The Resource Room : A Special Education Service

The Resource Room is staffed by Special Education teachers and provides direct service to students from all grade levels that have been identified as having educational disabilities. It is listed as a program on the student's IEP and the amount of time spent in the resource room varies accordingly. Students are serviced in groups with a 5-1 student/teacher ratio. Groups are formed based on the student's grade and needs as identified on their IEP. The nature of the Resource Room program can be remedial, compensatory, and/or tutorial.

Remedial: The Resource Room teacher will use specific techniques to improve student performance in their area of disability. This means that students who have difficulty with reading skills will recieve specialized reading instruction*. Students with writing disorders will receive focused instruction in writing skills using research based techniques. Math tasks will be broken into discrete steps and understanding aided through the use of manipulatives and models. In all cases instruction will attempt to provide auditory, visual and kinesthetic input.
Compensatory: The Resource Room teacher will attempt to assist students with understanding their unique strengths and weaknesses. Some disabilities cannot be remediated within a short time and students will need to learn strategies to compensate for that disability. For example, students who are dysgraphic may be taught to use a keyboard.
Tutorial: Students with disabilities often need assistance with their general classroom work. The Resource Room teacher often provides support for class assignments that might be especially challenging. The student can review for upcoming tests with the resource teacher, who also may be administering the test if the child has **Testing Modifications.

*Specialized Reading Instruction:

Reasearch indicates that students with dyslexia and other reading disabilities make progress when they receive instruction via a structured multi-sensory program. Programs such as the Wilson Reading Program and Preventing Academic Failure (PAF) base their instruction on the Orton-Gillingham system. These programs are highly structured and repetitive and build on the knowledge and use of the basic phonemes of the English language. Daily practice in visual and auditory modes along with kinesthetic input via skywriting or tapping help students move reading skills to the automatic level.

**Testing Modifications:

Students with disabilities may qualify for special accomodations during classroom and standardized testing. The student's IEP will list those modifications that are appropriate. These may include one or more of the following: Tests read aloud, special location, extended time, spelling requirement waived, use of calculator or arithmetic tables, listening passages reread, directions explained, or answers recorded . Test modifications for state examinations are limited by state regulations. Ask the resource room teacher for an explanation of your child's test modifications.

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