Collaboration is Essential

Every situation a child encounters brings different demands and expectations for performance. That’s why it is imperative to provide education and intervention services that prepare students with communication disabilities to function effectively in the many environments in which they live and learn. To me, Collaboration Is Essential! Our therapy can be more relevant and effective if the people who are in the student’s life understand their disability and know how to provide support and assistance when needed. The only way this can be accomplished is to meaningfully involve individuals who have a significant relationship with the child such as parents, teachers, siblings, and friends. This philosophy has served as the foundation of my teaching, intervention, publications, and presentations throughout my career. Collaborating with educators will help them realize how disabilities can interfere with learning and how important it is to work together to generate solutions. Helping students learn is a shared responsibility; educational outcomes can be excellent when collaborative relationships are nurtured and developed.

TIPS FOR ESTABLISHING MEANINGFUL COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS

• Understand the school's organization, administration, culture, and policies that might affect collaboration.
• Involve people who have significant relationships with the student. Change the participants, size, composition, goals, and function of the Collaborative Team as the child progresses through school or encounters new challenges.
• Talk about each member’s unique relationship with the student and typical interactions.
• Inform teachers, family, and others of the learning problems that are likely to occur and why (ie., explain the connection between the student’s disability and his or her ability to read, write, or participate in classroom activities).
• Adopt a mutual problem-solving orientation for assessment, goal planning, instruction, and treatment.
• Clarify each team member’s roles and responsibilities and how they will support each goal.
• Exchange information on a frequent basis to maintain effective planning. Teachers talk about learning objectives and the curriculum. SLPs and other interventionists talk about the characteristics of the student’s disability, the impact on learning, and modification strategies.
• Jointly identify educationally relevant goals that will prepare students to function effectively in educational situations.
• Jointly identify and develop learning obstacles and solutions to challenges.
• Determine modification strategies that can be practiced in real-life situations such as the classroom, cafeteria, or playground.
• Invite observations. Request permission to observe in the classroom and welcome others to observe therapy sessions.
• Offer professional development activities for team members to ensure mutual understanding of the disability and how to implement specific intervention and instruction.
• Use technology to maintain communication about the student’s performance, progress, and challenges.
• Monitor and evaluate implementation of recommended strategies and the student’s progress.
• Celebrate success together!