Multilingual Learners with Disabilities

Maine is committed to ensuring a free appropriate public education (FAPE) for all students with disabilities. This includes providing equitable access for students who are multilingual learners, who may be intellectually gifted, have a learning disability, display a behavior disorder, or have multiple disabilities, like any other student. All students will be given equal access to appropriate educational services. The appropriate referral, identification, and placement of learners who are culturally and/or linguistically diverse is necessary to ensure students' civil rights as well as FAPE aligned with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Guidance, resources, and opportunities for professional learning to support educators teaching multilingual learners with disabilities (MLSWD) are available below. 

Identifying & Serving Multilingual Learners with Disabilities

The Maine DOE ESOL and Special Services and Inclusive Education teams collaborated to develop Maine’s first guidance manual on Identifying and Serving Multilingual Learners with Disabilities. 

Download the Policy & Resource Guide

Serving Multilingual Learners Policy & Resource Guide

Through strategic partnerships with the National Center for Systemic Improvement, Maine Association of School Psychologists, Multilingual Learner Advisory Council, University of Maine, and ESOL and Special Education consultants, the Maine DOE believes that this policy and resource guide will serve as a foundational guidepost for school teams as they work together to determine a student’s status and program of services. 

Download One-Pager

The Maine Department of Education uses the term multilingual learner (ML)* to describe all students in PreK through 12th grade who have been formally identified through the Language Use Survey and administration of an English language proficiency screener as outlined in Maine’s Identification and Placement Guidance document. 

*Honoring and Celebrating All Languages Spoken By Maine Students With the Shift to Multilingual Learners Terminology  

Maine Department of Education

Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education Resources (OSSIE)

• IEP Terminology Translated Glossaries (found under Family and Caregiver Resources)
• Special Services & Inclusive Education Resources for Families & Schools, including translated resources for families and schools.
• Special Projects for Inclusion
• IEP Tip Sheet Series Spanish Versions (Consejos Claves Sobre El Programa Individualizado De Educación) | Progress Center 

WIDA Resources

• Focus on Identifying ELLs with Specific Learning Disabilities
• Focus on Providing ELLs with Disabilities Access to Complex Language
• WIDA Identifying Multilingual Learners with Specific Learning Disabilities: Data, Advice, and Resources for School Teams   
• WIDA Developing a Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Approach to Response to Instruction & Intervention (RtI²) for English Language Learners Connecting to WIDA Standards, Assessments, and Other Resources

Video Resources

• Identifying and Serving MLs with Disabilities-Guidance Overview
• Identifying Students who are Multilingual Learners with Suspected Disabilities Session 1
• Guidance Manual on Identifying Multilingual Learners with Disabilities

Federal Resources

• US DOE Office of English Language Acquisition: English Learner Tool Kit Chapter 6, Tools and Resources for Addressing English Learners with Disabilities
• US DOE Dear Colleague Letter: Preventing Racial Discrimination in Special Education
• US DOE Dear Colleague Letter: English Learner Students and Limited English Proficient Parents (See pages 24-29: Evaluating EL Students for Special Education Services and Providing Special Education and English Language Services and pages 37-40: Ensuring Meaningful Communication with Limited English Proficient Parents)

Other Resources

• Sara Kangas (2018) Why Working Apart Doesn’t Work at All: Special Education and English Learner Teacher Collaborations  
• MINNETESOL Journal All means all: Using policy to change practice in language development instruction for twice exceptional students  
• English Learners with Disabilities: Shining a Light on Dual-Identified Students: Policy Considerations
• National Center for Systemic Improvement: Webinar Series on Pursuing Equity at the Intersection of Language, Culture, and Disability
• Colorín Colorado!  Special Education and ELLs: Recommended Resources 
•  RTI: Considerations for English Language Learners
• ALTELLA: Alternate English Language Learning Assessment Project
• AccELLerate - Spring 2011. The quarterly review of the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition addresses English Learners with special needs.  (www.ncela.gwu.edu)
• Determining Appropriate Referrals of ELLs to Special Education: A self-assessment guide for principals  Published by CEC and NABE.  Practical recommendations for how to communicate with students and parents, how to involve parents in decision-making, how to set up teacher assistance teams, how to do IEPs, professional development, more.