sets of parents who were very angry at the district because they felt they had been pressured by the teacher into the evaluation, despite our director providing them procedural safeguards and stating they were absolutely within their right to decline the evaluation. [In hindsight, a prior written notice may have been more appropriate, but that's another topic and it was a learning experience.]
Back to the topic: screenings and evaluations. Yes, they go together like peas and carrots, but they aren't the same at all. For us as SLPs, we have an interesting role in the schools as the only evaluating case managers in the district most of the time. I, and many colleagues, firmly believe we need to screen a student when a teacher or parent has concerns as part of Child Find to determine if we have enough data to proceed to an evaluation, or if we need to bring other professionals into a possible evaluation. We all have our different methods of screening, preferred screening tools and setups, but one thing that I'd absolutely, positively beg (and have begged) SLPs to do is: get it in writing. Yes, I know a lot of times, things in writing feel scary, but a paper trail is your best friend, and I'll share three instances of why I feel this way:
1) Many years ago, a family requested a speech screening for articulation. The student was aware of their errors and stated they didn't like to answer in class because of their speech. I asked the teacher to complete a referral form, and also had the family complete family input forms. The teacher had 0 academic concerns other than 'sometimes needing the student to repeat things'. The family had 0 concerns other than the articulation. Student qualifies, works on sounds, moves to middle school. The family, during the summer between elementary and middle school, has the student tested for dyslexia and student is diagnosed 'mildly dyslexic.' Family sues the school for denial of FAPE, stating they had shared concerns for 'years' about student's reading abilities. In our meeting with the district's legal team, I presented all of my documentation - including those screening forms and input forms. Our lead attorney's eyes lit up; she noted there was no indication, ever, in writing, of any academic concerns from family or school. We weren't settling; we were going to fight this. After discovery, when the family's attorney saw the documentation, they asked for a settlement. The district declined, and the case was settled in favor of the district. All because of a few sheets of paper.
2) More recently, a teacher asked if I would be willing to screen a student for language concerns. Absolutely, and here's the referral form. When the teacher returned it, she had written some information that kind of raised some flags that she wasn't concerned about 'just language.' She had listed a lot of behavioral and social concerns, as well as gross and fine motor problems, that went beyond language. I asked about PT/OT screens, which the parents also consented to along with the speech screenings. The three of us had the same results: we saw concerns in our own areas of expertise, but felt the school psychologist needed to be brought on board because we had concerns that went outside of our scopes. I reached out the the family and requested a meeting to discuss all of our concerns, which was not well-received. 'My kid just needs speech!' I explained, multiple times, that I was happy to recommend a speech evaluation, and PT/OT wanted to evaluate in their areas as well, but since we all had concerns that none of us could evaluate, we needed the school psychologist to meet with all of us as well. We couldn't evaluate the academic, behavioral, or social concerns that the teacher was raising. The parent refused, and a week later, a state complaint is filed against us stating we refused a speech evaluation. My director calls me in, and I share the screening form, my results, and my emails to the teacher, PT/OT, parent, and school psych requesting a meeting to discuss a consent to evaluate including PT, OT, Speech, and get the psych's input. Complaint dismissed.
3) Even more recently, a teacher asked me if I would screen a student in her class. Absolutely, but we are in the middle of IEP season, so it's a fairly busy time for me. I will schedule a screening as soon as you return this referral form to me. Just leave it in my mailbox or slide it under my door and the student will be screened as soon as I get a minute. Several weeks go by, and I get a phone call from my principal. "Why aren't you screening students?" Um, because my screening list is clear. Principal tells me there's a complaint from a teacher in the building that she had referred a student to me 'weeks ago' and I hadn't done anything, and she and the parent were upset. I remember this teacher had asked me for a referral form, which I had given her, and after checking through my screening folder, I didn't have any forms. Principal asks if I had screened the child; I hadn't, I didn't even know the child's name since I had no form. Principal calls the teacher, who states she had the form on her desk but hadn't filled it out because she was too busy. Principal reminds the teacher that I can't screen a student whose name I don't even know. I never did receive that referral form, now that I think back on it.
The moral of this rambling is to please, please, always have written documentation to protect yourself. Yes, we work under time constraints a lot, but using a screening request form has helped me to not only keep track of screenings, but also to ensure that I'm not getting 'evaluation requests' in writing from teachers, that the correct people are brought in before we initiate an evaluation, and that teachers understand I need information and can't just "listen" to a student for 5 minutes to determine if they need a language evaluation!
For the self-promotion part of the blog, continue reading. 😁
Over the years, the districts I've worked in haven't ever used a standardized form for screenings or input. I like to try to simplify my life during the year, so I've created some forms that I use for my own data and records. Links are included.
The screening request/referral form I use is the start of the process. I require all teachers to complete this form before I will screen a student. Yes, they protest, but I explain how it protects me, and them, in the case of a due process or state complaint (and share the above examples), as well as makes sure we are including all people and areas needed if we have to go through an evaluation. There's little more frustrating than finishing an evaluation and sitting at the IEP meeting, realizing OT should have been included. I tried to make the request form as teacher-friendly as possible, with check boxes and minimal writing needed.
1) Case History Form: Tell me about your child's background and your concerns so that I can include this in the report.
3) A Teacher Input form: Yes, again, the teacher completed a screening request form with concerns, but this gives me a chance to get some updated information from them. I also use this before annual review IEP meetings. It's another checklist form, but I get a lot of good information. One of the things that I really like is that it asks teachers to state some academic/behavioral concerns AND strategies they use. If there aren't concerns, is it time to consider if we need to reevaluate? If they aren't using strategies and there are SDIs listed, why aren't they using them? Are they no longer needed? When these aren't completed by a teacher, I'll note that a form was given but not completed, and at the meeting, the teacher shared the following (and list what they say). After a few meetings, many teachers will realize that the checklist makes the meeting go more smoothly because they can have a copy for their reference, too!
Ok, this was less of a blog post and more of a novel, but all of these forms are things that I've started using to make my work life less chaotic, and to make sure I'm keeping good documentation in case something unexpected happens. Knowing that I've documented every step of the process makes me feel more secure in my evaluations, and has saved my skin in more than one instance! Due process and state complaints are not fun. Yes, they are part of the job as families advocate for what they feel their child needs, but it's important that we have documentation, too, that shows we are also considering what the child needs and what information has been provided along the way so that we are ALL working to meet the child's best interest.
No comments:
Post a Comment