St.Ita's & St.Joseph's School

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The Referral Procedure for Admission to the School The concept of special educational needs - that certain children need additional help to enable them to achieve their potential as human beings is now well established in most developed countries. The special disabilities and environmental circumstances which create special needs can result in handicapping conditions, varying from the very mild, to severe or even to a profound degree of handicap. However, nearly all children with special educational needs can be divided into three major groups depending on the nature and degree of their disability. Firstly, there are those children, the vast majority with special educational needs, whose learning difficulties are of such a nature and degree that their needs can be met in the ordinary schools by a temporary period of remedial help from the learning support teacher which sufficiently boosts their attainments to allow them to catch up with their peers in an ordinary class. Such pupils are normally those whose achievement is at a low level and who are at risk of not reaching adequate levels of proficiency in literacy and numeracy before leaving primary school. Among this group may be found a small number of pupils who have a specific learning disability and may need additional specialist provision. Secondly, there are those children who make up the second largest group with learning difficulties (viz those children having mild general learning difficulties) whose needs can be met in schools such as St. Ita's & St. Joseph's. These children's needs are such as to require not just a temporary period of remedial help but the continuous experience which is necessary to promote each individual child's development through growth of knowledge and understanding; sensitivity and moral sense; through acquisition and exercise of skill; and through becoming an active and responsible member of society. The goal of their education is to maintain themselves independently in the community, and in gainful employment as well as to meet and conform to other personal and social responsibilities set by the community. In so far as the I.Q's of this group can be said to be a measure of their ability, they will usually score between 50 and 70 points when tested on such intelligence tests as the Wechsler intelligence Scale for Children (W.I.S.C.). However, psychologists may sometimes recommend admission of a pupil with I.Q. levels somewhat greater that 70 points if it is to the child's advantage. Thirdly, there is a small fraction of the school-going population, about a half of one per cent, whose needs are met in schools for moderately handicapped children. These children require a very sophisticated form of education to enable them to reach their potential which is usually personal and social competence within a sheltered or semi-sheltered environment. In so far as the I.Q.'s of this group can be said to be a measure of their ability they will usually score below 50 I.Q. points on such tests as the W.I.S.C. There are two schools in Kerry catering for such children: one is situated in Listowel (Nano Nagle School) and the other at Beaufort, Killarney (St. Francis School which is run by the Franciscan Sisters). Children are referred for special education only after a most thorough investigation of each child to determine where the balance of advantage lies for him/her in terms of the quality of educational provision available. If the full potential of pupils with special needs is to be realised, it is important that parents, teachers etc. refer the children for assessment as soon as obvious learning problems are manifested. Time is of the essence in getting to grips with learning problems. As stated earlier it is our experience, children who are referred to our school after the age of twelve years do not succeed as well as those referred at a much earlier age. Historically, (See "Assessment, A Teacher's Guide to the Issues", Hodder and Stoughten, 1993, pp 3-6) special educational provision was contingent upon extra resources (considerably more than those provided for the ordinary pupil) being made available to pupils with special needs by the relevant authorities. In the early part of the last century, Cyril Burt psychologist with the Inner London Education Authority found that the authority had sufficient resources to give additional help to about 11% of its school-going population. Coincidentally, he found that of all the pupils tested, the 11% found to be functioning at the lower end of the continuum of achievement as measured by the intelligence test administered to them had I.Q. scores of 70 points or less. Thus it was administratively expedient to single out those who had I.Q. scores of 70 points or less for special educational intervention. The I.Q. score of 70 is no longer used as the sole criterion or 'cut off point' for determining who should or should not be entitled to special educational provision. Nowadays, psychologists use a more enlightened and reliable approach to the problem of selection: their evaluation paradigm consists of getting pertinent data and information on the pupil's functioning from eclectic sources (e.g. information from the child's home, school, family doctor, results of psychometric tests etc.) before forming a judgement on the most suitable educational placement for the particular child. Children who are likely to have learning problems should be identified as soon as possible. The class teacher has a very onerous role in the early identification of learning problems. Careful observation and recording by him/her form the most important part of an efficient system of diagnosing the child's problems. A crucial time for getting to grips with backwardness is from seven to nine years. Teachers see by then that children who are not ready for formal school work may be in need of special help. Children of any age in the primary school may be referred for assessment. Even children of twelve and thirteen years of age may be referred if a teacher considers that they would have difficulty in coping with secondary school. Who should be referred for psychological, educational and perhaps medical assessments? It would seem a sensible policy to select those children whose all round backwardness seems to require more than just a temporary period of remedial help. For these pupils, possibly about 1½ % of the total school-going population, it would be advisable to have them assessed by a psychologist. Of particular concern would be those children who: · consistently achieve extremely low scores or perhaps fail to register a score on norm referenced tests. · have been a source of concern to their class teacher because of a marked or severe difference between their rate of learning and that of their peers. · fail to make even rudimentary progress without continuous and intensive one-to-one tuition. · present with problems in social adaptive functioning as a result of their learning difficulties - the child may become withdrawn, disaffected, attention seeking and boisterous, depressed or socially isolated. What to observe? Look at: 1. The child's level of attainment in the basic subjects and compare with that of peers. 2. The child's level of language and speech. 3. The child's standard of achievement in other areas of the curriculum: art, practical subjects, physical education, etc. 4. The child's emotional and social behaviour - in the classroom, with others at play and at work. 5. The child's interest and attitude towards school. 6. The child's home environment. Much depends on the awareness and observation by the teacher to recognise early signs of emotional, social and learning difficulties. Having observed all these facets and the school having attempted a remedial or compensatory programme and still found the child to be demonstrably behind his peers, the child should be referred for medical, psychological and educational assessments to determine more fully the nature and extent of his/her difficulties. To be eligible for enrolment in St. Ita's & St. Joseph's School children have to be assessed and recommended by a psychologist (educational or clinical). Assessments are being carried out by the following: (i) the office of the Chief Medical Officer, Southern Health Board, 19-21 Denny Street, Tralee, Phone: 066 7121566 (The Brothers of Charity Services currently carry out the psychological assessments on behalf of the Board). See 'Application Form for Assessment of Pupils' on Page 31. (ii) the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), Tel: 01 8892700 (Dublin), 021 4906011 (Cork). This service is free. (iii) by private arrangement with a psychologist. A number of psychologists in Kerry are now providing such a service. There is a charge for this service. See Golden Pages of the telephone directory under the heading 'Psychologists'. No teacher should be reluctant to refer a child for assessment on the grounds that the child may be found to be not in need of special educational intervention. Even if a child is found not to be in need of special education by a psychologist, the report on the child should help the teacher to better plan teaching strategies for the child. Where there is doubt, it would seem a sensible policy for the teacher to refer a child for assessment rather than take a chance with the child's future. Psychologists also have a very important role in helping children with emotional problems. Children may also be referred for assessment on the basis that they may have an emotional problem e.g. school phobia, acute anxiety, autistic tendencies etc. Not surprisingly perhaps, given the vulnerable status of their competencies in relation to others in their environment, learning disabled children typically display less positive self concepts than their non learning disabled peers (Chapman 1988; Szivos & Griffiths 1990; and Jones 1992). In so far as school attendance constitutes a large and integral part of child and adolescent life experience, negative self evaluation often manifests itself in poor academic self concept at the outset, but with repeated and crippling experience of failure in this very salient realm, this can spiral and diversify to adversely affect the totality of the child's sense of self worth. Repeated exposure to situations in which failure is reinforced and together with continuous unfavourable self comparison with more able peers often produces the self defeatist behaviour which is characteristic of the learning disabled - lowered expectancy of success or 'failure set', avoidance behaviours, non-involvement, reduced effort or token observance of academic tasks (Logan & Rose 1982; Jones 1992). Consistent and tangible experience of success is vital in rehabilitating children with such difficulties, and special school placement can be instrumental in providing children with the opportunity to experience such success. Small class sizes ensure that pupils receive greater individual attention and work to a programme of work carefully tailored to suit their individual levels of ability. Small numbers also afford the teacher the opportunity to develop a more personal relationship with the children under his/her care, making it more likely that motivational problems may be adequately addressed. Research has indeed indicated that substantial reduction in class size can have a significant effect on children's performance, particularly in the case of disadvantaged children (Finn & Achilles 1990). In addition, favourable comparison with a reference group of similar ability can greatly enhance pupils' self evaluations, which in turn impacts upon feelings of self efficacy and increases motivation. [Home][Overview] [Admission Policy] [Learning/Teaching Methods] [School in Action] [School Ethos] [Application Form][Calendar] [E-Mail] [Webmaster]