• How long has the child been speaking their home language and how long have they been exposed to English?

• Are the difficulties observable in both their home and new language?

• Are the difficulties observable in multiple settings (e.g., home, school, social settings)?

• Have developmentally appropriate strategies been delivered systematically?

• Have these strategies produced any significant differences in the child’s learning and development?

  
  

  
  

The DODEA school that I am currently working at has a very robust ESL program for multilingual learners. This program does assessments on all multilingual learners and provides specialized instruction services for all classrooms. The language proficiency of all students is provided to the teachers and ESL teachers provide additional instruction assistance in classrooms daily. This leads to a very strong collaborative atmosphere for teachers throughout the school to keep an eye on students progress and confer on specific strategies for improvement.

DODEA (2017), "1342.12 Companion," Provision of Early Intervention and Special Education Services to Eligible DoD Dependents. v1 June 2017

Morin, Amanda (2021). "Recognizing Signs of Potential Learning Disabilities in Preschool." Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/recognizing-signs-potential-learning-disabilities-preschool/

Honey Wooton, Erin. (2024). Personal Communication via Zoom

Hassan, Eudoxie. (2024). Personal Communication via Zoom

American Federation of Teachers. (2007). Building parent-teacher relationships. Www.readingrockets.org. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/parent-engagement/articles/building-parent-teacher-relationships

APA (2024). "What is Intellectual Disability?" American Psychiatry Association, Psychiatry.org. https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/intellectual-disability/what-is-intellectual-disability

Information and support should be exchanged to better understand the nature of the child's struggles.

Parents can also initiate vision, hearing and health screening to determine if any of these factors contribute to, or are the cause of, the students school concerns.

Signs of a learning disability are much easier to spot in young learners, especially in the first couple years of schooling when they are learning to read, write, and do arithmetic. While older learners have routinely learned to suppress, or mask, these signs many are still visible. Record keeping of observations and progress is essential. Some signs of a learning disability that should be documented include:

Trouble following multistep directions

Issues with reading out loud

Difficulty recognizing, creating, or repeating patterns

Loss of attention or conspicuously displayed boredom

Difficulty forming social relationships

Poor coping strategies to conflict