Jessica: Teamwork Strikes Back

In my past two posts, I’ve written about the importance of teamwork and a common IEP team scenario wherein the parents and school district fail to reach agreement on how to address the needs of a child. In the grand spirit of Star Wars, I am going for a trilogy of teamwork-related posts.

This post focuses on when the general education teacher and specialist (you) fail to agree on accommodations and modifications. Unless you’re Darth Vader with the full backing of the Dark Side, you’re going to have to learn how to reach an accord with colleagues.

Time for a Pop Quiz! Answer yes or no:

1. Do you tell the general educator what accommodations and modifications a student must receive without asking them for their input?
2. If a general educator doesn’t want to provide said accommodation or modification, is your response to inform them that the IEP is a legal document and their refusal risks landing the district, and possibly themselves, in hot water?

If you answered yes these questions, then welcome to the club. I’ve been there, mon frère. I’ve been annoyed and frustrated by my colleagues. Now, let’s take a step back, breathe, and say to ourselves, “I’m not always right.”

 Scenario 1: You know what I don’t like? People telling me what I have to do. So why would I do that to anyone else? When I first began working in special education, I just told my fellow educators, “This is what the IEP says the student is supposed to receive.” I felt like I was just trying to help by letting them know what the IEP said, but I never really gave anyone the chance to tell me what they thought about it.

Now, I meet with my fellow teachers at the start of the year (or whenever a new special education student arrives) and give the teacher a heads up on what to expect in terms of ability, such as “he reads at xx level” or “these are some of her best work samples in math.”  Then I go into what the previous accommodations and modifications have been, and ask whether these sound like things this teacher can implement in class, or if they have other thoughts on how to best help the student. Sometimes, this discussion leans in favor of my ideas.

Other times, I find myself having to offer new options, such as “If you like the idea, but don’t have the time, how about if I stop by in the afternoon to make sure John has his homework planner filled” or “If you give me the spelling test ahead of time, I’ll create the modified version” or “Are you okay with me teaching them this content when they come see me?” or “How about if I show up in your classroom at that time and do push-in help” or… or… or… You’re better off throwing out too many ideas and asking them to choose than throwing out only one option and saying, “Do this – or else.”

On that note, let’s visit Scenario 2. When I was working on my credentials and conducting classroom observations and interviews, many specialists told me this was the way to achieve general educator acquiescence. Certainly, it’s true: if the teacher refuses an accommodation or modification written in the IEP, there could be legal fallout. Could is the operative word here, though. Just because something can happen doesn’t mean it will, nor that it should. Furthermore, do you really think threatening a colleague is the best way to obtain agreement? It might work, but you’re not doing anything to keep a good working relationship with your colleague, who you will undoubtedly be interacting with down the road with future students.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that you don’t have to always be right. You have to be fair and open minded, which means sometimes your ideas get played out and other times, your good ideas get shelved in favor of someone else’s. And that, in a nutshell, is teamwork.

Comments

[Nicole Greene]

Jessica,
I really enjoyed your post describing the pit-falls of accommodations and modifications. Currently, I am working on a project to assist my school and colleagues on accurately and consistently implementing testing accommodations as stated on the students IEP's and 504 Plans. Collaboration and communication seems to be key in ensuring these accommodations and modifications are being followed. Your post gave me further insight into how to deal and obtain feedback and assistance from the regular education teachers. Thanks for bringing the issue to light.

[Stephanie Poulos]

I also found your post to be very interesting. I am not in the process of doing some research on collaboration between teacher and I am finding that it is not as easy as it should be. I agree with you that it should be, as you say a "built up" process. I think we should always be connected with peers, staff and communities and families. This is the best way to find the best solutions to problems. What better way to learn then from your peers!
Sadly I am finding that many schools are crunched with the time crush of multiple tasks. I see that the only time collaboration occurs is when there is a required meeting to right up an IEP. This has got to change in my opinion. I have seen many meetings go very wrong because everyone there has different opinions and quite frankly it only results in the parents becoming very emotional and confused. I wish all teachers talked on a regular basis so that they would all be on the right track an in agreement when it came to these meetings. Is there a simple solution to this problem? I am in the hunt for one!

[Mariah Woods]

I really enjoyed reading this response. It got me thinking about my future classroom and relationship with my future coworkers. I believe the collaboration between the general educator and the special educator is very important. With great communication the student will be able to reach their fullest potential. I am still learning about the field of special education and hope to be able to implement your great suggestions where ever I am begin my career. Thank you again for your post, it was realistic and helpful.

[Matt M]

It is really important that gen ed and sped teachers learn to accept one another's ideas and concerns. My little bit of experience has been that some gen ed teachers are not happy about sped students being placed in their classrooms in the first place. Sometimes I find that they are anxious about whether or not they will be able to effectively teach the child. They worry about extra work involved and are sometimes threatened by the idea that someone else might be coming in and out of their room. I think it is important as the sped teacher to try and get these concerns out in the open and assure the gen ed teacher that you are there to help not hinder. I like your idea of giving the gen ed teacher many different scenarios on how you might help. By giving her a lot of different suggestions, she feels more in control when she is the one who can decide exactly what help she might need from you. Letting the gen ed teacher know that you both have the same goal and that is to provide the student with the most effective learning experience is so important.

[Candace]

I enjoyed reading you alls comments. I'm a general education teacher who is currently receiving my master's in special education and want to know how I can collaborate better with our special education teacher. We are currently doing inclusion and I'm fairly new to the whole inclusion thing. Don't get me wrong, our special education teacher is great, but I don't think she truly understands were she stands with the whole inclusion thing and I know I don't so inclusion is beneficial to our students who are receiving special education services. I've asked if she wants to teach parts of lessons and she said yes but nothing has happened yet. How can I get her to be more engaged in inclusion so our students can receive all that they are supposed to be receiving? There's no tension between us, we are just clueless.

[Silita]

Hi Jessica

I really enjoyed reading your post and I can truly attest to how frustrated and annoyed you can become with colleagues. However, I do think it is a good idea to give teachers a ‘heads up” concerning your students capabilities. I can definitely appreciate the lengths you go through as a special education teacher to make sure all concerned know the in and outs of the students. I too have offered my assistance in many of the ways you mentioned in making sure that students are getting the required help and trying my hardest to assist the teacher in providing that help.

I believe collaboration is vital between special education and general education teachers and it definitely has to be ongoing throughout the year. The fact that you gave so many offers and options to the teacher is great. I also agree that if we want to build relationships with teachers we are going to be working with all year, threatening them will only make it much harder to build any type of relationship. However, I do feel that they should know what a student’s IEP says because it is a legal document and yes, teachers can be held accountable for not providing the modification and accommodations for that student.
Finally, being fair and open minded to suggestions and ideas from colleagues and working as a team greatly benefits the students.

Keep up the great work!

[Lenora]

Great post with great suggestions on how to collaborate without stepping on others toes and avoid confrontations.

[Jessica]

Hi Tracy and Rhonda, thanks for your responses!

Tracy, my students do not have multiple teachers, even at the junior high level, but I imagine it's the hardest time for handling accommodations and modifications because more opinions are being added to the mix. I also agree that as the year progresses, student needs change. I think the more open the communication channels between parents and teachers, the better.

Rhonda,

I don't know how it is in other counties, but within my county SELPA, when a students enters from another district within our SELPA, we follow the IEP as written; if necessary, we may schedule an addendum to discuss something such as a classroom accommodation. If the student transferred to us from a district outside out SELPA, we an IEP within the first 30 days to transfer all the paperwork, and this would inherently include a discussion on accommodations. I'm glad you were able to work out your classroom arrangement.

[Rhonda]

I agree collaborattion is important to ensure clarity about an intended goal.When a student comes from another district with an set IEP and modifications are they implemented or changed with the general education teacher and special educator ?I was threaten with a law suit by a parent because I initially refused the seating accommodation because the student was disruptive,and slept in the mornings. I didnot want the extra distraction in the front of the room.I eventually gave in and rearranged my room in a fashion that the other students were not bothered by the distraction.The student was near my desk,but I sat my work table.

[Tracy]

I have been working as a special education teacher in NJ for many years. I like your approach; however, it is difficult, at the beginning of the year, to determine what the student will need because each class and teacher, will have different requirements. A student who did not have any difficulty with organization in 5th grade may fall into trouble in 6th grade as he/she tries to juggle all their classes with many different teachers.

I think collaboration is a huge issue, but that it must continue throughout the school year to meet the needs of the students. I have also noticed that ELL students benefit from modified tests because of the simpler language or the addition of word banks. This is another point which can be addressed with the general education teacher. He/She may appreciate the help in this area, as well.

[Jessica]

Thanks, Bailey. I had several non-teacher friends tell me they also thought the advice sound. Of course, it's still easier said than done :) Jessica

[Bailey]

Jessica,
The last paragraph of your post is great! It applies to special education, but also to any other job or project that you will take on in your lifetime. Great advice!

[Jessica]

Hi Mashal, thanks for your your thoughtful comment. I couldn't agree more with you. I particularly like your emphasis on ensuring that collaborators understand their shared goal. As with most things, identifying and understanding the goal is the first step towards achieving it!

[Mashal J]

I really enjoyed reading your post. I think the collaboration and relationship between the general and special education teachers should be depend on several factors. First, their collaboration can be judged by the quality of the outcomes. Second, their collaboration will be efficient and student needs will be met when they understand their shared goal. Third, to increase the effectiveness of their collaboration, they should feel that their own needs are being met. Finally, if they want to build trustful relationship, they should monitor their own behaviors and share information.