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Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned Vol. II
Early Childhood Special Education
in Rural Alaska
by Colleen Chinn
Yukon-Kuskokwim Parent-Child Program
Although I hold an Alaska state teacher's
certificate, I have not taught at the elementary level in a number of
years. I am the Special Needs Coordinator for the Yukon-Kuskokwim
Parent-Child Program (YKIPCP), which is a Rural CAP agency and a Head
Start Grantee. I also coordinate family/social services for this
agency. We are a home based program serving children birth through
three. I work closely and collaborate with outside agencies and
school districts serving the six Delta villages in which we operate.
I also have four children in Lower Kuskokwim School District.
The topics addressed in readings in Lessons
Taught, Lessons Learned will be the focus of this
paper. The issue of family and individual needs is common to special
education and cross-cultural education. In fact, because of the "failure syndrome," noted
by Helen
Roberts in her article in LT/LL, many
cross-cultural children end up in special education by default. The
cultural factor, which influences everything from identification and
diagnosis to IEP planning and placement, must be addressed before
children's, families' and communities' needs can truly be met.
The 1986 federal legislation creating PL 99-457
enhances services for special needs children from birth to six years
of age. This law provides incentives to states to serve young
children with disabling conditions and creates a supplementary
program to address the special needs of infants and toddlers
birth-three. The legislation is very supportive of families and
includes a directive to create an Individual Family Service Plan
after completing a Family Needs Assessment of the strengths, goals
and aspirations of the entire family, rather than the traditional
Individual Educational Plan. The law also encourages inter-agency
collaboration which allows for more comprehensive services and better
coordination and innovative practice to meet individual, family, and
community needs than has occurred in the past.
A philosophy of education (special or regular)
and curriculum planned around principles of an integrated approach,
family involvement and support, and community-referenced instruction
benefits all participants, including students, teachers, parents and
administrators. The perspective of cultural eclecticism, as discussed
by Barnhardt
in LT/LL, relates to all children who are not quite in the mainstream
- and
what child ever feels part of the mythical mainstream? In this
approach, it is assumed that each minority group has unique
characteristics that distinguish it from other groups, and that all
groups share characteristics common to the larger society. As
Barnhardt points out, all students with individual differences gain
when the school "assists the student in understanding the nature of
the diverse experiences which are a natural part of his/her
existence, and thus contribute to the development of an integrated
cultural perspective suitable to the student's needs and
circumstances."
A phenomenon occurs within the world of the
handicapped that is similar to what occurs with other racial and
cultural minorities; that is, some individuals and some groups wish
to stress the minority culture, while others are oriented toward the
dominant culture, with still others desiring the "best of both
worlds." Some of these decisions are made because of the type of
community and educational experiences an individual has had, so I
would support the notion expressed by Barnhardt when he states: "Our
concern then is with the development of an educational approach that
respects this vast diversity, while introducing everyone to the range
of options available, so that they themselves are able to exercise
some degree of choice in their individual or group lifestyle and
goals...It is through such variation and diversity that the vitality
of the society at large is maintained, and our understanding of the
range of human potential and capabilities is deepened."
This recognition of diversity as a normal
condition is certainly ignored in many special education settings as
children are placed in self-contained special education classrooms,
sometimes according to disability. I would advocate a curriculum and
program philosophy that incorporates the notion of the naturalness of
diversity. Our educational practice of grouping children in 'litters'
as Lillian Katz describes it, is not in keeping with the natural
human experience outside the classroom. Too often, children are
grouped according to age, grade, skill level, behavior and other
factors.
An integrated, multi-cultural,
multi-exceptionality, interagency approach that recognizes parents
are usually the most important and most constant factor in a child's
life and that family and community are integral to the process is one
that will likely be the most effective in preparing a child for life
in a varied and diverse world.
The 'nuts and bolts' of this type of program
planning have to address how to incorporate these philosophical views
in policy decisions. Collaborative planning between schools and other
groups and individuals affecting the child have to take place at all
levels, including identification, diagnosis, IEP development,
curriculum planning, placement and transitioning (both from preschool
and into adult life).
The amount of stress families may feel is
related to the nature of the problems, the family's resources,
perceptions of the problem, and coping strategies. Families must meet
many demands, ranging from economic and domestic to recreation and
self-identity. In early childhood it is difficult to meet the needs
of an individual child without considering the constellation of the
whole family and the many agencies that interact with the family. The
school can play a role in helping families cope with stresses that
lie beyond the realm of education, whether it be a service role or a
referral and coordination role. It is one thing to accept parent
participation and acknowledge parents as the main decision-makers for
their children and their community, and another to leave them to
their own devices in the search for and coordination of services.
Assisting families in coping within the family, recognizing and
utilizing social support, and building better professional support
can be a goal of public education from early intervention through
vocational training. Going through each of these stages of the
special education process, we should consider family functioning
style, individual differences, social support, outside agency
services, and cultural factors.
Identification
If a child has been identified by Public Health
Service or other medical professionals and/or has been receiving
special education services from a non-public educational agency, then
the first contact the schools are likely to have will be as the child
makes the transition to the school district. However, many children
are identified for the first time by the school district during the
process of district screening programs.
One of these early identification programs is
the "child-find" process implemented in many areas. This is usually a
district-wide effort to identify children with special needs by three
years of age, in keeping with Public Law 99-142. One of the
principles set forth by this law is that schools must provide
non-discriminatory evaluation. That is, they must test and classify
children fairly, essentially by administering non-biased tests in
ways that do not put children at a disadvantage but that allow them
to display their educational abilities and disabilities. This law
also calls for parent participation and due process or opportunities
to consent or object to their child's identification, classification,
or program.
One of the problems in screening and
identification of children who are bilingual or multi-cultural is the
lack of a non-language based and non-culturally biased screening
tool. Many Infant Learning Programs and Head Start agencies have
devised their own observational checklists, though these are usually
not criterion-referenced or validated from a testing standpoint. But
they do provide additional information in identification and
curriculum planning for children whose cultural variances do not
always mesh with the standardized testing required by regulation. AsHelen
Roberts states in LT/LL, "Education in
a mass society is subversive and assimilative, especially in
cross-cultural situations." Whereas public law has ensured education
for all, it has also imposed regulations that serve to uniformly
group children, while protecting their rights. The concept of local
community control and an integrated, cross-cultural approach, as
stated by Helen Roberts, needs to be addressed with regard to special
education programs as well as regular curriculum and program
planning.
Outside of readily diagnosed handicaps usually
identified by medical and other special education professionals,
there are children identified by the school districts as
developmentally delayed, language delayed, emotionally disturbed,
etc., where cultural factors often have not been taken into account.
There are also children who are not diagnosed because of cultural
factors, and children 'at risk' who are not identified as such for
the same reasons. The preschool regulations of Alaska regarding
special education services state that children should not be
identified as 'at risk' or otherwise handicapped if the condition is
thought to result from cultural or environmental factors. This type
of vague guideline does not serve to enhance the screening and
identification of special needs children. Before children can be
identified as needing special services, research and screening tools
must be developed that reflect appropriate skill levels in a child's
primary language and take into account cultural variables in skill
development.
The families and community must make decisions
about multi-cultural goals for their children. Do they want them to
be able to enunciate p, b, d, f, v, k, g, m etc., as reflected in
English, or do they want them to be able to pronounce sounds
typically enunciated by age three in the Yup'ik or Inupiat or
Athabaskan languages? Or do they want both skills, and if so, what is
developmentally appropriate or expected of a child speaking two
languages in terms of phonetic development, receptive and expressive
language, and cognitive expression? These are questions that must be
addressed by the state and university in collaboration with local
communities so that appropriate regulations might be formed to ensure
that children who need services receive them, consistent with
parental goals, regardless of precipitating cause. Another factor in
special education screening, identification and diagnosis is that of
parent and community participation. Disenfranchisement is only
increased by an assimilative and 'imposed' approach.
The Ketchikan Borough School District utilizes
a team assessment approach together with extensive community and
parent involvement. This type of approach would be applicable in many
districts. The pre-screening information dissemination and volunteer
recruitment, as well as the use of outside agency professionals in
addition to school personnel, would all involve the community and
increase awareness and agreement with the goals of the screening. The
inclusion and collaboration with local community members and school
staff, who can serve as interpreters, facilitators, planners, etc.,
would be more in keeping with an integrated approach to education and
would reduce the feeling of being imposed upon by outside, district,
state, and other bureaucracies.
Referral and Assessment
A referral is a formal request for
multi-disciplinary assistance in identifying the special needs of a
child. A more comprehensive evaluation of functional areas of
development is provided. This process of referral and assessment can
be accomplished in a culturally sensitive manner if overall
coordination by the assessment team takes into account respect for
the family. Trust and rapport must precede decision making. One
member of the team should assume responsibility for communicating
with the family to provide notice, obtain consent, and carry out
other aspects of the parental contract. A person who already has
established a good relationship with the family and is involved on
the local school level is the ideal choice for this responsibility.
Overseeing the transition from an Infant Learning Program or
initiating the family into the workings of the school and the special
education services available should be the duty of one team member.
This person could conduct a family need assessment if the child was
at the pre-school level. Family strengths, concerns, needs, support
systems, and functional style would be assessed, as well as a
developmental history of the child. The case manager would ensure
that the family is aware of their rights and had given consent, and
are functional participants in the entire process from assessment
through program implementation.
When a special need is not initially identified
until during the school years, more attention to the pre-referral
stage should take place. Since more mildly disabled children are
usually identified during the school years and referral often occurs
because of success or failure in performance of class work and tests,
or as a result of behavioral observations, schools should provide
consultation assistance to teachers considering referral. A
pre-referral process might consist of an assessment of the
discrepancy between the student's performance and the teacher's
and/or parents' desired expectations. The first step then could be
implementing a program to narrow this discrepancy with an integrated
approach, rather than separating the student from the regular
curriculum.
Planning and
Implementation
For the very young child, it is appropriate
that the focus of intervention should be the interaction between
parent and child. For older children, it is imperative that the
parents be active participants and collaborators in all areas of
programming. The case manager can ensure that the family has
information about local and regional resources to meet their needs
and that their knowledge base is expanded in areas that directly or
indirectly affect child and family. The inclusion of family promotes
an integrated approach to education. Keeping 'professional'
information privy only to the professionals undermines parents'
capacity to be part of their child's development. Home visits,
modeling effective practices, listening, and addressing concerns and
questions are all part of a respect for parents of any
culture.
The steps outlined by Barnhardt for
implementing a project-centered approach to curriculum design and
instruction for minority students are also applicable to minority
students with a disability or to exceptional students who are a
minority among 'normal' students. These steps in curriculum planning
and implementation include:
1) Obtaining information from the
social environment
2) Formulating and testing hypotheses about
forces and processes present in the environment
3) Selecting and describing some part of the
situation which is to be changed or altered
4) Planning action to solve the
problem
5) Carrying out action, enlisting the help
and cooperation of others
6) Verbalizing attitudes, perceptions and
tentative learnings from the experience
Thus content, process and experience can be
integrated in a collective approach, which can work very well in
collaboration with families to address the problem of program
planning for the exceptional student.
In conclusion, I would like to state that the
philosophy and policy of taking into account cultural differences,
including exceptionality, family style and preferences, and fostering
community involvement and control, can only be implemented with
changes in attitude, education and training at every level of the
educational process. To the extent that people are diverse and
varied, they have individual characteristics and preferences that
must be taken into account, and communities should have an option for
local consensus and the implementation of that consensus of opinion
within the local schools. Every culture has its own ways. As Gilbert
Grosvenor, president of the National Geographic Society, has pointed
out, "If we were to truly understand the French, or Italians, or
Japanese, or Egyptians, we must do more than study their geography,
history, and literature or learn to speak their language. We must
make an effort to see the world from their point of view It's the
differences among us, after all, that make life interesting. They
define and enrich us. And as long as we try to recognize in our
behavior our own hidden cultural assumptions, perhaps we can avoid
those awkward situations that keep us from getting to know each other
better" (National Geographic, July, 1989).
Foreword
Ray Barnhardt
Part I *
Rural School Ideals
"My
Goodness, People Come and Go So Quickly Around
Here"
Lance C. Blackwood
Parental Involvement
in a Cross-Cultural Environment
Monte Boston
Teachers and
Administrators for Rural Alaska
Claudia Caffee
The Mentor Teacher
Program
Judy Charles
Building
Networks
Helen Eckelman
Ideal Curriculum and
Teaching Approaches for a School in Rural
Alaska
Teresa McConnell
Some Observations
Concerning Excellent Rural Alaskan Schools
Bob Moore
The Ideal Rural
Alaska Village School
Samuel Moses
From Then To Now:
The Value of Experiential Learning
Clara Carol Potterville
The Ideal
School
Jane Seaton
Toward an Integrated,
Nonlinear, Community-Oriented Curriculum
Unit
Mary Short
A Letter from
Idealogak, Alaska
Timothy Stathis
Preparing
Rural Students for the Future
Michael Stockburger
The Ideal
Rural School
Dawn Weyiouanna
Alternative
Approaches to the High School Curriculum
Mark J. Zintek
Part II *
Rural Curriculum Ideas
"Masking" the
Curriculum
Irene Bowie
On Punks and
Culture
Louise J. Britton
Literature to Meet
the Needs of Rural Students
Debra Buchanan
Reaching the Gifted
Student Via the Regular Classroom
Patricia S. Caldwell
Early Childhood Special
Education in Rural Alaska
Colleen Chinn
Technically
Speaking
Wayne Day
Process Learning
Through the School Newspaper
Marilyn Harmon
Glacier Bay
History: A Unit in Cultural Education
David Jaynes
Principals of
Technology
Brian Marsh
Here's Looking
at You and Whole Language
Susan Nugent
Inside, Outside and
all-Around: Learning to Read and Write
Mary L. Olsen
Science Across
the Curriculum
Alice Porter
Here's Looking at
You 2000 Workshop
Cheryl Severns
School-Based
Enterprises
Gerald Sheehan
King Island
Christmas: A Language Arts Unit
Christine Pearsall Villano
Using Student-Produced
Dialogues
Michael A. Wilson
We-Search and
Curriculum Integration in the Community
Sally Young
Artist's
Credits
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