Research on Collaborative Efforts to Support Students With Disabilities

Research on Supporting Students With Disabilities

Introductory Contexts

Much in the same way the old adage of its takes a village to raise a child heralds a collaborative approach to child development, the same can be said of supporting students with disabilities. Successful special education programs are ones that draw upon resources and relationships between a variety of stakeholders. These stakeholders include but are not limited to: teachers, parents, students, the community, administration and the school district. Specifically, there are a variety of elements that contribute to the success or failure of special education paradigms. In an effort to explore efficacious collaborative practices for special education, this work will examine the foundations of special education, a personal philosophical description of approaches and include a detailed example of how the general thematic can be applied in an actual educational scenario. By drawing from research, educational theory and classroom experience, it is possible to achieve powerful collaborative efforts that will contribute to sound educational methods for students with special needs.

Foundations of Special Education

Special education is defined by Friend as "the specially designed instruction provided by the school district or other local education agency that meets the unique needs of students identified as disabled" (2). Though for centuries the necessity of approaching the education of people with disabilities has been known, the modern discipline of special education did not come into existence until the Twentieth Century (Friend 6). The current special educational paradigms that are in existence today have been shaped by federal law, the civil rights movement, court cases and changing political and social beliefs (6). These were also aided by parental/professional advocacy and general academic research on the subject. At first, the compulsory education system that came to fruition in the Twentieth Century had virtually no provisions for special needs students (7). It can also be stated that special education has evolved as our understanding of human exceptionality has evolved. As a result, since our knowledge of human exceptionality is not complete, the field is still one that continues to evolve now into the Twenty First Century.

One of the more contemporary legislative principles that have shaped the modern special education field was the Individuals With Disabilities Act of 1990 (Friend 10). Failure to properly educate special needs students is now legally a civil rights issue and one of discrimination. In 2004, the PL 108-446 went into effect which was essentially a reauthorization of IDEA (12). Though this legislation streamlined some paper work and administrative capacities, it still holds the same anti-discriminatory spirit and commitment to educated special needs students as it did upon the introduction of the IDEA (12). Though imperfect, the current special education paradigm is one that is rooted in legality and therefore proliferates responsibility and increased attention to the process. Both of which require collaboration to make sure the Least Restrictive Environments (LREs) are being utilized by schools.

General Approach to Collaboration

The general approach to collaborative education for students with special needs begins first with designing a strong individualized education plan (IEP). In an effort to design the best plan possible, the special education teacher needs to consult former teachers of the student, the parents of the student and the teachers would be involved in any inclusive scenario for that student. The latter would be necessary to make sure that anything conceived on paper could become a reality in practice. Checking with parents and getting their expectations and insights into the child's home life is of critical importance (Friend 18). In addition, once the program has been developed maintaining contact with the parent through meetings, notes, phone calls and electronic mail should be the norm rather than the exception. Holistically, Friend designates that the most important part of collaborating on behalf of students with disabilities is working with parents (20).

Once the parental paradigm has been established, what occurs in the school is solely up to the school's staff to implement the process. In regards to establishing the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), there is typically an element of inclusion/mainstreaming present in the IEP. Though inclusion can be efficacious and is a legal portion of establishing LREs in many situations, the reality is that many schools are under-equipped to actually make such a practice occur. Many parents that cited problems with inclusion indicate fear that their child will simply be abandoned into a general education classroom and left to fend for themselves (Friend 16). In some situations where this would occur, the inclusive efforts would not likely contribute toward the success of the special needs students. As a result, the focal portion of this collaborative discussion will be on what occurs after the parents have been consulted and the program has been drafted. At this stage, it is now necessary for the general education and special education teachers to work together to make sure that the program can occur. For the general education teacher, they need to be prepared for the special education student and they need to prepare the class in some instances for the special needs student. For the special education teacher, they will have to prepare the student for the inclusive setting and monitor the progress in which that student is having in that setting to make adjustments when necessary.

A Specific Approach

As part of the collaborative general approach to educating student with special needs, co-teaching is a strong potential methodology for success. Though not always possible in all included settings, by having routine interactions between the special education teacher and the special education student in the general education classroom, a presence can be established. In addition, the general education students can get used to interacting with the special education instructor and regard them as a teacher rather than simply a support mechanism for the special needs student. To illustrate a strong example of this process, Appendix A shows a potential lesson plan for accomplishing a team teaching goal. In the included lesson, the special needs student will be doing the same activity as the other students, however, he/she will simply be granted extra time to complete the activity.

At the conclusion of every successful placement of the states on the map, the class will give the student a round of applause as a congratulatory mechanism of positive reinforcement. For example the teacher would say, "Nice work Jimmy... class give Jimmy a round of applause." At that time the class would then applaud the student. The applause would occur when the student was successful at the task. As a result, it would regardless of how many attempts it took them to get it right. When a student places it wrong, they will then be scaffolded by the teachers and/or class in certain examples until they do place it correctly, at which time the previously mentioned dialogue would occur.

This would be the same reaction for general education students and the special education student. It will be more meaningful to some students than others but overall it would not be a negative response in any way. The other important construct is that the special education teacher and the general education teacher are seen as equal authorities. There should be no perceived hierarchies and the general education students should not see the special education teachers as merely an aid. In order to do this, the general education and special education should seamlessly exchange roles throughout the delivery of the lesson. At first this may require specific designation in the planning process; however, as the teachers become used to collaborating with one another the process will become more natural and smooth thus requiring less preplanning.

Conclusions

Properly designing and implementing special education programs for special needs students necessitates collaboration at all intervals including: planning, implementing and evaluating. On all levels, it should not be understated that parental collaboration is a key variable to success. Though that was not the focal mechanism of this work, it must be designated as the consistent variable in the equation. On the teacher implementer level, during the course of a school day it is up to the special education teachers and the general education teachers to make sure the demands of the IEPs are being met. With LREs generally having an inclusive portion in most of their processes, work between special education teachers and general education teachers if of the utmost importance. Rather than being separate pillars of the educational experience, they should be dual support mechanisms. By employing frequent conversations and interactions, this can occur. On the other hand, by employing practices like team teaching whenever possible the results will be even more beneficial. If general and special education students see special education teachers and general education teachers as occupying the same role, this will greatly decrease the artificial barriers present in many of the special education/general education diversion based paradigms.

Works Cited

Friend, Marilyn. Including Students with Special Needs: A Practical Guide for Classroom Teachers. New York: Allyn & Bacon, 2008.

Appendix A

A Team Teaching Collaborative Exercise

Classroom Level: A grade 5 social studies activity designed to help students memorize state locations on a map. The lesson acknowledges that the students have been introduced to the topic and are now engaging in an activity to help reinforce their knowledge of the topic and facilitate social skills scenarios.

Activity: Students will come up to the front of the room and place sticky notes containing a state name in their respective geographical locations on a blank map. Along with each state, a memorization mechanism to associated with that state will be employed. For example, Pennsylvania would be designated as "The Keystone State." Students will be called by volunteering to come up to the front of the room and designate a location on the map. With 50 states possible and 20 students in the class, each student will go to the map at least 2 times per class.

Instructor Facilitation:

The class will begin with the general education teacher explaining and facilitating the exercise. During that time, the special education teacher will be reiterating the expectations to the included student. While students are going up to the board, the special education teacher will be talking the special needs student through the activity. The states in which the special needs student will be marking on the board will be identified beforehand. As a result, the special education teacher and the special needs student can take extra time at the seat to determine where the tag will be placed. Once established, the special education teacher and the general education teacher can communicate and the special needs student can place the state in its respective position. The activity would be the same for the general and special needs student, the special needs student would just be given added support and preparation time.

To keep the role of the special education teacher and the general education teacher on the same perceptual paradigm for the students. The introduction by the general education teacher will be supplemented by a closing by the special education teacher addressing the entire class. During this time the general education teacher will be checking in with the special education student and essentially roles will have been reversed.