Photo of a student

Focus on: Fatima

Fatima is a third grade student who has been enrolled in her current district since kindergarten. She arrived in the United States as a refugee and lives in a “complex” with her extended family. Fatima speaks Arabic at home with her family. However, she has no reading or writing skills in Arabic.

Fatima receives special education services for hearing and vision impairments. Although glasses have been prescribed for Fatima, several pairs have been lost at home and school. Fatima has also been prescribed a hearing aid.

Fatima wears a headscarf and her family would prefer that she does not put the headscarf behind her ears. Fatima’s current hearing aid may be worn under her headscarf, but it produces a more muffled sound than if her ears were out from under her headscarf. Fatima is classified as ELL (according to her most recent English proficiency test scores), but she has attained a reasonable amount of spoken English. Fatima has very delayed skills in all content areas according to grade-level standards.

Consider Fatima as you continue ...