Child Study Team Decision Making in Special Education

Abstract

Child study teams (CSTs) are involved in making decisions about many aspects of the delivery of special services to handicapped students. However, a number of factors inhibit the decision-making process within CSTs. These factors have their origins in the implementation of the team process at the local education agency (LEA) level, the preparation of CST members to participate in team decision making, and in the difficulties encountered in communicating discipline-specific information. To overcome the factors inhibiting effective team decision making, a rationale is established for the development of pandisciplinary tools to assist in interpersonal communication, group decision making, and assessment. Specific examples of such tools are presented, and their relationships to current practices are discussed.

A Field of IEP Dreams Increasing General Education Teacher Participation in the IEP Development Process

“…✦ Assessment and placement decisions made by teams reflect broader perspectives and are less biased by individual perspectives (Moore, Fifield, Spira, & Scarlato, 1989). Without participation of all team members, the intent of the collaborative team approach cannot be fulfilled (Schrag, 1996;Smith, 1990).…”

A Survey of Response to Intervention Team Members' Effective Practices in Rural Elementary Schools

“…Numerous models and terms for intervention team ap-proaches have been studied, including Teacher Assistance Teams, Child Study Teams, Prereferral Intervention Teams, Student Assistance Teams, and Student Support Teams (Chalfant, Pysh, & Moultrie, 1979;Fuchs, Fuchs, & Bahr, 1990;Graden, Casey, & Christenson, 1985;Kovaleski & Glew, 2006;Moore, Fifield, Spira, & Scarlato, 1989;Rafoth & Foriska, 2006;Slonski-Fowler & Truscott, 2004). The literature reflects that the distinction between the terms used to identify the team by name is based on the team's primary function and practices, and the composition of the team members is directly affected by the goals and needs of the team (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2005).…”

A Comparison of School-Based Intervention Teams: Implications for Educational and Legal Reform

“…The names for school-based teams vary considerably. For example, they are known as teacher assistance teams (Chalfant et al, 1979); student assistance teams (Aksamit & Rankin, 1993;Cooley, 1993); intervention assistance teams (Whitten & Dieker, 1993); child study teams (Moore, Fifield, Spira, & Scarlato, 1989); peer intervention teams (Saver & Downes, 1991); prereferral intervention teams (Graden, Casey, & Christenson, 1985); school consultation committee (McGlothlin, 1981); instructional consultation teams (Rosenfield & Gravois, 1996) or instructional support teams (Pavan & Entrekin, 1991); and mainstream assistance teams (Fuchs, Fuchs, Babr, Fernstrom, et al, 1990).…”