Bilingual Special Education SIG
SIG Representative: Graciela Trilla

The Bilingual Special Education SIG in MATSOL promotes processes that provide all culturally and linguistically diverse students with disabilities with appropriate pre-referral, assessment, placement, and quality programs that are educationally, linguistically, and culturally responsive to their needs.

The SIG's objectives are:

• Providing support, knowledge, and staff development for institutions and professionals who serve bilingual special education students.
• Facilitating the development of a common knowledge base on legal rights, specific educational needs and ways of accessing appropriate programs.
• Advocating for equitable, quality education for bilingual special education students.
• Providing a networking vehicle to ensure that parents of culturally and linguistically diverse students are informed of their rights and access to necessary programs and services.
• Promoting collaboration among educators, local community and state agencies, and national organizations.
• Serving as a clearinghouse for information and dissemination of best practices contributing to obtaining funding and other resources that support groups, parents, and individuals working in the field of special education.
• Encouraging institutions of higher education (IHEs) to develop courses and programs that prepare educators to work more effectively with culturally and linguistically diverse students across the region.

Resources

ELL Assessment for Linguistic Differences vs. Learning Disabilities
Created by Dr. Maria de Lourdes Serpa from Lesley University along with teachers from the Lowell Public Schools.  Contains resources and information on culture, language, and assessment as they relate to culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Confronting the Unique Challenges of Including English Language Learners With Disabilities in Statewide Assessments (June 2005)
A report published by the National Center on Educational Outcomes.  The report focuses on the unique challenges that state officials observed with the inclusion of English language learners in statewide accountability systems and some of the solutions they were working on to overcome these challenges. It also examines state-level knowledge base to determine the challenges that state educational agencies face when including English language learners with disabilities in statewide assessments and the solutions they have identified.

Presentations from NCCREST's National Research Conference "English Language Learner Struggling to Learn: Emergent Research on Linguistic Differences and Learning Disabilities."

• Practice Perspective on Referral Issues-Lisa Aaroe, Peoria Unified School District and Arizona State University
• Psychometric Issues in the ELL Assessment and Special Education Eligibility-Jamal Abedi, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing
• Future Directions for Practice with English Language Learners-Leonard Baca, Bueno Center and Todd Fletcher, University of Arizona
• Roles of Definitional and Assessment Models in the Identification of New or Second Language Learners of English for Special Education-Manuel Barrera, Metropolitan State University
• Semilingualism Applied: Bi-iliteracy or Emerging Biliteracy-Kathy Escamilla, University of Colorado, Boulder
• It depends...: A Socio-historical Account of the Definition and Methods of Identification of Learning Disabilities-Margaret Gallego, San Diego State University; Grace Zamora Durán, U.S. Department of Education, and Elba I. Reyes, Casa Grande Union High School District, Arizona
• Demographic Reality: Who are these Children?-Eugene Garcia, Arizona State University
• Response-to-Instruction Models of Assessment:Are They Valid for English Language Learners?
  Michael Gerber, Director, Center for Advanced Studies of Individual Differenes, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Promoting Literacy Development for English Learners Learning in English: A Case for Explicit Instruction-Diane Haager and Michelle Windmueller, California State University, Los Angeles
• English Language Learners and Learning Disabilities: A Critical Review of the Literature-Janette Klingner, University of Colorado at Boulder, Alfredo J. Artiles, Arizona State University, and Laura Méndez Barletta, University of Colorado at Boulder
• The Special Education Referral Process for English Language Learners: The Role of Child Study and Multidisciplinary Team Meetings-Janette Klingner, University of Colorado at Boulder and Beth Harry, University of Miami
• Future Directions in Research: Linguistic Differences and Learning Disabilities-Nonie K. Lesaux, Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Appropriate Eligibility Determinations for English Language Learners Suspected of Having Reading-related Learning Disabilities: Linking School History, Early Intervention, Referral, and Assessment Data-Cheryl Y. Wilkinson, Alba A. Ortiz, and Phyllis Robertson-Courtney, The University of Texas at Austin; Millicent I. Kushner, University of Maryland
• English Language Learners, Learning Disabilities, & Overrepresentation: A Multiple Level Analysis-Robert Rueda, University of Southern California and Michelle Windmueller, California State University, Los Angeles
• Future Directions for Policy on the Education of English Language Learners-Richard Ruiz, University of Arizona
• Language, Dialect, and Register: Sociolinguistics and the Estimation of Measurement Error in the Testing of English-Language Learners-Guillermo Solano-Flores, American Institutes for Research