Bill Roberts has several on-site resources to support our students’ needs, including:
Intervention is an initiative that allows additional resources for students in need of academic support, whether they are at-risk for failure or are gifted and talented students not meeting their full potential.
Descriptions of our support teams are below.
Bill Roberts provides targeted instructional support to students K-8 who may be struggling to meet grade level goals in reading and math.
As a result of Colorado’s adoption of the Response to Intervention (RtI) Framework, academic intervention provides tiered levels of support to students within our General Education classrooms. This support is tailored to individual student needs, and requires the use of research-based interventions and best instructional practices. It is a framework that relies heavily upon student data, communication and teamwork between the classroom teachers and the interventionists. It is through this data-driven instructional process that educators and parents determine if more specialized testing and programming may be needed through our team of Special Education providers.
The goal of the English as a Second Language (ELS)/English Language Acquisition (ESL) program is to provide students with the English language skills – speaking, listening, reading and writing – that they need to participate fully in the district’s mainstream English instructional programs. Our ESL Resource Teacher works with identified students to support them in their acquisition of English. Students are identified for this support from an initial Home Language Questionnaire that all parents/guardians fill out at registration.
Dedicated English Language Development is a daily period of time dedicated to explicit instruction in how the English Language works and the forms/structures of English (i.e. morphology, vocabulary, syntax, conventions, functions, registers,) In Dedicated ELD, language is the primary objective.
ESL students at Bill Roberts have come from China, Vietnam, Mongolia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Spain, Venezuela, Guatemala and Mexico.
Students are identified for services through a comprehensive team approach that involves the child’s parent(s), classroom teacher, speech therapist, school psychologist, school nurse and occupational therapist as needed.
Once identified, an IEP (Individual Education Plan) is developed to serve the child’s needs. The purpose of the plan is to remove barriers to learning. Services may range from consulting with the classroom teacher to direct instruction with the Speech and/or Occupational Therapist.
Bill Roberts has speech and occupational therapists work with children based on the needs identified in their IEP.
We are fortunate at Bill Roberts to have a relatively large population of gifted and talented students and provide on-site specialists as well as a variety of services for these children.
In the Denver Public Schools, “gifted and talented” means those students whose demonstrated abilities, talents and/or potential for accomplishment are so exceptional or developmentally advanced that they require special provisions to meet their educational needs. Gifted and talented children are present in all student groups, regardless of gender, disability, English language proficiency, economic status, ethnic or cultural background.
Our Special Education program is characterized as a mild/moderate program to support children who have been identified as having mild to moderate special education needs.
Please contact the following staff if you have any questions regarding Special Education:
We support SLD children with a specific learning disability in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations.
Our school based occupational therapy services are designed to enhance a student’s motor skills so that they can fully access and benefit from their educational environment and programming. Within the school setting, the OT can address gross, fine, visual motor and sensory processing skills as appropriate to the student’s needs. This can include handwriting, prewriting skills, coloring, cutting, positioning, accessing the playground and functional mobility. Through consultation, they can also assist within the classroom to adapt and/or modify the learning environment in order to best meet the needs of a student.
The school based speech-language pathologist has a wide range of skills to diagnose and treat students with a variety of speech and language issues which can include delays in the development of a child’s articulation, receptive/expressive language, fluency and social language skills. The speech-language pathologist can provide educational therapeutic services that include screening, assessment/evaluation, consultation, treatment, intervention, case management, collaboration with other special service providers and classroom teachers, all in an effort to help students appropriately access the general education curriculum.
These healthcare professionals take care of kids with tummy aches, fevers and band-aid application, and much more at our school. They maintain health records (medical diagnoses, immunizations, etc.) of students, administer physician-ordered medications at school, organize vision/hearing screenings for students, work closely with special education team and families to monitor and address health concerns that impact students in the academic setting and handle emergency situations, injuries, illness, etc., at school.
Our School Psychologist has a variety of roles and responsibilities, including working on issues related to special education compliance.
The school psychologist may also work with individual students, small groups, and classrooms to provide intervention services that enhance the academic and social/emotional progress of all children.