TIPS
FOR TEACHERS
Collaboration with Other Resources:
Collaboration
with Special Education Teachers
What is the role of the special
education teacher in a school?
1. To consult
with general education teachers regarding any student in their classroom
who exhibits learning and behavioral problems; and
2. To coordinate,
manage and provide the services for students with disabilities requiring
special education.
Typically, what are the different
types of special education teachers in a school?
-
Early Childhood Special Education
Teacher - This professional works with children from preschool through
age 8 who are developmentally delayed or have some other type of documented
disability (autism, Down Syndrome, etc.);
-
Collaborative Teacher - This
is a special education teacher who works with students from kindergarten
through 12th grade labeled mentally retarded, learning disabled, and emotionally/behaviorally
disordered;
-
Speech-language Pathologist
(SLP) - An SLP works with students who have some type of communication
disorder (articulation, language, voice or fluency).
What can the general education
teacher expect from the special education teacher?
1.
To work together with the general education teacher to develop a plan for
accommodating students who are having difficulty;
2. To
demonstrate, when asked, special instructional techniques, methods, etc.
to implement the special education teacher’s suggestions;
3. To
assist in the training of paraprofessionals and peers to help implement
accommodations, modifications, and/or special techniques;
4. To
provide information to the general education teacher regarding his role
in the special education process.
How can the special education
teacher help the general education teacher?
1. To develop
individual and/or classroom behavior management plans;
2. To develop individualized
instructional plans for students having learning difficulties;
3. To develop accommodation
and/or modification plans for Section 504 students;
4. To review
curriculum materials and provide feedback regarding possible modifications
of those materials for students having difficulty.
In what ways will the special
education teacher provide services?
As a consultant. The special
education teacher does not work directly with children. Rather, she
works directly with the general education teacher by providing suggestions
based upon her area of expertise to the general education teacher. The
special education teacher may schedule regular times to come into
the
classroom and observe in
order to provide the requested information. These consultative services
are provided for (1) students who do not qualify for special education
services yet are having difficulty in the classroom, as well as for (2)
students who receive special education services yet whose primary educational
environment is the general
education classroom. Consultative services provided by the special education
teacher may include:
-
information about common learner
characteristics which lead to difficulties in the general education environment
as well as common classroom accommodations and/or modifications for those
difficulties;
-
information about a disability
a particular student may exhibit in the general education teacher’s classroom
and how that disability may affect the student’s performance in that
classroom;
-
observation of a student having
difficulty in the general education classroom in order to then provide
information about that student’s particular strengths and weaknesses, and
also to provide information about how the general education teacher can
accommodate and modify the curriculum to maximize the student’s success;
-
reviewing the curricular materials
(textbooks, worksheets, overheads, tests, etc.) and suggesting modifications
for students having difficulty.
As a collaborator. The special
education teacher works together with the general education teacher
to provide services needed to students. Each teacher provides information
from his area of expertise to together develop and/or implement a plan
for students who are not succeeding in the general education classroom.
Collaborative services between
the special education and general education teachers may include:
-
regularly scheduled meetings
to discuss students (either with or without disabilities) having difficulties
in the general education classroom, the success of accommodations and/or
modifications attempted, and if or how the current plan should be changed;
-
the special education comes
into the general education classroom and provides services to the students
along with the general education teacher; examples of this would be team
teaching (both teachers, together, teach the lesson plan to the entire
class), parallel teaching (each teacher teaches the entire lesson to a
different group of students in the class simultaneously) or station teaching
(the class is divided into 2 groups and each teacher is responsible for
teaching half of the lesson to each group).
As a resource room teacher.
The special education teacher pulls children out of the general education
classroom to another room in the school and works directly either with
individual or small groups of children.
References
Friend, M., & Bursuck,
W. (l999). Including students with special needs: A practical guide
for classroom teachers. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Lewis, R., & Doorlag,
D.H. (1999). Teaching special students in general education classrooms
(5th ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill.
read
related article
........................................................................................................................................
One
of a series of documents prepared by Auburn University special education
faculty
as
contracted by the Alabama State Improvement Grant to promote positive change
in the public schools.
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