Four Early Childhood Abstract

Teachers Reflect on Through writing journals, 4 experienced pre-

school and primary school teachers described
Helping Children with the process of helping young childrenwith spe-
cial needs make the transitionto kindergarten.
Using narrativeinquirytechniques,we collected
Special Needs Make and analyzed journalentries to identify catego-
ries of concerns and issues. Teachers'concerns
the Transition to focused on coping with the sense of overwhelm-
ing responsibilityinherentin the task of transi-
Kindergarten tion, understandingand implementingthe laws
and regulations involved in transition of stu-
dents in special education,learning about child
and family needs, preparingstudents and fami-
lies for smooth transitions, and collaborating
Jan Jewett with other professionals.In comparisonto "best
WashingtonState University practice"recommendationsavailable in the lit-
erature, which focused on the teacher roles of
information liaison, supporter of families, ad-
Liz Tertell vocate for systems improvement,and creatorof
National-Louis University curriculumcontinuity,the teachersemphasized
personal issues and interpersonalskills such as
collaboration and communication in assisting
students and their families with transition.
Mary King-Taylor
Municipal School District, Pike Township,Indiana
The earliest transitionschildren and
their families may face are entering and
Diane Parker leaving a preschool environment.Chil-
West LakeSpecial EducationCooperative,Munster, dren with special needs and their fami-
Indiana lies may experience even more anxious
moments than others during transition.
Child-focusedcenterscreatean environ-
Lin Tertell ment for both the child and family mem-
bers that supportsthem in this change.
Bower School, Warrenville,Illinois

One of several experienced early child-

Marcia Orr hood educators who wrote journals about
Illinois Primary School, Park Forest, Illinois
assisting young children with special needs
as they move through preschool and kin-
dergarten programs wrote about transition
in this way. Helping young children with
The ElementarySchoolJournal
Volume 98, Number 4
special needs make this transition is a de-
o
1998 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. manding task that has received considera-
0013-5984/98/9804-0005$02.00 ble attention in recent years. Transition sup-

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330 THE ELEMENTARYSCHOOLJOURNAL

ports and procedures for students with fying the effectiveness of educational strat-
special needs are required by legislation de- egies or resources they have used in their
signed to protect all persons with disabili- teaching (Dewey, 1933; Schon, 1983).
ties from discrimination. Efforts to under- Reflection-in-action (thinking as one en-
stand educators' role in helping special gages in teaching activities) and reflection-
needs students move from preschool to kin- on-action (reviewing and rethinking
dergarten have resulted in a literature on teaching activities after the fact) (Schon,
best practices, based both on theory and re- 1983) are identified as activities that enable
search, in early childhood special education professionals to refine their practices and to
transition (e.g., Atwater, Orth-Lopes, transform, or reframe, the personal princi-
&
Elliott, Carta, Schwartz, 1994; Chandler, ples that guide their practice. These reflec-
1993; Chandler, Fowler, Hadden, & tive processes are valuable, then, because
Starhurski, 1995; Fowler & Ostrosky, 1994; they are sources of self-correction and pro-
Rosenkoetter, Hains, & Fowler, 1994), in- fessional skill enhancement (Jewett, in
cluding specific tasks and timetables. These press). As teachers and researchers discuss
practices include teachers serving as infor- their reflections in a collaborative fashion,
mation liasons, supporters of families, ad- the
joint interpretation of the material al-
vocates for systems improvements that sup- lows shared
researcher-participant recon-
port transition services, and creators of struction of meaning (Connelly &
continuity in expectations, curriculum, and Clandinin, 1986). The study of such mean-
instruction. However, the relation between
ing provides insight into the nature of ed-
recommended practices and the concerns of ucators'
experience and allows shifts from
teachers and other professionals who must the
conceptual, theoretically based study of
implement them is not clearly established. practice to the experiential and personal
Although research and legal requirements (Connelly & Clandinin, 1986; Wien, 1995).
can guide or even prescribe their practice, we cannot generalize from the
educators must also deal with complex de- Although
narrated experiences of the four teachers
mands related to the contexts in which they
who participated in our study, as would be
attempt to implement "best practice." in a quantitative study with a
In this article we explore transition from possible
data set, we have access to thoughtful
the perspective of teachers who wrote jour- larger
nals about transition in the course of their meanings generated from actual experi-
ence. These meanings offer authenticity and
work in early childhood settings. We com-
the potential for transferability to the ex-
pare the themes teachers identified to rec- of others (Connelly & Clandinin,
ommendations for practice in the literature. periences
We explore the following questions: What 1990).
can one learn about the skills teachers need Journal writing provides both a mecha-
to help students make effective transitions nism for encouraging reflective thinking
from the experiences of professionals who and a source of recorded narrative that
sheds light on the way teachers experience
help children with special needs and their
families make transitions? How do the significant parts of their professional world.
transition-related skills and issues that re- Evidence suggests that use of journal tech-
flective teachers identify relate to the best niques that are linked to reflective practice
can increase the depth, quantity, level of
practice recommendations available in the
literature? analysis, and application of reflective
thought to practice in preservice teacher
Reflective Journal Writing trainees (Armaline, 1995).
and Narrative Inquiry Through journal writing, teachers tell
The process of reflection offers teachers a the story of their experiences and provide
means of identifying challenges and clari- to others the evidence of their own discov-

MARCH 1998

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 TEACHERREFLECTIONS 331

eries and reflections. Current approaches to implementing inclusion of young children

professional development suggest that peo- with special needs.
ple lead "storied lives," that is, they tend to
organize their understandings of the world Journal Writing
in terms of story episodes and also to derive Teachers were asked to write about their
meaning from the stories of others experiences in helping young children with
(Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; Wien, 1995). special needs make transitions, but no time-
This suggests that the narrative stories of table for writing was given. We provided
teachers can be useful to others attempting the following open-ended questions to
similar tasks. The collaborative reconstruc- guide the four teachers as they wrote in re-
tion of meaning between reflective teachers flective journals:
and researchers creates opportunities for
the selection and organization of stories that Whatmakesa transitionwork well? (Use
have optimal utility for others. examples from your own experience.)
What are problems in transitions?(Use
Method examples from your own experience.)
When you thinkabout transitioningchil-
Teachers dren in your class, what things do you
Four practicing early childhood educa- need to think about?How do you feel
tors were asked to write reflective journals throughoutthe process?
from April to December 1996 regarding What skills have you developed in order
to have smooth transitions?Talkabout
their experiences helping young children the relationshipskills you need.
who have disabilities and their families Describe activities you are engaged in
make the transition to kindergarten. Each of now and will be engaged this fall in
these teachers had worked colleagially with regardto transition.
Describe the unique qualities of each
one or both of the primary authors (Jewett child and each family and how they
and Tertell). With an average of 15 years of
play a role in the transitionprocess.
experience, these veteran teachers all hold How do you individualize for children
teaching certificates and have completed and families in this process?
masters' degrees in early childhood or spe-
cial education. Two have special education The teachers who wrote journals were
training and endorsements. Mary King- not guided or directed in their choice of top-
Taylor teaches in an elementary public spe- ics beyond this initial list of suggestions,
cial education classroom, and Diane Parker with one exception. Initial journal entries
works as a preschool special education focused on negative factors associated with
teacher in a public preschool special edu- transition. We contacted teachers again and
cation classroom. Lin Tertell is a kindergar- asked them to provide some positive ex-
ten teacher in a public elementary general amples and strategies in their journals. In
education classroom, and Marcia Orr serves general, the teachers wrote about topics and
as a parent coordinator/after-school direc- events that were meaningful to them.
tor in a public special education preschool Individual variation in the journals re-
program. All of these teachers work in sub- sulted. Some teachers wrote considerably
urban schools close to major metropolitan more than others, but all wrote sporadically,
cities. Among the four, transition experi- generating clusters of journal segments.
ences included sending and receiving Teachers tended to write about episodes of
young children with disabilities who were concern and to describe these episodes from
between 3 and 6 years of age. The principal beginning to end. The writing submitted of-
investigators, with experience in early ten appeared more in the form of lengthy
childhood education, had recently worked narrative stories than dated journal ex-
to provide support to programs and staff cerpts.

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332
The two primary investigators collected
and reviewed journal entries. The material
was analyzed to create categories of transi-
tion tasks that could be used to group teach-
ers' comments. Thus, categories emerged
from the journal reading.
Results
The primary investigators identified the fol-
lowing categories of transition tasks in
teachers' writing: (1) the overwhelming
sense of responsibility experienced by
teachers involved in the process; (2) under-
standing and implementing laws and reg-
ulations that protect students with disabil-
ities; (3) developing knowledge of the child
and family, including all of their special
needs; (4) preparing students and families
for smooth transitions; and (5) serving as a
liaison within the collaborative process of
transition. In addition to these categories, a
theme of "stressfulness" emerged and is
discussed below.
The Stressfulness of Transition
for Teachers
The teachers who wrote about the task
of helping young children with special
needs make the transition to kindergarten
focused their writing on problems. For ex-
ample, they made numerous references to
difficult emotional and interpersonal issues
that arose during transition activities. These
trends suggest that helping children with
special needs make transitions was a highly
stressful task for these teachers. Teachers
identified a wide variety of barriers in their
journals, including:
dealing with staff changes on shorttime-
lines;
the sometimes overwhelming nature of
the needs of students and families;
the complexity of tasks and issues re-
quired to optimize transitions;
the perceived tendency of some nonspe-
cial education practitionersto stereo-
type students with disabilities;
"deficit" approaches to educating stu-
dents with special needs;
categorical, rather than. individualized,
approachesto student placement;
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THE ELEMENTARYSCHOOLJOURNAL
the number and diversity of persons
(health professionals,educators,fam-
ily members, disability specialists)in-
volved in providingservices to special
needs students;
the difficultyin achievingfull attendance
at collaborative meetings among di-
verse team members;
the need for practicalskills in addressing
differencesin student abilities;
the number and diversity of kindergar-
ten classrooms that sending teachers
may work with;
the rigidity of school schedules;and
organizationalpolicies that impede col-
laborativeefforts.
The teachers also reflected on issues re-
lated to coping with their own emotions
and those of others, including the emotions
of grief, anxiety, fear, stress, mistrust, anger,
discomfort, and pity. The excerpts below,
which illustrate the five categories of tran-
sition tasks teachers discussed, demonstrate
the stress that pervaded their descriptions
of transition processes.
Categories of Transition Tasks
Overwhelming sense of responsibility:
Thisyear I was hiredas a specialedu-
cation teacherjust 2 weeks beforeschool
started. I had a stack of IEPs [Individu-
alized EducationPlans] to review. Often
I feel as though these plans tell you more
about what a child cannot do than what
they can. The part of the IEP that I im-
mediately looked at was "medical is-
sues" ... a variety of medical care issues
with life-threateningpotential that were
presentedto the teacheras scantnotes in
medical terminology.I needed to know
about brainshunts, abnormalskin prob-
lems, allergies, G-tubes, and other spe-
cific medicalprecautions,care,and treat-
ments, all before the first day of school.
Withouta nurse in our building, it was
up to me and/or my instructionalassis-
tant to provide care. We weren't being
asked to do anything that a parent
wouldn't do daily, but we had several
students with specific needs and we got
the childrenall at once, not one at a time
like parentslearn about them.
This educator is describing the poten-
tially overwhelming sense of responsibility,
MARCH 1998

and sometimes anxiety, that may accom-
pany dealing with children who bring
needs that are beyond the typical range of
professional expertise. She goes on in her
journal to discuss the value of meeting with
parents, students themselves, and other
caregivers as a means of meeting such stu-
dents' needs. All writers acknowledged ad-
dressing the stress of responsibility by cre-
ating collaborative relationships and by
learning to prioritize the information they
received.
Carryoveror follow through is the
hardest thing when the children leave
our program. It's almost impossible to
put on paper what the receivingteacher,
therapist, etc., need to know. Ideally,
these people would be a part of the
multidisciplinary team meeting when
everythingis reviewed.
The educators described being over-
whelmed not only by receiving new stu-
dents with urgent and intense needs but
also by the responsibility of sending on such
students. As the journal excerpt above
makes clear, no other type of information
transfer-a crucial function in helping
young students with special needs make a
transition-can match the value of a well-
run, effective multidisciplinary team meet-
ing. Research supports the notion expressed
in this excerpt that team efforts promote the
successful adaptation and functioning of
students with special needs in general edu-
cation environments (Schrag & Henderson,
1996; Thomas, Correa, & Morsink, 1995).
Understanding and implementing laws
and regulations:
Although the laws say that children
are entitled to education in the least re-
strictive environment, that does not in
any way mean that they will be willingly
included in general education by either
all teachers or all communities. One of
the greatestproblemsI have worked on
in my relationshipswith otherteachersis
attitudes of disabilities versus attitudes
of abilities.I have found that some tend
to see my students either in a fearful,
avoidant way because of their special
needs, or as objects of pity because of
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TEACHERREFLECTIONS 333
what they can't do yet. I have found this
to be the greatest challenge of teaching
kindergartenfor special education stu-
dents.
Placement data support this teacher's
claim that children with special needs (e.g.,
mental retardation, autism, behavior disor-
ders) have a much higher likelihood of be-
ing placed in special education than in gen-
eral education settings and that this often
occurs in a categorical way (Davis, 1995).
Special education programs in some school
districts tend to place children in schools
and classrooms on the basis of their dis-
ability (their "label") rather than their in-
dividual needs and abilities. This practice
runs counter to the intent of the legislation
that guides services for students with dis-
abilities.
Transitioning my preschoolers into
kindergartenalways feels difficultto me
because I am sending them off with a la-
bel. In one sense this is a good thing, be-
cause the child's conditions and needs
are known. Because of their diagnosis,
they areable to be in schoolwith the sup-
ports they need, and when they are tran-
sitioning, these supports can be lined up
and made ready to go. But in another
way, the label can be harmful,too. A la-
bel is so one-dimensional-it does not
take into effectthe whole child.Whenthe
receiving teacheris unable to attend the
multidisciplinary team meeting, he or
she may not have the chance to get be-
yond the label and understandthe child
as a person.I worry thatin deliveringthe
IEP,we may sometimes lower expecta-
tions for the child, because of the label.
In their journals teachers expressed am-
bivalence about the labeling of disabilities.
Diagnosis of a disability is required by law,
and the resulting labels have a clear value
in that they help educators make sense of
the many characteristics that children can
exhibit. As these teachers recognized, how-
ever, use of labels can promote stereotyping
and prevent educators from seeing a young
child as a unique person with strengths as
well as limitations. We found several ex-
amples in the journals of how the dangers
of labeling can be mediated by discussion
334
among educators (e.g., during a multidis-
ciplinary team meeting), where students'
strengths as well as limitations can be ac-
knowledged and teachers' questions can be
answered.
Learning about the child and family:
The first thing I want to do in receiv-
ing a new special needs student is to
meet the parents. I learn more in a 15-
minute meeting than a day of reading
about the child. Parentsare generally a
fountainof information,but they always
focus me on how to meet their child's
physical needs. Then they always tell me
about how their child communicates
with them. I am especially interestedin
how a child communicateswhat he or
she likes and doesn't like. I find out what
a student doesn't like, and, if he doesn't
like something,how it is handledin other
partsof his daily life. Thisunderstanding
forms the basis for how we will develop
a way of working togetherat school.
My interviews with parents of stu-
dents with special needs confirm that
their particularworries are heightened.
Consider the following examples: "My
son isn't walking well and I was con-
cerned that the other kids would step on
him or pick on him." "I am afraid that
my daughter [who has an emotional
handicap] will really hurt someone." "I
am afraidthatmy littlegirl [whose health
is fragile]will have a seizureand nobody
will notice and she will turn blue and
die." "My son has no depth perception,
and he may just walk off the top of the
slide." Parentshave told me that before
their child left preschool or early inter-
vention programs, they were worried
that from then on they would be fighting
with school districtsin orderto get what
their child needed. They would have to
demand services or their childrenwould
be pushed to the side by the system. This
is not a very positive way to approach
the beginning of your child's education.
Journal entries described a number of
concerns communicated to the teachers by
parents of young children who were mak-
ing transitions. Family concerns included
issues of safety, acceptance, friendship,
placement, and grief over the loss of nor-
malcy. The teachers acknowledged the often
intensified level of emotion experienced by
families of young children with disabilities.
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THE ELEMENTARYSCHOOLJOURNAL
In journal entries teachers consistently iden-
tified the importance of sensitivity to the
needs of family members involved in the
transition process. Teachers described a va-
riety of relationship-based strategies for
working with families-allowing families
to gradually build rapport with the receiv-
ing school staff, building communication
levels, and sharing vital information about
their child's strengths and needs. They also
identified the importance of building such
relationships with receiving educators so
that crucial information about a child could
be transferred.
Preparing students and families for
transition:
When we first began including the
childrenfrom the developmentalkinder-
garten in our kindergartenclass, I took
the attitudethat we would justacceptthe
children without explanations,ignoring
the obvious differences. I rationalized
that if I modeled an acceptingand open
behavior, my students would do the
same. Christywas our first student to be
included. She wore a helmet and walked
and spoke haltingly.Although the kids
welcomed her, they watched her closely,
especially focusing on her helmet. After
she left, the childrenbombardedme with
questions, often questions I couldn't an-
swer. It couldn't be ignored. I spoke to
Christy's teacher about discussing
Christy'scondition.During a visit to our
class, the teacher presented Christy's
condition in a developmentally appro-
priatemanner.Christytold the kids why
she had to wear a helmet.
I thought long and hard about that
short 15-minutemeeting. In retrospect,I
figure I had done my students a disser-
vice by not preparing.I always prepared
them for new things: field trips, bus
rides, and fire drills. ButbecauseI feared
being biased, I neglected this important
step.
I decided to change my approach.
When another child was scheduled to
participatein our Thanksgivingprogram
and celebration,I preparedthe kids. Josh
came in our classroomwith his teacher's
aide and his tape recorder.The aide ex-
plained how she taped messages forJosh
and why it was necessary for Josh to
have the machine. She encouraged the
children to address their concerns di-
rectly to Josh. One question offeredover
and over was "Can I help Josh?"This
MARCH 1998

time I saw no hesitancy, no stares, no
questionswhen Joshleft. Therealsuccess
was that the children continued to sup-
port Joshafterthe Thanksgivingcelebra-
tion. They have continuedto includehim
whenever possible.
In this excerpt, the teacher addresses the
skills needed to assist other children to adjust
to the transition of a young student with spe-
cial needs. Collaboration with other profes-
sionals, family members, and students them-
selves was an important strategy identified
by the teachers who discussed this task. In
addition, teachers wrote about a variety of
things they did to help families adjust to the
transition process. These included informing
parents about differences between the send-
ing and receiving programs, creating oppor-
tunities for families to become familiar and
comfortable with the new environment and
staff, assisting family members to connect
with family support systems, and supporting
family members as they advocate for their
child's needs.
Serving as a liaison:
When I think about the transition
from preschool to kindergarten,I actu-
ally think it starts when the child starts
preschool. In a perfect world, preschool
teachers, parents, district curriculum
specialists, and special education teach-
ers would all have looked at kindergar-
ten and would know what it looks like,
including the written and the unwritten
curriculum,the rules, what the social cli-
mate is like, and what the physical facil-
ity is like. Once everyone knows what
the kindergartenlooks like, they can be-
gin to plan the child's transitionduring
the preschoolyear.Of course, there may
be many different pictures as there are
many differentkindergartenclassrooms.
In this perfectworld, preschoolteach-
ers would visit kindergartens,kindergar-
ten teacherswould visit preschools,and
special educatorsand general educators
would work together as collaborative
teams. Then, throughoutthe child's pre-
school experience,her programwould be
focused on meeting importantneeds for
kindergarten-setting her up for success-
ful natural transitionstowards the next
step.
Unfortunately,this is not the perfect
world. In the real world, I recently had
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TEACHERREFLECTIONS 335
the experience of transitioninga special
needs student into my special education
kindergartenclass and also attemptingto
arrangefor her participationin a general
education class for a part of the day. I
thought that I was well prepared for
the transitionbecause I had receivedher
IEP informationthe spring before entry,
I had met with her preschoolteacher,we
had visited each other's programs,and I
had met the mother and father in ad-
vance. In addition, I worked with the
same occupational and physical thera-
pists that had worked with this child in
her preschool,so I thoughtI had covered
all the bases.
What I had not done was include the
generaleducationkindergartenteacherin
all of this preparation.The child was not
on this teacher'sclass list, and so the par-
ents were not invited to the before-school
meetings that parentsof typically devel-
oping studentshad attended.The school
administrationhad no provisionsfor list-
ing a student as both specialand general
education,so theteachertendedto regard
this young student as "not hers."In ad-
dition, because I hadn't visited with the
teacher,I was at a loss as to how and when
to effectively include the student in the
kindergartenclassroom.Althoughby the
beginningof the second semesterthe stu-
dent was successfullyfunctioningin and
learningas a partof both classrooms,the
processresultedin many bad feelingsbe-
tween the school,parents,and staff.Itwas
certainlya learningexperienceforme and
the general educationteacher.
The episode described in this journal en-
try, and the reflections about transition that
accompany it, illustrate the importance of the
liaison role for professionals who coordinate
transitions for young children with special
needs. Because so many adults from different
disciplines are involved in providing ser-
vices, time, effort, and skills are needed to fos-
ter effective communication and shared re-
sponsibility for meeting student needs
(Friend & Cook, 1996; Thomas et al., 1995).
Journal excerpts provided many examples of
the need for relationship-based liaison activ-
ities and also chronicled the many challenges
accompanying this role.
Comparing Recommended Best
Practices with Teacher Reflections
Research reviews and other professional
literature addressing the topic of helping
336
young children with special needs move
into kindergarten identify several areas of
responsibility, or components of transition,
for teachers who want to optimize transi-
tions for these children (Atwater et al., 1994;
Chandler, 1993; Chandler et al., 1995;
Fowler & Ostrosky, 1994; Rosenkoetter et
al., 1994). The components identified in the
literature include such skills as (1) an infor-
mation liaison, (2) a supporter of families,
(3) an advocate for systems improvements
that support transition services (e.g., inter-
agency agreements, improved information-
transfer procedures, district-wide transition
plans), and (4) a creator of continuity of ex-
pectations, curriculum, and instruction for
each child in transition (Atwater et al.,
1994). Comparing these components with
the categories discussed by teachers reveals
both similarities and differences in empha-
sis.
In the best practice role of information
liaison, teachers are advised to visit and ob-
serve one another's programs, meet and
collaborate concerning the needs of the
child, and transfer records. Each of these
tasks and activities was addressed in the
journal entries.
Similarly, best practice recommenda-
tions regarding family support include in-
forming parents about differences between
sending and receiving programs, clarifying
skills that will be important for their child's
success in the new program, providing in-
formation about the rationale for policies
and practices concerning transition, creat-
ing opportunities for family input into plan-
ning and implementation of the transition
process, providing opportunities for family
and child to visit and learn about the new
classroom and school, and soliciting paren-
tal support for the transition process
planned for each child. Most of these activ-
ities and responsibilities were thoughtfully
described and discussed by the teachers,
with the possible exception of creating op-
portunities for family input into the transi-
tion planning and implementation process.
In terms of advocating for systems
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THE ELEMENTARYSCHOOLJOURNAL
change, the recommendations derived from
the literature include the following activi-
ties: developing a comprehensive transition
plan that serves as a blueprint for collabo-
ration across providers and agencies, pro-
viding administrative support for teachers'
collaborative efforts, and conducting
follow-up or evaluation to determine
whether transition planning was successful.
Journal entries did address the need for a
comprehensive transition plan but pro-
vided little evidence of concern about the
other two areas.
Finally, the fourth component discussed
in the best-practice literature addresses pre-
paring children to cope with the transition,
as well as adjusting the sending and receiv-
ing environments to promote continuity.
Specifically, the literature provides exten-
sive technical information about the early
childhood teacher's role in collaboration be-
tween senders and receivers in order to
identify the skills that children need to
make a successful transition to kindergarten
and in using teaching strategies to promote
these skills. In fact, this component was the
primary focus of some of the literature we
reviewed (Atwater et al., 1994; Chandler,
1993). The literature in this area focuses on
instructional practice rather than on collab-
orative skills.
In what ways were these issues reflected
in the teachers' journals? Two educators
wrote about the need to create "continuous"
learning environments for young children
with special needs but did not describe any
of their own activities or concerns in this
regard. None of the teachers wrote about
assisting special needs students to acquire
the skills (such as the ability to work inde-
pendently, wait one's turn, or communicate
needs) described in the literature. The lit-
erature may make many recommendations
regarding this issue, but the four teachers
who wrote about transitions addressed the
topic narrowly.
Summary and Conclusion
Although in their journal entries teachers
address most of the recommendations for
MARCH 1998

best practice in the literature, they give little
attention to some topics. Only one teacher
discussed an individual student or her own
interactions with students.
The educators focus on adult-level inter-
personal tasks, including feelings, proce-
dures, communication, and collaboration
roles and responsibilities required in the
transition process. These teachers have
much less to say about the system within
which the transition work is done or the
actual creation of continuity of expectations
and instruction for students undergoing
transition. By contrast, these last two topics
are emphasized in the literature on best
practices regarding the transition of stu-
dents with special needs. The references the
primary investigators reviewed (Atwater
et al., 1994; Chandler, 1993; Chandler et al.,
1995; Fowler & Ostrosky, 1994; Rosenkoetter
et al., 1994) refer to the importance of inter-
personal and collaborative skills but pro-
vide little or no guidance about the specific
skills needed or how teachers should de-
velop and use them.
Thus our study showed that these four
teachers have compelling concerns in deal-
ing with transitions that are not addressed
adequately in the literature on transition.
These concerns include a variety of collab-
orative and communicative skills (e.g.,
strategies for building interpersonal trust,
creating and maintaining inclusive multi-
disciplinary teams, and achieving role clar-
ification or, when necessary, role release)
that the teachers indicated they needed for
success in handling transitions. Therefore,
providers of research reviews and technical
support materials about transition may
need to incorporate guidance about the in-
terpersonal, collaborative processes re-
quired in implementing transitions into
their recommendations for practice. The
contrast between the research reviews and
teacher reports also suggests that research
on teachers' perceptions of their own roles
and responsibilities in transitions might be
warranted. Why did these practitioners
place so little emphasis on the topics of cre-
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All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
TEACHERREFLECTIONS 337
ating continuous learning environments
and appropriate instructional or interactive
strategies? Why did they write so little
about individual children? What are the
perceptions of teachers with less experience
than these? Only further exploration can
answer these questions.
Resources such as training and written
guidance may be needed that demonstrate
to practitioners how they can understand
and have an effect on the organizational
system and structure within which they as-
sist students who make transitions. The lit-
erature on transition that we reviewed does
not clarify who is responsible for imple-
menting recommended transition compo-
nents and role functions. Such guidelines
are needed because the task of transition
crosses professional disciplines and school
boundaries. If no comprehensive transition
plan exists in a teacher's work environment,
for example, what should be the teacher's
role in creating one? Who is responsible for
evaluating the effectiveness of the imple-
mentation of an individual child's transi-
tion plan or the school's systemwide tran-
sition practices?
Finally, the feelings of stressfulness and
overwhelming responsibility that pervaded
the journal entries suggest that transition
tasks are demanding. It is important that
schools acknowledge and understand the
stress that transitions can place on educa-
tors and develop means of easing transition
for teachers, students, and families. In this
way, young children with special needs will
experience success as they move from one
setting to the next, and teachers, as well as
parents, can feel more supported during the
process.
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