Module 9: Collaboration

1. Module 9: Collaboration

2. Overview • Defining collaboration • Rationale for collaboration • Working collaboratively with parents • Professional collaboration • Collaborating with paraprofessionals

3. Defining Collaboration • The term collaboration as it relates to including students with ASD in general education classroom means that the individuals involved work together during the assessment process, the IEP development process, planning and implementing interventions, and monitoring progress. • A collaborative team works together to problem solve when challenges arise to figure out how to best meet the needs of the student

4. Rationale for Collaboration • With the incidence of students with ASD continually on the rise, and with the emphasis on inclusive education for students with disabilities, general education teachers, special education teachers and related services professionals are faced with the challenge of providing quality interventions and supports for these students reportedly without the expertise to do so (Spears, Tollefson, & Simpson, 2001). • Thus, parents, professionals, and paraprofessionals must all work together to combine their knowledge, expertise, and resources to fully meet the needs of students with ASD.

5. The Truth is… • General educators cannot be expected to know how to meet all of the diverse needs of students with ASD. • Special educators cannot simply visit the general education classroom once or twice a day to provide the necessary interventions and supports the students may need. • Speech-language pathologists cannot provide the intensity of communication and social intervention needed for students with ASD by provided thirty minute pull-out sessions daily or two or three times each week. • The parents cannot be expected to follow through with what the school is trying to accomplish if they are not considered equal team members from the beginning.

6. Instead… • A true collaborative team must be formed to ensure students with ASD are reaching their full potential. • At the center of this team should be the family and, when appropriate, the student. • Additional members of the team will include general education teachers, special education teachers, and speech-language pathologists. • Other members may also include administrators, autism specialists, occupational therapists, behavior specialists, and school psychologists

7. Working Collaboratively with Parents

8. Working Collaboratively with Parents • Often times, the relationship between school professionals and parents is one-sided. • Meaning, the professionals expect the parents to be consistent with working on the things they are working on in school at home with little or no support to do so. • Some professionals do not take into consideration how difficult it is to raise a child on the spectrum and the challenges parents face in doing so throughout each day.

9. Working Collaboratively with Parents • In some situations, when parents are contacted by the school, it is for purposes of reporting behavior problems or other challenges the student is displaying • In other cases, if parents present concerns to school staff or express the desire to be more a part of the school team they are seen as unreasonable and bothersome.

10. Working Collaboratively with Parents • School professionals cannot truly meet the needs of students with ASD without continually collaborating with parents. • There may be school-based professionals that are experts in ASD, however the parents are the expert on their child and often have extremely valuable information to share. • The importance of collaborating with parents has been so consistently supported by research that it is no longer considered an option, but a professional obligation (Corrigan & Bishop, 1997)

11. Tips for Working Collaboratively with Parents • Value the information parents have about their child. • Include parents in the assessment process • Ask parents to identify their priorities for their child • Involve parents in problem-solving sessions when challenges arise (don’t just report problems and expect them to fix them) • Ask parents to share strategies and techniques that are effective at home

12. Tips for Working Collaboratively with Parents • Respect parent concerns • Truly listen to their concerns and try to put yourself in their shoes • Acknowledge that you understand their concerns and what they want for their child • Offer any information that can ease their concerns • Agree to address concerns when it is feasible to do so

13. Tips for Working Collaboratively with Parents • Support parents • Find out what their major difficulties are at home and offer to help provide them with resource information or provide information on intervention strategies • Provide parent training and workshops based on needs assessments you administer to the parents indicating what they feel they need more information about • Conduct home visits if your school district allows you to do so

14. Tips for Working Collaboratively with Parents • Encourage parents • Share the student’s successes with parents as often as possible (even small ones) • Limit the amount of “tattling” (reporting the challenging behaviors the student is displaying in school) • Acknowledge when parents are clearly implementing interventions at home and positively impacting their child’s development • Share data on student progress that is clearly understandable to parents

15. Professional Collaboration

16. Professional Collaboration vs. Consultation • While collaboration and consultation are often used interchangeably, they are quite different. • With consultation, it is an “expert” model. One professional is sharing their expertise with some other professional who is working with a student. • With collaboration, all professions involved are equal contributors are recognized for their individual expertise and what they have to offer to the team.

17. Professional Collaboration • There must be shared responsibility and shared decision making among general education teachers, special education teachers, and related services professionals • Educators must also collaborate with non-school service providers such as mental health providers, home-based interventionists, and medical professionals (Simpson, de Boer-Ott, & Myles, 2003)

18. Tips for Professional Collaboration • Ensure adequate planning time • Discuss the need for sufficient planning time with your administrators. Research continually documents that adequate planning time is ESSENTIAL for successful inclusion. • Use shared planning time efficiently and effectively • Have a purpose for the planning meeting as opposed to meeting informally

19. Tips for Professional Collaboration • Align responsibilities • As a team decide who is responsible for different components of the student’s educational program (providing in-service, implementing interventions, taking data, communicating with parents, etc.) • Support one another • Share successes • Problem solve together

20. Tips for Professional Collaboration • Do not have the special education teacher serve in a teacher assistant role • The special educator should not simply visit the class and help the student during instructional lessons • The special educator can model instructional strategies by teaching whole group, small group, and providing one-on-one instruction in the classroom and provide feedback and support to the general education teacher to assist in developing teaching techniques that are beneficial to the students. • The special educator can co-teach with the general education teacher • The special educator can provide small group instruction to one group while the gen. ed. teacher instructs another groups or monitors students working independently

21. Tips for Professional Collaboration • Have the speech-language pathologist (or occupational therapist) work in the classroom with the teacher(s) • This allows the SLP to model effective teaching strategies and provide support to the teachers • The SLP can conduct whole group lessons while the teachers learn from the modeling • The SLP can co-teach with the teachers or teach a small group while the teacher teaches another Note: If pull-out speech-language services are being provided, it is essential to also plan for in-class support to the teacher whenever possible

22. Collaborating with Paraprofessionals

23. Collaborating with Paraprofessionals • If you have a paraprofessional on your team, you want to fully utilize the supports of the person • To do so, it often takes a great deal of training and coaching to enable the paraprofessional to learn the teaching strategies you would like to be used with students with ASD • It is the responsibility of the general education teacher and special education teacher to provide necessary training and support to the paraprofessional and to provide the direction needed so the paraprofessional fully understands what is expected

24. Beware of the Shadow • Many students with ASD who are placed in inclusive classrooms have “shadows” (paraprofessionals assigned to work solely with that student) • In many situations, assigning a paraprofessional to a student with autism is seen as the only way to include the student in a general education setting as opposed to only one way to provide the necessary supports (Giangreco & Broer, 2007)

25. Beware of the Shadow • Research has shown that having a shadow assigned to a student can have detrimental effects such as: • Interference with engagement with the teacher • Interference with engagement with peers • Decision making by under-qualified personnel • Unnecessary dependence on the paraprofessional by the student • Stigmatization • Behavior problems (Downing, Ryndak, & Clark, 2000); Giangreco & Broer, 2005)

26. What to do Instead • Instead of assigning a paraprofessional as a shadow, assign that person as support for the classroom • The paraprofessional assigned to the classroom can: • Provide one-on-one or small group instruction to any students in the class under teacher guidance • Monitor students working independently while the teacher works with a small group • Assist in managing behaviors during whole group instruction • Assist in data collection procedures

27. Summary • While philosophically you may understand the importance of collaboration among parents, teachers, related service professionals, and paraprofessionals, there will continually be barriers to successful collaboration. • However, the importance of collaboration can be denied even if it is difficult to establish a collaborative team. • Open communication with administrators is essential so they can assist the team in developing as much collaboration as possible.

28. Module 9 Activity • Provide a written discussion on how you are currently collaborating with the parents of your student with ASD and the other professionals and paraprofessionals working with that student. • Then provide a reflection on how you think this collaboration may be improved.

29. References Corrigan, D., & Bishop, K. K. (1997). Creating family-centered integrated service systems and interprofessional educational programs to implement them. Social Work in Education, 19(3), 149-163. Downing, J.E., Ryndak, D. L, & Clark, D. (2000). Paraeducators in inclusive classrooms. Remedial and Special Education, 21, 171-181. Giangreco, M.F., & Broer, S. M. (2007). School-based screening to determine overreliance on paraprofessionals. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 22(3), 149-158. Giangreco, M. F., & Broer, S. M. (2005). Questionable utilization of paraprofessionals in inclusive schools: Are we addressing symptoms or causes? Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 20(1), 10-26. Simpson, R. L., de Boer-Ott, S. R., & Myles, B. S. (2003). Inclusion of learners with autism spectrum disorders in general education settings. Topics in Language Disorders, 23(2), 116-133. Spears, R., Tollefson, N., & Simpson, R. (2001). Usefulness of different types of assessment data in diagnosing and planning for a student with high-functioning autism. Behavioral Disoders, 26(3), 227-242.