Most school communities are made up of diverse groups and individuals.
Why should schools seek to build collaboration with all members of the
community they serve? Provide specific examples.
“In a school context, all three processes—collaboration, consultation, and
teamwork—in-volve interaction among school personnel, families and
students, and community to achieve common goals.” (Knackendoffel, A.,
Dettmer, P., & Thurston, L. P., 2017) Special education is not just about the
special education teacher. It takes a team of people to help our students
succeed and each person on that team has valuable input and insight as to
what might be best to help our kids. The people on this team may include,
but are not limited to, the special education teacher, the general education
teacher, the parents, the student, administrators, social workers,
occupational therapists, and speech and language pathologists. For example,
the special education teacher and the general education teacher may need to
collaborate to find a way to modify the general education curriculum in order
to meet the needs of the special education students. Another example would
be that the social worker may have input on different work strategies to
help keep the student engaged and positive. Everyone does their part and it
ends up becoming a puzzle, of sorts, that becomes an individualized picture
of what school should look like for that student. Outside agencies can also
be helpful by providing support and information. The parents are one of the
most important parts of the team. They know the student the best and their
input is invaluable.
References
Knackendoffel, A., Dettmer, P., & Thurston, L. P. (2017).
Collaborating,
consulting, and working in teams for students with special needs
(8th ed.).
Pearson Education.
