Early intervention by Public School Social Workers makes a HUGE impact on kids with special needs.

Currently, Michigan has about 200,000 special education students, about double the number a decade ago. This is in part to the dedication and determination of the Social Workers that are in the Public Schools. Many years ago several special needs children were misplaced, misdiagnosed, and allowed to go unnoticed. Today, thanks to people like Sheryl Smith, Public School Social Worker, families, educators and students are given a chance to work together to develop a special formula that works for the success of the individual student.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has categories of Disabilities:

• Autism
  
• Deaf-Blindness
  
• Deafness
  
• Hearing impairment
  
• Mental retardation
  
• Multiple disabilities
  
• Orthopedic impairment
  
• Other health impairment
  
• Serious emotional disturbance
  
• Specific learning disability
  
• Speech or language impairment
  
• Traumatic brain injury
  
• Visual impairment, including blindness

In looking at these disabilities it is important that Social Workers work together with teachers, administrators, and parents to properly diagnose and understand the disability so that a solution can be found for the success of the student. It is important to find out why the child is not doing well in school.

According to Sheryl Smith, “You need to look at the role of the child at school, at home and also in the community to thoroughly understand what is bothering the child and making them act out the way that they do.”

What are the steps they use? Well the first step is to use what is already known about the child. Talking with the teachers, looking at school files and recent test scores and decide if the child has a disability.

Step two allows the social worker to collect more information from home interviews and interaction with parents, talking with community members that interact with the child, by observing the child in the school setting and also in the home setting.

As Sheryl Smith stated, “It is important to get a picture of the “whole child”.”

Evaluating the child completely will help the parents and the school decides if the child has a disability. The groups involved are teachers, school social workers, school administrators, parents, the student and sometimes people with knowledge or special expertise about the child.

Step three allows the schools to make decision about the child’s needs and their level and type of disability. This will answer such questions as, “Is the child eligible for special education and related services?”, “What kind of disability are we dealing with here?” and “What is the solution?”

Sometimes it might be a problem in the home that has needs for counseling and other times it may require special modifications in the learning environment.

The last step involved developing the child’s educational program. This is and Individualized Education Program (IEP) for the child. The OEP will describe the child’s educational program, including any special services the child might need.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU?

Well, thanks to caring people like Sheryl Smith and other Public School Social Workers, this means that fewer children fall through the cracks. This means that there is a 45 percent graduation rate among students with learning disabilities. It means that students with disabilities are given a chance to have higher academic achievement, higher self-esteem, more probability of attending college, and even better physical health. The inclusion process in the Public Schools promotes diversity in schools and helps all students to learn to accept others who are different from them, mainstreaming children with special needs into the classroom through the diligence of social workers benefits general-education students and society as well.

Public School Social Workers are people who are making a difference in public education, in our community, and in our future.

Michigan Education Association would like to thank Sheryl Smith and other Public School Social Workers for everything that they do.

The Michigan Education Association brings this award to you.