Lesson 6: Working Collaboratively

Collaboration

• in special education refers to the partnership among teachers, parents, and specialists to create an inclusive and supportive learning environment.

• This approach emphasizes shared goals, open communication, and mutual respect, leading to tailored interventions that meet the individual needs of each child.

Coordination, Consultation, Teaming

Three ways in which team members can work collaboratively are through

Coordination

is the simplest form of collaboration, requiring only ongoing communication and cooperation to ensure that services are provided in a timely and systematic fashion.

Consultation

Team members provide information and expertise to one another. ___ is traditionally considered unidirectional, with the expert providing assistance and advice to the novice.

Teaming

Teachers take equal responsibility for planning and instruction.

This model is the most collaborative of all the coteaching models.

Teachers regularly change roles, each taking the lead and assisting when needed.

Co-teaching

Teachers use different ____ models.

When ____, general and special education teachers or other specialized teachers (e.g., reading specialists) work together to plan and facilitate lessons for a class that includes students with disabilities.

____ allows each teacher to utilize their expertise to meet individual student needs and promote student learning.

One Teach, One Observe

one teacher teaches while the other observes during instruction.

For example, while the general education teacher is instructing the class, the special education teacher is observing a student with a disability to ensure they are grasping the concepts taught in the lesson.

One Teach, One Assist

one teacher assumes greater responsibility for planning and facilitating instruction.

The assisting teacher observes and provides support to students as needed.

The _____ model extends the one teach, one observe model and

• works well when co-planning time is limited.

Station teaching

teachers divide a lesson into parts, and each teacher instructs a small group of students at a ____.

The groups then rotate between ____.

This model is often used at the elementary level.

For example, when teaching a math lesson, one teacher might instruct a group on using manipulatives to solve a problem while the other teacher instructs a group on solving the same problem using mathematical computation.

Parallel Teaching

each teacher presents the same lesson to a small group of students.

The primary benefit of this model is the smaller teacher-to-student ratio.

This model is best for reviewing material that has already been taught.

Supplemental or Alternative Teaching

one teacher works with students at their expected grade level, while the other works with students requiring remediation (i.e., re-teaching) or enrichment.

For example, one teacher may work with a group of students who have fallen behind because of repeated absences.

Paraprofessionals

Teachers and clinicians regularly collaborate with ____, who are sometimes referred to as paraeducators, aides, or education support professionals.

_____ provide specific classroom or student support and are supervised by teachers.

Clinicians

In the context of special education and the delivery of related services are trained professionals who work alongside teachers and other staff members to support the educational, emotional, and developmental needs of students with disabilities.

These professionals provide specialized services that are integral to ensure that students with disabilities receive the support they need to succeed in school.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Teachers and clinicians collaborate when students receive related services.

The ____ ensures that related services are delivered in a student’s least restrictive environment.

For example, if speech services can be delivered effectively in the general education classroom, that should be where services are delivered. If a student’s needs require an environment free from distractions and individualized instruction, services should be delivered in a separate setting.

Community

Collaboration with ____ organizations should facilitate a seamless transition between services and programs (Smiley et al., 2022).

This means that teachers and clinicians will work with _____ organizations when students transition from early intervention to preschool to school-age programs and when they transition from high school to postsecondary education, employment, and independent living.

Families

This ensures that students and their families are involved in the education process. Formal collaboration with families usually occurs. However, sometimes families are not as involved as educators and clinicians would like, but it’s important to remember that there are many possible reasons for limited involvement.

Parents advocating for change, Educators seeking greater effectiveness, Legislators mandating parent and family involvement

Although many factors have contributed to increased emphasis on collaboration between parents and teachers in the education of exceptional children, three influences are clear:

(a) parents want to be involved,

(b) educational outcomes are enhanced when parents are involved, and

(c) federal law requires collaboration between schools and parents.

Child’s disability

Teachers and parents working together for the benefit of a child with disabilities make a powerful team. To work together, they must communicate with one another and respect the responsibilities and challenges faced by the other.

For educators, an important initial step in partnering with families is understanding how a _____ might influence the family system and the many interrelated roles of parenthood.

Grief cycle

confronting, adjusting, and accepting or adapting

First, parents experience a period of emotional crisis characterized by shock, denial, and disbelief.

This initial reaction is followed by a period of alternating feelings of anger, guilt, depression, shame, lowered self-esteem, rejection of the child, and overprotectiveness.

Eventually, parents reach a third stage in which they accept and adapt to their child’s disability.

Stage 1: Identification of disability

• Experiences period of disbelief and denial

• May be heavy with sadness and disappointment

• Reflects on the uncertainty of the future

Stage 2: Self-education

• Learns about the disability

• Identifies child’s strengths and limitation

• Learns about needed services

• Reaches out for professional help

Stage 3: Reflection about self and family

• Recognizes own strengths and coping skills

• Recognizes own disappointment and anger

• Reaches out to informal support network

• Obtains professional support

• Negotiates family resources to support child

Stage 4: Advocacy and empowerment

• Grows in resilience

• Participants in school and teams

• Advocates for appropriate services

• Learns about legal rights

• Joins parent coalitions

• Negotiates resources across agencies

Stage 5: Appreciation and Enlightenment

• Reflects on and appreciates how the challenge has helped family find new strengths

• Acknowledges child’s special talents

• Differentiates between child’s needs and own

• Recognizes broader positive impacts of the disability

Caregiver

Caring for any young child is a demanding task. But the additional caregiving requirements of children with disabilities can be tremendous and cause added stress (Osborne & Reed, 2009; Quintero & McIntyre, 2010).

And the level of care needed by some children with severe disabilities or chronic health conditions can be nonstop.

Husband Support and Involvement

As indicated, mothers deeply involved in caregiving often feel overworked, overwhelmed, and in need of a break. They may wonder why their spouses are not more helpful and understanding.

Husbands who assist with the burdens of caring for a child with a disability serve as a buffer, contributing to their partner’s well- being and resilience.

Respite care

Assistance provided by individuals outside of the immediate family to give parents and other children time away from the child with a disability.

Provider

• It takes a lot of money to raise a child.

• Treatment and therapy

• On top of the additional expenses, families of children with disabilities often have reduced income because one parent works part time instead of full time or must withdraw from the workforce altogether to care for the child (Davenport & Eidelman, 2008; Solomon, 2007).

Teacher

Most children learn many skills without anyone teaching them. Children with disabilities, however, often do not acquire new skills as naturally or independently as do their peers without disabilities.

In addition to learning systematic teaching techniques (Ozcan & Cavkaytar, 2009), some parents must learn to use and/or teach their children to use special equipment and assistive devices such as hearing aids, braces, wheelchairs, and adapted eating utensils (Parette, Meadon, Doubet, & Hess, 2010

Counselors

All parents are ____ in the sense that they deal with their children’s changing emotions, feelings, and attitudes.

But parents of a child with disabilities must also deal with their child’s feelings that result from his or her particular disability: “Will I still be deaf when I grow up?” “I’m not playing outside anymore; they always tease me.” “Why can’t I go swimming like the other kids?”

Parents play a critical role in how a child with disabilities views himself. Their interactions can help develop an active, engaged child who confidently tries new experiences or a withdrawn child with negative attitudes toward himself and others.

Behavior Support Specialist

• All parents are challenged and frustrated from time to time by their children’s noncompliance and misbehavior. But the frequency and severity of challenging behaviors exhibited by some children with disabilities can make it nearly impossible for their families to experience and enjoy normal routines of daily life.

• Some parents must become skilled in behavior-support techniques

Parent of Siblings Without Disabilities

• Children are deeply influenced by having a brother or a sister with special needs; the nature of that influence, however, is varied.

• Parents play key roles in determining the nature of the relationship between their children and the extent to which their children without disabilities are happy and well adjusted

Sibling relationships

are often the longest lasting relationships individuals with disabilities have.

____ are present at birth, through childhood, and frequently throughout adulthood, long after their parents have passed away.

Because of these lifelong relationships, ____ play important roles in the lives of people with disabilities.

Called into action

With increased inclusion of students with disabilities in neighborhood schools and other general education settings, siblings are often “____.”

They may be asked to explain their brother’s or sister’s behavior, to give ongoing support or modeling, and to respond to questions teachers and others might ask.

Furthermore, they may be subject to teasing and related behaviors. Because of these and other factors, some siblings are at greater risk for developing behavior problems.

Marriage Partner

Having a child with disabilities can put stress on a marriage. Specific stressors can be as diverse as arguing over who is to blame for the child’s disability; disagreeing about expectations for the child’s behavior; and spending so much time, money, and energy on the child with disabilities that little is left for each other.

Advocate

They must often ____ for effective educational services and opportunities for their children in a society that devalues people with disabilities.

As one mother put it: “If I don’t do it, he’s going to get lost out there. And so I’ve got to button up my boot straps and make sure that I know everything that I need to know about this, and take the bull by the horns” (King et al., 2009, p. 58).