Question: You are very excited to be at a new school this school year. You feel the school year has gotten off to a great start as you've gotten to know both faculty/staff and students. Now that things have gotten settled, you start noticing that one of your students seems to have quite a struggle in most of the academic areas. Using some of what you learned throughout your degree program, you are able to identify that the real problem might be comprehension of the material the student reads. Although suspecting a specific learning disability might be present, you start to question this even more as you spend more individual time with the student and you start wondering whether this is a result of faulty teaching from a previous grade or faulty learning?
Since you are new to the school, you certainly don't want to create any tension with other faculty. How would you respond to this situation, as the student is struggling in almost all academic areas but you feel the overall problem is caused by comprehension? Should you focus on comprehension with this student, including working after school individually to help get the student back on track? Or, should you refer for special education? Or, should you check out the teaching methods of the previous teacher to see if the problem is a result of faulty teaching? Perhaps you have other ideas as well?