Intervention and Referral Services:
Each school in the district has its own Intervention and Referral Services (I&RS) Committee. The purpose of the committee is to meet with teachers who are encountering difficulties (academic, behavioral, social, etc.) with students in their classrooms in an effort to brainstorm and generate potential solutions. The teacher is required to complete a referral form which must list all interventions that have been attempted and to document the effectiveness or lack thereof of these prior interventions. The committee, which usually includes a classroom teacher from each grade level in the building, the building principal, the I&RS coordinator and any other personnel/staff deemed necessary or appropriate to assist in the process. Parents are notified in advance that the I&RS committee will be meeting to discuss their child. At the meeting, the teacher presents the child’s strengths and weaknesses for the committee. Target behaviors are identified and a specific problem behavior is selected from these to address. The behavioral objective is listed and multiple interventions are suggested by the committee. A list is generated from which the teacher selects the intervention(s) that he/she will utilize in the classroom. An intervention plan is formulated and printed and a follow-up date is identified.
The classroom teacher will provide feedback to the student’s parent(s) regarding the I&RS plan and will be responsible for monitoring the plan.To view a copy of a PowerPoint presentation given to the District SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Committee) on December 3 & 11, 2014, kindly click here: December 2014 I&RS Presentation at SEPAC General Meetings
Basic Skills Instruction:
When a student is experiencing difficulty acquiring a particular skill or skills at any grade level a referral may be made by the child’s teacher for basic skills instruction in that area. The referral will be made to the building principal who will determine the appropriateness of the referral. If the referral is appropriate the student will be provided with the services of a basic skills teacher to address the difficulty or weakness. The instruction will usually be provided during a time that does not disrupt the child’s regular education instructional time.
Sometimes a child will be referred for basic skills instruction based on standardized test data only, or in addition to teacher referral.