October 2023
By Charles Harding
SRI Education’s Carrie Parker sat down with Ruchika Chopra of the Urban Collaborative to discuss Carrie’s research and reflections on policies and practices around identifying and supporting multilingual learners with disabilities in kindergarten to third grade.
In this podcast, Carrie explains how referring to “multilingual learners” instead of “English learners” represents a strengths-based perspective. She also discusses the asset of translanguaging that multilingual leaners bring to their learning and development.
Based on her conversations with teachers and administrators, Carrie expresses her admiration for the teachers’ learned experience as well as the challenges they face with identifying disabilities among multilingual learners, including both over- and under-identification.
The podcast highlights four key points that came out of these conversations:
- Why is collaboration necessary between general education teachers and teachers of multilingual learners?
- How can multi-tiered systems of support be adapted for students at different levels of English proficiency?
- Why is cultural responsiveness integral to collaboration, supports, and instruction?
- How can policy and practice come together to help teachers confidently use data to understand what their students know and better identify disabilities and supports for multilingual learners?
Access the podcast Multilingual Learners: Knowing Your Students and Research to learn more about multilingual learners and disability identification.
After the podcast, check out these resources on identifying disabilities among multilingual learners:
- A blog post on Carrie’s work, Educators talk about identifying disabilities among multilingual learners, with links to a brief, video, and infographic with useful information
- The webinar and podcast series Pursuing Equity at the Intersection of Language, Culture, and Disability, from the National Center for Systemic Improvement at WestEd
- A series of briefs on tiered supports for multilingual learners with and without disabilities, from Project LEE funded by the Office of Special Education Programs
- A Guide for States Creating Policies on the Identification of and Service Provision for English Learners with Disabilities, from the Council of Chief State School Officers
Topics: Access and equity Elementary Research Students with disabilities Translanguaging
Tags: Equity Intersection of multilingual learners and disability