TESOL's web site takes advantage of basic web standards that your browser is unable to support. While our site will not display in the way it was intended, the page content should still perfectly viewable in any internet capable device.
You can choose from a variety of browsers (many of them are free), by visiting the Web Standards Project site
Online Course on Separating Difference from Disability with Students Learning English as an Additional Language
Home
: Education
: Online Education
: Special Needs ELL
Print this page
E-mail this page
Separating Difference from Disability with Students Learning English as an Additional Language
October 24–November 20, 2011
Catherine Collier, Instructor
Course Overview
Registration for TESOL Global Members Only
Secure Online Registration for All Other Registrants (Member and Nonmember)
Registration Form (PDF)
Registration Fees
Course Overview
Current U.S. law requires that before a student is identified as having a disability, language development and acquisition must be ruled out as a primary factor in the student’s learning and behavior problems. This workshop highlights specific intervention and identification strategies that are most effective in separating difference from disability within English language learner and other education programs serving standard English learners, nonnative English speakers, and limited English proficient students. Presenter addresses the challenge of identifying when a learning or behavior problem is due to language learning difference versus a language disorder. Participants discuss instruction and intervention for culturally and linguistically diverse learners with learning and behavior problems.
Description
A growing number of students from diverse racial, cultural and linguistic backgrounds have unique learning needs as they acquire school English and adapt to the culture of the American educational system. Among this diverse population of students are at-risk learners and learners with a variety of disabilities. School professionals are held accountable for monitoring and assessing the degree to which language learning is affecting academic achievement. The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires school personnel to establish and document language difference versus language disorder and language learning difference versus learning disability. This situation presents school districts and even the most experienced education professional with unique challenges and remains a serious test of service proportionality in American schools. The needs of these diverse learners are not being appropriately addressed when “difference” is used to disproportionately place diverse learners in speech pathology services and special education nor when students from diverse backgrounds are denied special services when they have limited English proficiency.
This 4- week course addresses specific issues in assessment, intervention and identification strategies that are most effective in separating difference from disability. Participants will learn what tools and strategies are available and appropriate to use. RtI models for English Language Learners will also be explored, focusing upon the interpretation of data gathered during the general education intervention problem-solving process, prior to conducting an evaluation for special education.
Who Should Attend?
K–12 practitioners working with ELLs in general education, bilingual education, and special education.
In this workshop, participants will
Presenter
Dr. Catherine Collier has over 45 years experience in equity, cross-cultural, bilingual, and special education beginning with Civil Rights voter registration in 1964. She completed her Ph.D. with research into the referral of Latino/Hispanic students to special education programs. For eight years, she was a classroom bilingual/ESL teacher, special education resource room teacher, and diagnostician for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Arizona and Alaska. She established and directed the Chinle Valley School, Dine Bitsiis Baa Aha Yaa, bilingual services for Navajo students with severe and multiple disabilities for the Navajo Nation. She was the director of a teacher-training program, Ikayurikiit Unatet for the University of Alaska for seven years, preparing Yup’ik Eskimo paraprofessionals for certification as bilingual preschool, elementary, and special educators. She was an itinerant (diagnostician/special education) for Child Find in remote villages in Alaska. For eight years, Dr. Collier worked with the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education, Research, and Evaluation at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she created and directed the Bilingual Special Education curriculum/Training project (BISECT), a nationally recognized effort. She was the Director of Resource and Program Development for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and is a Sequoyah Fellow.
Dr. Collier is the author of several books and articles on cross-cultural and multilingual special education. She is active in social justice activities for culturally and linguistically diverse learners and families. She started the first bilingual special education programs for the Navajo Nation and the White Mountain Apache. She works extensively with school districts on professional and program development for at-risk diverse learners. Dr. Collier provides technical assistance to university, local, and state departments of education regarding programs serving at-risk cognitively, culturally and linguistically diverse learners. She works with national organizations to provide professional development in the intersection of crosscultural, multilingual, diversity, special needs issues in education.
She is the director of the national professional development project Curriculum Integration for Responsive, CrossCultural, Language-based Education (CIRCLE) at Western Washington University. She is the principal developer of the screening and software program “Acculturation Quick Screen” and many instruction, assessment and intervention materials for diverse learners. Her most recent publications are a chapter on acculturation in the Multicultural Handbook for School Psychologists, and two books, Response to Intervention for Diverse Learners and Seven Steps for Separating Difference and Disability.
Technology Requirements
You can run a system check at https://uwec.courses.wisconsin.edu/ to ensure your computer system is properly configured for D2L web courses.
Join TESOL today and receive the member rate for TESOL's online course.
|
Registration Fee | |
| TESOL Member |
$350 |
| TESOL Global Members* |
$140 |
| Nonmember |
$475 |
How to register
At no additional charge, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Continuing Education will grant 4 CEUs when you complete the course.
Registration Terms
Registrations are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Each course is limited to 35 participants. Spaces for participants at the special rate are limited to 6 participants per course.
Payment for all purchase orders must be received in full before the start date of the course. Participants registering with a purchase order should follow up with their employer to ensure timely payment.
Refund Policy
Requests for refunds of registration fee MUST be received by October 14, 2011. Except for participants who registered at the special rate, a $75 processing fee will be deducted from the amount to be refunded. Requests for refunds made later than 5 calendar days before the start date of the course will not receive a refund.
Program CancellationTESOL reserves the right to cancel any course because of low registration or events beyond TESOL's control. In the unlikely event of cancellation, registrants will be notified and offered the option to switch to a different course or receive a full refund.
TESOL reserves the right to substitute course instructors in the unlikely event that instructors listed cannot conduct the courses. Substitution of course instructors is not a cause for refund.
If you have any questions about the program, please contact edprograms@tesol.org.
