What is the Overlap of ELL and SPED?

The line between English Language Learners (ELL) and Special Education Students (SPED) is blurred at times. It is difficult for parents and staff to keep track of all the changes and make sense of what they mean. I believe that there is much work to be done in the area of helping students that are classified as ELL and SPED and improving the instruction given to them.

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Transcript

Unknown Speaker  0:00  
Welcome to inclusive education IRL. Today's episode is going to be about the relationship between English language learners and, and special education students. So to clarify special education students, and English language learner students are not the same group of people, unless they are a student can be an English language learner and not have special education services. And I think sometimes that gets muddied up when teachers try to teach English language learners. And they are not. They're not progressing the way that teachers expect them to, because they are learning in a language that they don't know how to speak. So often they get classified or referred to special education services. And sometimes those are needed, and sometimes they are not. I've heard people that have been ELL students, and they have received sped services, but they didn't need them per se, and they didn't feel good about that experience. The staff working with the particular students have a lot of insight or time or care. So a lot of mistakes are made pretty consistently, in my opinion, especially dealing with students that are English language learners, and need special education services. Because this is a group of students that need way more supports and specialized instruction, which is very difficult for teachers to kind of follow through with because it needs so much planning and tracking, and reflecting on your own practice in order to be effective. And also it's kind of an uphill battle for teachers, because often it feels like the only time that they receive formal English instruction or hear Standard English or practice these skills are during their brief times with us in the classroom, which is definitely not enough time for a student to master English. So the benefit of being an ELL student and a sped student at the same time, which is possible, but isn't always the case is that someone is going to be paying closer attention to your growth than if you are not a sped student, because sped students have a case manager which is usually their special education teacher that has to check in with students quarterly to to mark their growth on their goals, their academic goals or social emotional goals or counseling goals, whatever they have, and make sure that services are being provided. And if their English language learners students also have English language development goals. So kind of ensures those students who get more specialized instruction from their special education teacher which is actually in charge of their English language development goals. Even if they are in a class designed for English language learners. That teacher is not in charge of that students English language development and goals sped teacher and that ELD teacher English Language Development Teacher supposed to collaborate on the goal and the progress towards that goal. So if you're a sped student, and an ELL student, you're definitely receiving a lot more specialized instruction, and instructors making sure that you're making some type of progress. Unfortunately, a lot of your students if they're in a il D class, they don't receive as much individual attention. They're just given assignments, expected to grow from them without any like specialized instruction. And that's also just like a period of the day like a period or just like an hour within the school day.

Unknown Speaker  4:55  
So in my own personal opinion Think that ELL students that are also sped students should receive the most specialized instruction, which wouldn't just be going through the motions of being in a class or a period of the day. Because these students are struggling, one to understand the language. And, for example, I work with ELL and sped students that have both of those labels on them. And some of these students have trouble using the word in a sentence, mainly because they don't hear anyone say the word. In conversation in other parts of their day, they understand what the word means. And they can say it when it's the only word that they are focusing on saying, but they cannot integrate the word into their sentences, or when it's written out. So students like that need a lot of creative ways to integrate the word and modeling and just opportunities for them to use the word in everyday use, and then the writing, and when the reading. So this means slower pace, which usually doesn't mix well with standards, it doesn't fit well with teacher pacing, to have a slower pace, because often, teachers are pressured to go over a set of standards. And they, if they feel like they're going too slow, then they're not going to be able to reach all the standards that the state is expecting them to cover. So that's a big part of the inner turmoil of a lot of teachers. And sometimes the external pressure is from their admin as well that they have to go over these standards. So the students can perform well on the test. Because usually, the standards are the ones that are being tested. students really benefit from going at a slower pace. That way, they can integrate this knowledge into what they're doing already. And it's really motivating for students learn at a smaller case, because they start to see themselves, being able to master things and then motivates them to want to learn outside of school, which I think is the biggest challenge for teachers. Because if you are only practicing when someone is basically forcing you to practice, you're not going to improve as much as if you're excited to learn and apply your new skills within the classroom or outside of it. Or like finding information that's interesting to you. So I think that's the most effective way of teaching these students. And it's really hard to kind of track their progress during the school day, with all the other things that we're supposed to do. So in the future, when, in the future, I wish there was sped teachers that only worked with ELL students, and only thought about providing high quality instruction for these students. Because there's a lot to kind of plan for and ensure that they're getting the support that they need. And especially collaborating with the general education teachers to make sure that they also have some of the same strategies and training them and giving the general education teachers enough time to kind of plan around the students in their class. Like, planning time that's not like on their own time, like during the school day is difficult to imagine in the current way that school is set up. But it's definitely possible that people are concerned about students learning and making the job more sustainable for the people working there. That is today's episode. Thank you so much.

Unknown Speaker  9:44  
I talked about the areas of differences and similarities between English language learning students and special education students, and how they overlap and how We can better serve these students and some things to look forward to in the future, some future goals. For my next episode, I really want to talk about critical race theory. I've been hearing a lot about it in the news, so that kind of seems exciting, studied it in college, like a part of a course. And it is kind of mind blowing that people are talking about it. And I think they're also talking about it a little bit out of context. So it's gonna be fun to go and research and then come back with something synthesized for you all to listen to. So if you're listening to this on Apple podcasts, please rate this five stars. That way people can find this more often. And if you're not on Apple, go ahead and share this with your favorite educator. I'm gonna keep making more episodes. Hopefully a shorter one. At least