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DINER MENU ASSESSMENT

Katy McKellar
EDEX 3200 Final Assessment
Dr. Kim Muschaweck
April 29, 2021
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DINER MENU ASSESSMENT
Appetizer
Special education is special because it creates a space for individuals with
exceptionalities that stray from those who are neurotypical, and it is accepting of a wide
arrangement of any and every one of those differences. In general education, students are
typically taught in large groups with one dominant style of learning being considered by the
teacher. Teachers generally do not have the ability to interact with their teacher in a one-on-
one or even a small group setting, which is commonplace in special education classrooms.
Depending upon the exceptionalities that students in special education classrooms have, they
will receive services in smaller group settings or individually to provide the attention that they
need.
Special education teachers differentiate from other teachers by creating a style of
learning that is not only individualized to the individuals that they teach, but they also provide
services that go beyond the individualized curriculum to cater to specific exceptionalities that
their students have. Special education teachers serve their students with what they need to be
successful and reach their full potential as individuals, which looks different for every student.
This means that they work with the student and the students’ parents and/or guardians to
create an Individualized Education Plan that they follow to structure and differentiate their
curriculum to specifically meet and provide the services that the student needs to achieve
success.

Entrée
The order in which the different sections of an IEP should be completed begins with the
collection of data from a student’s assessments and evaluations, parental concerns, general
education and special education teacher concerns, and any previously documented
accommodations and/or special education services that the student may have received. The
amount of data on a student will be dependent upon how old they are, how impacted they are
by their disability, and if they have received services for their disability before. Either way, all
this data will be compiled into an FIE, Full and Individual Evaluation, which is a collective of all
information relevant to completing a student’s IEP, both deficits/areas for improvement and
strengths. Once the FIE has been completed, the student’s special education teacher will
combine all this information into a rough draft of the IEP. They will take this information to
primarily determine which categories of disabilities the student will be eligible to receive
services for. Next, the teacher will complete the PLAAFP, the Present Level of Academic
Achievement and Functional Performance, including assessment data, strengths, areas for
improvement, and impact of disability on general education performance. The PLAAFP will then
allow the teacher to determine if students have any special factors that will impact their
educational performance outside of their disability for eligibility. Next, teachers can consider
the deficits that a student has because of their disability and create annual and short-term
goals to be implemented into the student’s education. To assist the student in achieving these
goals, teachers will create supports for students inside and outside of the classroom and in
standardized testing. Finally, the teacher can determine if the student requires any services
outside of special education or related services during school hours, such as transportation or
an extended school year. The teacher will present their draft of the IEP to parents, teachers, the
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student (if they are old enough) and any other members present at the meeting to finalize the
document and determine if they need to make any changes to the Plan.

Side Dishes
1. An effective teacher is someone who takes their personal experiences as a student and
an educator to structure the curriculum that they are required to teach into lesson
plans, assignments, and assessments to instruct each of their students in a manner that
meets them on a personal level to make a connection with their background and
individualities. To be a truly effective teacher, one must make a consistent, conscious
effort to not only know their content very well, but to know their students even better.
Although I have never received special education services, I have had many
effective teachers who helped me when I had a 504 for mental health difficulties in high
school. The effective teachers that I had in this scenario made the time to talk to me
during and outside the designated class time to ask me how they can help me to
complete my assignments in a timely manner, such as weekly check-ins, extended time
to turn in late work if I was struggling to complete it, and a shoulder to cry on in a safe
space if I needed one. My effective dance teachers would take time at the beginning of
each class to ask us how we were doing in our personal lives and allow us to share any
good news or bad news that may impact our performance during class, which showed
that they truly cared about us and understood that dance was not our whole lives.
However, they would also ask that we dropped whatever was on our minds about life at
the door when we came in so that we could be fully focused on dancing. I have had
similar teachers in school who provided us with lessons and activities that were so
engaging and personally relatable to me and my peers that we forgot everything that
was happening outside of their classroom and became fully focused on the task at hand,
which enabled us to perform at our best abilities.

2. In a PLAAFP, it is important to include the assessment data that identifies any deficits
that a student may have. There are a wide range of exceptionalities and disabilities that
individuals who receive special education services may be diagnosed with, therefore
there are a wide range of assessments that may be conducted on students to evaluate
1. If a student does meet the criteria for the disability that they are being assessed on
and 2. How much and in which areas a student is impacted by that disability, such as
intellectually, socially, physically, psychologically, physiologically, or a combination of
multiple areas.

Dessert
When constructing an IEP, it is important to know information about the
community in which a student resides because each community has a different set of cultural
norms, funding for school, level of education of adults, and the socioeconomic status of the
families of students in the school population. Each of these community factors will affect the
quality of education that students get and the number of financial resources that are available
to provide them with the services that they need. Therefore, depending upon the resources of
a community, a teacher may or may not be able to list certain accommodations and services for
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their students on their IEPs. For this reason, teachers should research what resources they have
and take that into consideration when they determine how they will serve their students and
what they can and cannot give them. However, I think that this is also an opportunity for
teachers to become involved in legislation and the school board to advocate for more funding
to be allocated to the services that their students need and to make that happen.