I Know What To Do with the Kids, But What About the Grown-ups?

By Marilyn Friend, Ph.D.
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Representative to the Representative Assembly (RA) for the Teacher Education Division (TED)

Greetings, Colleagues, and Happy New Year.  It’s time for the January blog, and the topic that I thought might be helpful to focus on is collaboration, that is, the rather complex responsibilities that all special educators have for effectively working with other teachers, related services and other professionals, paraprofessionals, administrators, parents, and others in school and the community.  I’m wondering whether you’re finding that you were well-prepared to work with students; understand clearly your responsibilities related to writing, implementing, and monitoring IEPs; and realize the importance of current efforts to raise academic expectations for students with disabilities…but that the most challenging part of your job, in many ways, is the part that involves working with adults!

If you think about it, in education we spend a lot of time talking about collaboration, but not a whole lot of time teaching the skills related to it.  Perhaps you had a course that focused on working with colleagues and parents, but did your general education co-workers take such a course?  Your principal?  Are working relationships addressed at staff meetings?  How are parents prepared for collaboration?  Even student teaching (if you completed a traditional program) often works against collaboration:  Whether you student teach in an elementary, middle, or high school, usually you start by observing your cooperating teacher, then gradually assume teaching responsibilities until you are teaching for the entire day.  Then a critical step takes place:  Your cooperating teacher leaves and you manage teaching responsibility by yourself for several weeks.  This type of experience sends a message that effective teachers can do their jobs by themselves, and it partly explains why most early career special educators find developing collaborative relationships one of the most important and sometimes most difficult part of the first few years of their careers.

Here’s another thought.  It’s almost un-American to say anything other than that you fully support collaboration, but many teachers really want to collaborate only with the professionals with whom they are friends or with whom they largely agree on important instructional and behavior matters.  Perhaps you’ve heard teachers mention, for example, that they want to assign students with disabilities only to the classrooms of certain teachers because those teachers are easy to work with.  However, collaboration skills really aren’t that necessary among friends—friends know what you meant even when you misspeak, they readily overlook the things you do that they do not necessarily agree with, and they gently let you know if they think you made an error.  Collaboration is most important when you partner with someone with whom you do not “click.”  It is when you are having a disagreement, encounter resistance, or experience difficulty in communicating that collaboration is essential.

And so what does this mean for you?  For this first week of collaboration blogging, I guess my goal was just to get you to think about the collaborative experiences you’ve had, to analyze what makes some interactions effective and some ineffective, and to think about how to improve those that are challenging.  I hope you’ll share your successes and challenges related to collaboration and ask questions you may have about working with others.  Next week I’ll offer a few comments on one of the most common collaborative arrangements being implemented in schools today—co-teaching.  The week after that will address what to do in difficult or awkward situations, and the last week of this January blog I hope to plan based on your input.

Comments

[M Smith]

Are there any parent groups for parents of young children 2-6 years old in special education programs? In the past parent counseling and parent counseling groups were being conducted. Is any of this occurring in the US? Some of the university early childhood Special Education programs were doing this and county mental health groups had parent counseling and meetings. It seemed to help greatly, the parents realized that they were not the only parent with problems. When they discussed solutions in the parent meetings about solving problems it helped greatly.

If a parent has constant issues which are unfounded I believe the Administration needs to support the Special Ed. teachers. Any suggestions for these, (1)parent counseling (2) parent group meetings, Concerns would be great.
ECSE teacher for 10 yrs.

[Cathy Heaston]

I am an intervention specialist at a junior high school/high school building (still called a "tutor" and paid consideralbly less than a classroom teacher). I do pullout ISG and inclusion. My district had to make some cuts recently, and a 7th grade math teacher who has been teaching for almost 30 years and almost never had "special" students (they were relegated to title and resource room classes) had to take over the title classes, where several of my IEP students whom I tutor are attending (and many are struggling). I have had to "butt heads" with her several times about following IEP's (my schedule precludes my doing an inclusion class with her). I want to work with this person for the sake of my kids, but she has some stubborn old-fashioned notions about kids with disabilities, and since there is an "unspoken heirarchy" with tutors one step above substitutes, I feel that she does not respect my input. I have communicated this to my building principal, and he's sympathetic, but I feel frustrated because I have so little clout, and the only thing that really causes change is parental complaints and pressure on the administration. Another problem is that I tutor these students while the junior high teachers have their common planning time, so I contact them by phone, email, and seeing them before or after school. I also collect their lesson plans. I get along great with the other teachers, by the way! The high school tutor and I are in the same boat paywise, so we commiserate regularly. We love working with our kids, but we feel we are not respected, though we both have our master's degrees in SPED.
Thanks for letting me "dump"!
Cathy

[Marilyn Friend]

Hi, Amanda. I'm really hoping that some other bloggers will weigh in on your question. When I read about motivating students, nearly everything I come across really has to do with changing instructional approaches. that includes giving students choices in the work they do, being flexible on deadlines (since some students work to keep their cars and the latter is a better reinforcer than school ever will be), using instructional strategies that emphasize student participation, relating topics to real life, and so on. One idea for you--what would happen if you asked students to design their idea of the perfect classroom for learning in high school--maybe have them do it for English or a math course--and see what they say. It also might give you some clues.

[Marilyn Friend]

Russell:

Just a couple of ideas:

1. If the ""outbursts" tend to be anger at the perception of not being heard, consider using chart paper and writing down parent concerns so that they're visible to everyone in the room. then if they're raised again you also can point to the item and say, "Yes, we have that one on our list and will discuss it next" (or something like that). If a parent tend to get worked up, paraphrasing is also helpful. Repeat in a succinct way back to the parent what s/he has been saying. Another idea if the parent is going on and on is to use the parent name to interject. Say "Mrs. Jones [pause and she'll undoubtedly look up], I'm hoping we can address all our topic today and want to be sure we have them all." Then proceed. I'm not a huge fan of letting parents say anything they want for as long as they want (nor would I support that for a disgruntled professional, by the way). I think that tends to heat things up instead of calming them down--so a short length of time for emoting should be followed by a constructive, low-key meeting. If things are too emotional, you could also suggest a 5-minute break for everyone to settle a bit.

[Marilyn Friend]

Jeanie:

If I had an answer for that one I'd bottle it and sell it and retire. Your question is a very valid one and one that often does not get addressed in schools--and students lose. If you've done all the different strategies that you described, you could ask for a meeting with the sepcial educator under whose direction you work and an administrator. that's really about as far as you can go--unless something is happening that is illegal or unethical that must be reported to others. Parents also could question what is occurring, but it really does not make a good scenario for you to go the parent--that'll just cause a host of other problems. This problem also usually is a sign of a much larger problem in term sof teachers understanding their roles and responsibilities and I'd like to think you could change that, but that not being realistic for you.

[Marilyn Friend]

Pat: As an assistant your role and the freedom to oice an opinon is somewhat constrained by the role--that's not to say that you don't have a wealth of valuable, but it's sometimes tricky for you in a meeting to say much. With 20/20 hindsight what might have been helpful would have been for you to talk directly, not with the whole team, but with the special educator on whose caseload the student was. You could have voiced your opinions in advance to him/her which imght ahve helped at the meeting.

BTW, signing the IEP was not an indication on your part that you agreed with everything. Your signature is for attendance--wasn't sure if you knew that and apologize if you did (but maybe someone else didn't realize that).

[Marilyn Friend]

Matthew:

Wow--parent trust is a huge topic and it could be that it's bigger than any single educator or set of educators could address. I think we all have to stand in parents' shoes and try to glimpse why they might not trust school personnel--negative experiences they had when they were in school, the history of negative experiences at school related to their children, lack of familiarity with American public education, little education of their own, tendency of school personnel to be in touch only when there is a problem, cultural differences, and on and on. I guess I'm trying to say that there are no easy answers. Successful strategies I've seen include these: setting asdie a small room at school for parents and encouraging them to spend time there (coffee available, interesting materials available, a computer for their use); enlisting the help of a couple of active parents from the community who can serve as the liaison to other parents; frequent and positive communication; joint projects that include a community group. In other words, demonstrating trust for parents and enlisting their support in a meaningful way can over time help on this matter. And for some parents, this will not occur, but that doesn't mean educators should do anything other than kep the door wide open to them...

[Marilyn Friend]

HI, Nikki--You're first as I catch up on blogging. I apologize for not getting to your question. Joint planning time occurs in some schools, but probably not a majority. Multidisciplinary planning is most common in middle school where common planning time is an expectation. IN some schools people even have both individual and team planning time. At elementary and high schools this is seldome the case. In some elementary schools, grade level planning is arranged once per week. IN ghigh school, so many factors affect schedule that it takes extraordinary effort to find appropriate shared planning.

[nikki bruner]

Dear Ms. Friend,

I posted a question last week. You may have not had time to answer it. Is is common for building level scheduling to allow for multi-disciplinary collaboration?

Thanks,

Nikki Bruner

[Amanda]

Hello. My name in Amanda and I work with high school students with special needs. My job is to provide inclusion support to the Gen Ed teachers who have these students in class. My greatest concern for my students is how do I make them care about school. Apathy is lethal and these students just do not care! They have been in the system for years and have learned that they can graduate with a SPED diploma, regardless of the effort they put forth. Any ideas on how I could start a fire under these students and get them motivated?

[Russell Allen]

Hi,
My name is Russell Allen. I work with teenagers with severe emotional problems. We find that often times the parents also suffer from emotional outburst. Do you have any suggestions on how to communicate with parents that tend to be overly emotional?

[Jeanie Elkins]

Hi,

I am a special education assistant working towards a degree in special education. I have worked in special education for 12 years. I have found that most people respond to respect and a caring attitude. The one group that has given me more trouble than any is the regular education teachers. Most teachers are willing to work toward the best for the student, but what is the best way to handle the teacher who wants to place you and the child in a corner and forget about the child? I have tried talking with the teacher, talking with the teacher I work with, and trying to work around the teacher but so far this teacher will not even try to work with the special needs student.

[Pat faulkner]

I have worked with the school system in my home town for many years as an assistant. Now I hope to attain certification in Special Education. As an assistant I have attended IEP meetings and signed and dated the IEP, but only at a couple of meetings was not in agreement with the outcome. I did voice my opinion when I was asked what my recommendation would be for this student. The only one I had collaborated with before the meeting was the parents. My job was to train the student and parents in a communication mode that was best for the student. I felt I should have had more communication with the regular ed. teacher, as well as, the special ed. department. Was it my responsibility to collarborate with the staff before the meeting? Could I have made a difference by being more vocal? What I did as a professional assistant was to voice my opinion, but allow the others on the team to make the decision. I have always regretted not being more vocal about the best interest of that student and signing the IEP as if I were in agreement with the team decision. Was there a better way to handle the outcome?

[Matthew Case]

Dr. Friend,
How is it possible to gain the trust of parents of students that you work with in the school? I was an after school director for nearly three years and had difficulty having parents trust the programs and activities that were provided through the after school program. As director I even made home visits to meet with the student and family to discuss better study habits and material that would better help the student academically. Even after those visits I never really felt that I gained the trust of the families. Any advice?

[Marilyn Friend]

Rebekah: Your concern for parents is admirable and your understanding of the importance of trust is essential. I think your responsibility is to explain your perspective to the parents and then trust them to make the decision they feel is right for their child. I'm not sure that trying to convice parents is the best approach...

[Marilyn Friend]

K--What is the reason the paraprofessional gives for not wanting to work in the teacher's classroom? If it's grounded in a specific issue, I might be somewhat supportive of your approach. However, I'm somewhat uncomfortable with a paraprofessional not wanting to carry out assigned responsibilities. Unless there is a serious issue, this type of problem could eventually be disruptive for your program--for example, the other para. may eventually resent the expectation that she will switch responsibilities.

[Marilyn Friend]

R--Hmmmm. A friend of mine who is a sped. director has a list of things that should NEVER be said at an IEP meeting. From what you described, it sounds like the teacher you mentioned should have looked at such a list! However, meeting ahead of time often is not appropriate--it pits staff against parents, and that's not the intent. One strategy is to think of constructive ways to offer a different opinion. YOur could say something positive about the student and then suggest a different approach. You could use part of what is said as a basis for making another suggestion.

[Marilyn Friend]

B--From what you described, it seems like the SLP is the best person to initiate such an interaction. The first step is to understand the thinking of the resource teacher. Then, if it seems helpful, maybe you could see if the SLP could invite you to the interaction. I"m a strong advocate for keeping students in gened whenever possible--there has to be a specific reason why another setting should be considered, and it must be based on data (just in case you need topics to raise in such a conversation!!). Of course, the IEP team always makes the final determination.

[Marilyn Friend]

Jennifer--Sorry this reply took so long. After there were no posts on this entry the first week I didn't think to look again. Time is always an issue among teachers. I'm trying to get people to look for periodic time--at least once permonth, just because it's more realistic than weekly common planning time. Some principals help to arrange this; some teachers propose creative ideas of their own. Some districts are even giving teachers continuing education credit when they meet to plan together in co-teaching. For other collaboration, it still may be lunch, prep times, and before/after school.

[M Musaus]

Currently, I teach special education Pre-K in a school separate from all the other schools in our county. We have heard word that our classrooms might be moved into the elementary schools next year to allow our students to have more interaction with regular education students. I think this is wonderful, but I'm slightly concerned about being accepted by the teachers in these schools. The teachers I work with now are all special ed pre-k minded and are working for the same cause, but that won't necessarily be true if we move to the other schools. Do you have any suggestions for how to establish collaboration in a new school? What are some ways to not act intrusive or seem as though it will cause those teachers more work and time for us to work together?

[nikki bruner]

Is it common practice for building level scheduling to allow for multi-disciplinary collaboration?

[Raka]

Hello,

I am a special education student getting a bachelor's degree. I am taking a class on collaboration, and I honestly did not even know there was a class just on collaboration, consultation, and teamwork. I am excited for it though. We learned how important it is to use models and collaborate. I am excited about this information, because i have a great personality and i think that collaboration will not be a problem for me. I am not sure how most teachers are though with collaboration, like if they just ignore it all. I don't know. Can you give me any collaboration tips when i go into teaching in a year and a half...thanks!

[Rebekah Barker]

I am a Head Start Pre-K teacher. I work with a lot of students that are just being identified as having special needs. I am also working on my Master’s degree in early childhood special ed. Over the last couple of years I have worked with a number of parents that have children that need special services. These parents agree to the additional tests, but when another person is recommended to come and work with their child, they decide it is not necessary. One child did not receive special services until after he entered Kindergarten. How would you approach a reluctant parent and convince them this is the best thing for their child?
For me trust is a big part of working with head start parents. It can take a long time to get the parents to trust you. I want to get the children who need special services in the programs as soon as possible, but I do not want to push the parents too much and lose their trust. It sounds a lot easier than it actually is. Thanks for your input.

[KHampton]

I am a special education teacher of eight students. I have two paraprofessionals assisting in the classroom. Our class participates in an inclusion program with three general education classes. All three special education staff members take a group of two to three students into a general education class daily. The groups rotate between all three general education teachers.
My problem at this time is that one of the paraprofessionals does not feel comfortable working with one of the general education teachers. When it is her turn to attend that class with her group, she doesn't wish to go. I want all the students in my class to have equal opportunity for inclusion. I have allowed her to switch with the other paraprofessional in my classroom during that week of rotation. My students are fairly flexible, so this has not upset their routine. Should I continue to use this approach to the situation? I want everyone to be happy. What do I tell the general education teacher if she asks why that paraprofessional is no longer attending her class?

[R Cloyd]

I am currently a regular education teacher at a public school in Tennessee. I recently attended an IEP meeting. The meeting was concerning a student who is served with the consultation program. He attends regular education classes, but modifications are made to better suit his needs. When I entered the meeting, I was very concerned about some statements that were made from the teacher who was conducting the meeting. She mentioned she had never met the student and knew nothing about the student except for what was written on the current IEP. Even if she doesn't know the student, I felt these statements should not have been made to the parents. She also suggested modifications that could be used for the student. I was in disagreement with the suggestions. The parents seemed to look for us for suggestions, but we were disagreeing what was best for the student. It was very clear there had been no collaboration before the meeting. How can I suggest to this teacher that we should have a meeting prior to the actual IEP meeting to discuss the student’s needs? I have only been teaching for four years. I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but I see changes that need to be made.

[R Cloyd]

I am currently a regular education teacher at a public school in Tennessee. I recently attended an IEP meeting. The meeting was concerning a student who is on the consultation program. He attends regular education classes, but modifications are made to better suit his needs. When I entered the meeting, I was very concerned about some statements that were made from the teacher that was conducting the meeting. She mentioned that she had never met the student and knew nothing about the student except for what was written on the current IEP. Even if she doesn't know the student, I felt these statements should not have been made to the parents. She also suggested modifications that could be used for the student. I was in disagreement with the suggestions. The parents seemed to look for us for suggestions, but we were disagreeing what was best for the student. It was very clear there had been no collaboration before the meeting. How can I suggest to this teacher that we should have a meeting prior to the actual IEP meeting to discuss the student’s needs? I have only been teaching for four years. I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but I see changes that need to be made.

[B Sims]

I am a pre-K special education teacher working in an elementary school. One of my former students is a kindergartner this year receiving related services: OT,PT,speech, direct services with Resource and has an assistant with her throughout most of the day for mobility, positioning, and self-care. Throughout the school year she has spent all of her academic time in the classroom with instructional assistants "helping" her to complete the assignments. The Resource teacher has not been an active participant in her education. As we are now in the latter half of the school year the Resource teacher is requesting that this student be placed in another school in a CDC setting. I have strong feelings about advocating for this student to stay in her home school and to be included in a regular education setting. Not being directly involved with this student's education at this time, how would you recommend I approach the subject or should I not be involved. The speech-language pathologist currently serving this student is not in agreement with the possibility of a change of placement. Collaboration seems to me would be an appropriate starting point. Should I encourage the SLP to begin this process or should I approach this subject with our administrator? At this time I do not know what his feelings are about this student's placement. Thanks for you input.

[Jennifer Moore]

This is my fourth year teaching in the general education classroom. I am currently working on my masters in special education, and I am learning how important it is for general education teachers and special education teachers to work together as a team to help provide the best educational experience for children with special needs. I find that my collaborating experiences with the special education teachers have mostly taken place during IEP meetings. How do I collaborate more often with the special education teachers when the time is not set aside for this? Should I be concerned that the collaboration is not taking place more often? Thanks for your help.

[C Pelaez]

This topic comes at an interesting time...you see, I am about to embark in my internship tomorrow in a self-contained VE (Varying Exceptionality) classroom. I have been thinking of my cooperating teacher and about her teaching style and quite honestly...I am nervous! I know that I have had an excellent education and I have excelled in the program (3.6 GPA) but, will we click? Will she be gracious and lead me to a wonderful experience or will she boss me around and not let me flourish? I wrote her a letter to introduce myself where I stated my appreciation for her accepting to supervise me in this process and I humbly asked for her support and guidance. Will that come off as a little too over the top? I hope not...but indeed COLLABORATION is be essential to our professional relationship and to the success of the students we will co-teach. I expect to I'll keep you posted! CP