- Exclusionary Conditions Statement #1: Factors Not Primary or Contributory
Were any external factors discovered which could account for STUDENT’s learning difficulties?
No. We carefully examined and reviewed many factors include but not limited to, such things as school attendance lack of school experience, cultural or linguistic difference and economic disadvantage, but found no evidence to indicate that any one or combination of these things were primary causes of STUDENT’s learning difficulties. STUDENT attends a school with an approximately 30% Hispanic population and has been observed to interact with all other children, Hispanic and Anglo alike. He has, on occasion, been observed speaking in English with other children, but it is quite clear that he is Spanish dominant and much more comfortable in that language. He has been in a bilingual instructional program since entering kindergarten at his present school and the structure and quality of the curriculum and instruction he has received appears to have been both appropriate and consistent. He resides in a community that is predominantly middle class and white, but his immediate neighborhood and the surrounding community does contain many other families who express and share his family’s cultural heritage, beliefs, customs, and religious practices. STUDENT’s parents are able to support his Spanish language development and provide adequate language models for him in the home. They are not, however, able to do the same with English. In general, STUDENT’s family and living situation can be described as adequate and are in no way indicative of environmental or economic disadvantage which might be affecting his learning in the classroom. Consequently, the factors described above do not appear to be either contributory of primary causes of STUDENT’s observed educational difficulties and are insufficient to preclude the presence of a disability or exclude him from receiving special education services.
- Exclusionary Conditions Statement #2: Factors Contributory But Not Primary
Yes and no. We carefully examined many factors including, but not limited to, such things as school attendance, lack of school experience, cultural/linguistic difference, and environmental or economic disadvantage, and found some evidence to indicate that STUDENT’s suspected learning difficulties can be at least partially attributed to a combination of external factors. A review of the available evidence indicates that the natural process of second language acquisition and English-only instruction (i.e., lack of primary or native language instruction) are significant factors that are contributing to his current academic delays. STUDENT’s academic, familial, cultural, and language histories are consistent with the known processes of bilingual development and are usually sufficient to contradict the existence of a learning disability. Because research on bilingual development and second language acquisition has demonstrated that it take approximately 5 to 7 years to develop conversational and academic skills in a second language, it is reasonable to expect second language functioning to lag well behind that of native language speakers. This assumes, of course, that a solid bilingual program is providing adequate primary language instruction in addition to English language development. We know that STUDENT did not receive primary language instruction, and as such, it is clear that he can not be expected to be at the same level as that of his monolingual (English speaking) peers. On the other hand, STUDENT resides in a community that is predominantly middle class and white, but his immediate neighborhood and the surrounding community does contain many other families who express and share his family’s cultural heritage, beliefs, customs, and religious practices. STUDENT’s parents are able to support his English and Spanish language development and provide adequate language models for him in the home. STUDENT’s family and living situation can be described as adequate and are in no way indicative of environmental or economic disadvantage which might be affecting his learning in the classroom. In sum, there is evidence to indicate that at least some of STUDENT’s current difficulties with language arts and written communication skills are the result of these factors. In sum, the factors described above seem to contradict the presence of a disability and are definitely contributory causes in Sergio’s poor academic performance. However, at this time there is insufficient evidence to conclude that they are the primary or sole causes of STUDENT’s observed learning difficulties and are, therefore, insufficient to preclude the presence of a disability or to exclude him from receiving special education services.
- Exclusionary Conditions Statement #3: Factors Primary
Yes. We carefully examined many factors including, but not limited to, such things as school attendance, lack of school experience, cultural/linguistic difference, and environmental or economic disadvantage, and found clear evidence to indicate that STUDENT’s suspected learning difficulties can be primarily attributed to a combination of external factors. A review of the available evidence indicates that the natural process of second language acquisition, premature transition to English only instruction, and the lack of primary or native language instruction in the upper grades, are all significant factors in contributing to STUDENT’s current academic delays. STUDENT’s academic, familial, cultural and language histories are consistent with the known process of bilingual development and contradict the existence of a learning disability. There is considerable evidence to indicate that a large part of STUDENT’s relative difficulties with language arts and communication skills are the result of an early transition from primary language instruction (3rd grade) into English only instruction before the development of necessary cognitive academic language skills had occurred. Consequently, academic achievement tends to suffer due to lack of experience with the English language and little support for sheltered instruction to support continued linguistic development.
Because research on bilingual development and second language acquisition has demonstrated that it takes approximately 5 to 7 years to develop conversational and academic skills in a second language, it is reasonable to expect second language functioning to lag well behind that of native language speakers. This assumes, of course, that a solid bilingual program is providing adequate primary language instruction. We know that STUDENT was transitioned into English only instruction in 3rd grade and coupled with the fact that English cannot be supported in the home to the degree necessary for academic success, it is clear that STUDENT cannot be expected to be at the same level as that of her monolingual (English speaking) peers. The pattern of results gathered from both formal and informal sources over the course of this evaluation appear to support the notion that much of STUDENT’s difficulties are the result of a premature transition to English only curriculum, consistent lack of comprehensible input during instruction, limited English language experience, and the unavailability of home language support in English. In addition to linguistic factors, there is also considerable evidence to indicate that much of STUDENT’s inability to maintain age and grade appropriate progress is related to cultural factors. STUDENT is one of only a handful of children who are of Mexican heritage at her school and observations of her interactions with others clearly shows that she does not feel like a valued or important part of her school or class. She admits to often feeling alone and lonely and does not have any real friends at her school. During recess, she prefers to read books or assist the librarian in checking books out and in. She does not actively or spontaneously engage in activities with her peers and has reported that she in not invited to participate in out-of-school activities with them (e.g., birthday parties, sleep-overs, etc.). She stated that what she likes best about her school are the teachers but not anything else. It is quite apparent that the effects of cultural isolation and the corresponding social alienation that it produces has and continues to undermine STUDENT’s confidence, self-esteem, motivation and ability to perform up to potential. Overall, these factors do not represent a disability and are believed to be the primary, if not sole, causes of the pattern of suspected difficulties seen in STUDENT’s academic work.
- This examiner also reviewed STUDENT’s progress in the intervention program(s) in comparison to students of similar language, economic and cultural background. While students at a similar level in these areas were making steady progress, STUDENT’s progress was significantly lower.
- Significant environmental, cultural, economic factors that affect current educational status:
The following factors have been ruled out as the primary cause of STUDENT’s educational difficulties: Educational: poor attendance, attendance at a non-accredited school, number of schools attended, socio-economic status of schools attended; Cultural or linguistic disadvantage: Recent immigration from another country, cultural values which are distinctly different from those of the majority culture, bilingual/bicultural background of the family, and influence of language and dialect on school performance; Environmental or economic disadvantage: Extreme disruption or disorganization of the family unit, significant family events (e.g., family crisis, divorce, death, etc.), responsibilities which interfere with learning and school attendance, poor school adjustment and performance of siblings, substandard housing or living conditions, negative parental attitude toward education and school, medical or physical problems (e.g., vision, hearing, disease, illness), limited and experiential background, history of transience, inadequate nutrition, physical or emotional abuse or neglect.
Yes / No Do attendance patterns show that the student has changed schools so often, or has not attended school enough, that normal achievement gains were not possible?
Yes / No Have there been any significant or traumatic events in the student’s life that contribute to the current learning problems?
Yes / No Are there any factors in the student’s school history that may be related to the current difficulty?
Yes / No Are there any variables related to family history that may have affected school performance?
Yes / No Are there any variables related to the student’s medical history that may have affected school performance?
Yes / No Is the student’s cultural background different from the culture of the school and larger society?
The information on this page was adapted from:
- Resource Materials from the Ventura County SELPA Spring 2011 Non-Discriminatory Assessment: Exercises in Clinical Judgment Informal Networking Event for SLP’ and School Psychologist Presented by Marianne Szijj, M.S. CCC-SLP and Vida Martinez, M.S. School Psychologist
- Various School Psychologist’s reports from within the Ventura County SELPA
