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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1987 Teacher and student characteristics associated with referrals to a child guidance clinic Susan Laurie Graham-Clay Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Educational Psychology Commons, Special Education and Teaching Commons, and the Student Counseling and Personnel Services Commons Recommended Citation Graham-Clay, Susan Laurie, "Teacher and student characteristics associated with referrals to a child guidance clinic " (1987). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 8645. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/8645 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. 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Other Teacher and student characteristics associated with referrals to a child guidance clinic by Susan Laurie Graham-Clay A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Psychology Approved; Signature was redacted for privacy. In Châtge of Major Work Signature was redacted for privacy. 'or the Major OepacAnent Signature was redacted for privacy. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1987 il TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 8 Who Makes the Referral? 8 Who Is Referred? 9 For What Reasons? 12 What Institutional Constraints and External Pressures Exist? 16 What Teacher Characteristics Are Important? 17 Conclusion 18 METHODOLOGY 20 Subjects 20 Teachers 20 Instruments 20 Referral form 20 Teacher survey 21 Disturbing Behavior Checklist 22 Procedure 23 Data Analysis 25 RESULTS 26 Schools 26 Referrals 26 Teacher Survey 37 Teacher survey free responses 44 Summary 47 DISCUSSION 50 ill Who Made the Referrals? 50 When Were Referrals Made? 52 Who Was Referred? 55 For What Reasons? 59 What Teacher Characteristics Were Important? 62 Future Research Directions 65 REFERENCE NOTES 69 REFERENCES 70 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 75 APPENDIX A. REFERRAL FORM 77 APPENDIX B. TEACHER SURVEY 79 APPENDIX C. DISTURBING BEHAVIOR CHECKLIST 82 APPENDIX D. DISTURBING BEHAVIOR CHECKLIST RESEARCH RESULTS 87 APPENDIX E. INFORMATION TO TEACHERS 90 APPENDIX F. REFERRAL CODING SYSTEM 92 APPENDIX G. OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATIONS 96 iv LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Summary of referral reasons 13 Table 2. Number of rural/suburban schools and student popula­ tion 27 Table 3. Student population by grade 27 Table 4. Numbers of referrals submitted by referral sources by grade levels 29 Table 5. Percentage of students referred by grade 34 Table 6. Numbers of elementary teachers who did and did not complete surveys and their referral status 39 Table 7. Teacher education and number of years teaching ex­ perience 39 Table 8. Age of teachers completing surveys 40 Table 9. Grade levels/subject areas taught 40 Table 10. ANOVA results — DBCI, DBCII, DBG total 43 Table 11. Mean number of referrals of low, middle and high groups 43 Table 12. Tukey's Studentized Range Test comparing mean number of referrals for DBG total 43 Table 13. Number of referrals made by male and female surveyed teachers 45 Table 14. Means, standard deviations, and t-values for male and female teachers on DBG measures 45 V LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. Frequency of occupational classifications (Mercer & Lewis, 1977) 30 Figure 2. Ratio of males to females referred by grade 31 Figure 3. Referral distribution by month 33 Figure 4. Referral distribution by grade 35 Figure 5. Distribution of referral reasons 36 1 INTRODUCTION Over the past decade, increased attention has been paid to special education in schools. Major legislation (e.g., P.L. 94-142 in the United States), landmark court cases (e.g., Larry P. V. Riles, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1986) and extensive research have all addressed the philosophy of special education, the need for special education services, to whom these services should be provided, and the referral-to-placement process. Special education is indeed "Big Business" (Algozzine, Ysseldyke, & Christenson, 1983) in terms of the government dollars expended, numbers of children served, and impact on the education of our youth. Much of the research and administrative energy has been directed towards specific issues such as the adequacy of assessment instruments and procedures, eligibility criteria, classification, placement, and special programming and instruction. Until recently, much less at­ tention has been paid to the first step that initiates special educa­ tion consideration: the referral itself. The decision to refer begins when someone (usually a teacher) believes that something is wrong with someone else (i.e., a student) (Sarason & Doris, 1979). The typical procedure involves completion of a short, one-page, referral form which generally includes identi­ fying data on the student (e.g., name, sex, grade, birth date, ad­ dress, etc.), the reason(s) for referral, and contact with parents. The referral is then passed on to a designated individual (often a principal or resource teacher in the school setting) who forwards 2 the referral to the appropriate educational support service agency. Perhaps it is because the initial act of making a referral is so simple that its significance in the process has often been over­ looked . "Research has shown that the referral itself is highly influential" (Anderson, Cronin, & Miller, 1986, p. 389), since once the ball is rolling, it is likely that the student will be placed in special educa­ tion. "In a school system, the referral of a pupil to the central office for study is the first act in a complex series which places a special label on the pupil. It marks him as one of approximately five percent who require attention beyond that which his individual school unit can provide" (Robbins, Mercer, & Meyers, 1967, p. 270). Indeed, large numbers of students would meet the classification criteria for special education using current definitions. However, it is only those students actually referred who are classified, and thus eligible for special services (Ysseldyke & Algozzine, 1983). It appears that large numbers of students are referred, and that a considerable correspondence exists between the decision to refer and declaration that a child is eligible for special services. A national survey of 94 special education directors showed that (for the 1977-78, 1978-79 and 1979-80 school years) approximately 4 to 5% of the school district population was referred and evaluated each year (although wide variations in the data were noted) (Algozzine, Ysseldyke, & Christenson, 1983). This overall referral rate was consistent with that reported by Robbins et al. (1967). Of the students who were referred, 92% were also evaluated. Of these, 73% were subsequently 3 staffed into special education programs (Algozzine, Christenson, & Ysseldyke, 1982; Algozzine et al., 1983). Thus, the vast majority of students who were referred were considered in need of special educa­ tion services. The impact of the content of the referral statement has also been addressed. The referral becomes an important avenue of com­ munication between the referral source (e.g., teacher) and the referee (e.g.. School Psychologist, Speech Therapist, etc.). Walsh, Serafica, and Bibace (1976) stressed the need for a referral to include a clear and accurate description of the student's problem with a focus on providing behavioral data.

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