Advocating for Multilingual Learners With Disabilities

By Emily Kurth

Students who are multilingual learners with disabilities have legal and civil rights, and so do their caregivers. Understanding these rights is essential to ensure students who need both language and disability services have access to rigorous instruction and meaningful learning opportunities.

According to the most recent Civil Rights Data Collection, around 832,000 multilingual learners were enrolled in U.S. schools in the 2020–2021 school year (U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 2024). Data from IDEA collected from 2006 to 2020 show that multilingual learners with disabilities increased nearly 50%, compared with an increase of 7% for monolingual students (Cooc, 2023). This sharp rise suggests a need for districts and schools to review procedures and protocols that shape the educational experiences of students who are receiving language- and disability-related services. This work is complex and influenced by factors such as policy shifts and budget cuts, and advocacy grounded in students’ and caregivers’ rights is paramount.

So, what do advocacy efforts for multilingual learners with disabilities look like? A key first step is understanding the law. The graphic Legal Obligations for Equal Access to Education for Multilingual Learners With Disabilities shows how case law and statutory mandates connect in this area.

Once we know and understand the law, what we do with it matters. We spoke with Melissa Frans, the Special Education Multilingual Coordinator for Portland Public Schools and Teacher Leader Fellow with the Maine Department of Education, about how grounding everything in the law drives the work: “It is important that all staff — general educators, special educators, everyone — know that our multilingual students have civil rights and are entitled to accessing education just like all other students are, inclusive of special ed, co-curriculars, and gifted and talented programs, too.”

With Melissa, we identified three key approaches to systems and structures in schools that support equal access for multilingual learners with disabilities:

1. Prioritize professional learning (PL) time for teacher collaboration to bridge instructional expertise. When educators collaborate to strengthen knowledge about language learning and special education, they bridge specializations and learn from one another. This leads to implementation of language and disability supports across all settings. Melissa emphasizes the importance of educator collaboration: “In scheduling this time through a systematic approach, teams come together and have opportunities to pause, reflect on, and talk about their pedagogical philosophy around the collective work. Bringing people together helps to take away some of the complexity, builds a shared understanding, and supports teachers in feeling that they are not alone, because no one single educator can provide all the supports that their students need all the time.” Read and share the WIDA Focus Bulletin Collaboration: Working Together to Serve Multilingual Learners to advocate for the benefits of collaboration for multilingual learners. Also, consider centering WIDA resources that address this intersection during PL time to support the bridge in expertise based on the specific needs of your setting.
2. Ensure all relevant individuals understand their role and participate in Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings. IEPs for multilingual learners with disabilities should address individual language development needs and sociocultural background. Melissa says, “In Portland, we have an IEP checklist for multilingual learners on what we expect our team’s process to be, and how it can look different — and should look different — than a monolingual speaker. It’s important that those responsible for leading the IEP process support the involvement of the ESOL educator and provide an understanding for all team members of how to move through the IEP process as it relates to a multilingual learner.” Advocating for culturally and linguistically responsive IEP practices means speaking up if you notice this critical gap. Review this 4-minute video on collaboration for multilingual learners with disabilities and WIDA’s ALTELLA Brief on planning IEP meetings for multilingual learners.
3. Engage families as advocates. Navigating both language and disability needs at school can be overwhelming for families. Melissa insists, “Our families may not know what their rights are yet, so it’s really up to us to ensure those rights are upheld until the families have information to advocate for themselves.” In Portland, family and community engagement specialists are critical to the IEP process, assisting with interpretation, translation and cultural brokerage; supporting families and students; and helping educators understand cultural and linguistic nuances that arise. “With families, it is a shared, equal partnership, not a hierarchy. Giving families a space and a voice to tell us how we can support them is essential because families know their children best,” shares Melissa. Use the WIDA handout Advocating for My Child’s Language and Disability Needs, available in both English and Spanish, to help caregivers understand their rights and their child’s rights and prepare for school-based meetings.

Melissa offers the following parting advice for all educators on how to use the law to advocate for multilingual learners with disabilities: “Stay curious. Stay open. Be vulnerable. We ask our students to come to school every day and navigate language, culture, and social and academic learning in really complex societal times. Take risks and step outside of what feels comfortable and familiar to make sure students receive the education they deserve and are entitled to.”

Learn more about how you can advocate, plan and collaborate for multilingual learners in the WIDA Focus Bulletin Inclusive Practices for Multilingual Learners With Disabilities: Advocacy, Planning, and Collaboration and the recording of the WIDA Webinar Instruction and Collaboration to Support Multilingual Learners With Disabilities.

References

Cooc, N. (2023). National trends in special education and academic outcomes for English learners with disabilities. The Journal of Special Education, 57(2), 106–117. U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. (2024, November 12). Equal access to elementary and secondary education for students who are English learners with disabilities. Retrieved from https://www.ed.gov/media/document/ocr-el-disability-factsheet-108406.pdf

About the Author

Emily Kurth is a professional learning curriculum specialist in WIDA’s Educator Learning, Research and Practice team. In this role, she engages in the research, development and facilitation of WIDA’s professional learning with educators of multilingual learners across the consortium.