Running Head: WEEK SEVEN DISCUSSION REPLIES

Week Seven Discussion Replies

SPED 854: Family and Interprofessional Collaboration in Special Education

University of Kansas

Dr. Irma Brasseur-Hock & Naheed Abdulrahim

Brent Seager

June 26, 2017

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Week Seven Discussion Replies

Winston Gentle:

Winston,

I agree that communicating with family members of students is imperative to ensure that

educators establish communication and collaboration with the family. When effective

communication and collaboration with family members is in place, all team members can focus

more on getting services and supports in place for the student. Effective communication with

family members can also yield a variety of useful information into a students life, which

educators can use to build interventions and plans to best support the student in all educational

settings and placements. Open communication with family members will also work to reduce

confusion within the education process, as all team members will be on the same page. Even

though building and establishing collaboration and communication with family members can be

challenging, it is a vital aspect to ensure that all team members are working towards the same

goal of providing the best environment for the student.

One idea that I found useful for ensuring collaboration and communication with family

members is to use a combination of low-tech and high-tech communication methods. Some

great ideas for low-tech communication are phone calls, notes home, and newsletters that

provide information to families about their students in the classroom. High-tech communication

involves the use of email, websites, and social media to name a few, these can improve

communication with families and provide the teacher with the necessary support from the family.

Even though there are several ways in which teachers can communicate with family members,

using a combination of high-tech and low-tech communication methods accommodate a large

variety of the ways in which families are used to communicating with others.

Brent
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Allie Davis:

Allie,

I also believe that as educators, many of us assume that parents and family members

understand educational terminology and services. In many cases, parents and family members

may not fully understand educational terminology and services, which can cause parents and

family members to feel overwhelmed or not an important part of the team. Some parents and

family members may not fully understand their rights and the rights of their students. To address

these commonly overlooked concerns, it is imperative that the teacher establish communication

with the parents and family members early in the school year; as this will make sure that the

team can collaborate and communicate with parents and family members. Even though

educators continue to revamp their efforts to communicate and collaborate with parents and

families, evaluating these relationships can allow educators to see where more focus needs to be

placed to establish more effective partnerships with parents and family members.

I also agree that sometimes educators can seem withdrawn or not paying attention when

communicating with parents or family members, this can cause breakdowns in communication

and collaboration. To address this concern, teachers and education professionals need to be

actively listening to parents and family members. This is one issue that I faced in several of my

IEP meetings last school year, as many of the team members seemed to be withdrawn or were on

their phones during the meeting. These actions showed the parents and family members that not

all team members were engaged or actively listening during the IEP meeting. I had several

parents and family members that commented on this after several of my meetings, I did address

this with the team members and other members of the special education department. Despite my

best efforts, many team members continued to be disengaged during IEP meetings; which I hope
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changes in the future, as this would improve communication and collaboration between the IEP

team and family members.

Brent

Deborah Parker:

Deborah,

I can also relate to the overwhelming feeling of attending an IEP meeting, as this was my

first year as a special education teacher. I can still remember the first IEP meeting that I attended

with my mentor and feeling out of the loop, as I was not familiar with the student or family in the

meeting. However, this was a great experience, as it allowed me to see how much of an outsider

that I felt at the meeting. I believe this is how many parents and family members feel when they

attend IEP meetings and conferences. It is because of this, that I strived in each of my meetings

to make every participant feel welcome and valued as a member of the team. When parents and

family members feel like they are valued members of the IEP team, they are more receptive and

provide invaluable resources and information about the student.

You also mention the fact that some educators may rush through meetings, as many team

members have other commitments such as athletics or supervision duties. To address this

concern in my meetings, I would be in contact with parents, family members, and other team

members prior to the meeting date. I found that this allowed me to set an agenda and goals for

the meeting, which decreased the amount of time spent in the meeting, while maintaining open

communication and collaboration with all team members. Even though there are many ways to

communicate and collaborate with parents and family members prior to an IEP, I found this way

to be a great way in which I could better prepare for a meeting. Being better prepared allowed

me to spend more time on addressing goals, services, and supports; which allowed for a better

plan to be put into action for the student.

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Brent