How can teachers best plan for and teach students with significant cognitive disabilities in inclusive classrooms?
Page 5: Collaborative Practices
Educating students with significant cognitive disabilities in inclusive settings requires teamwork and collaboration. As the student’s teacher, you are not alone! All educators involved in planning, implementing, and evaluating an IEP should be prepared to work together to help students succeed. Collaborative practices improve academic, communicative, and social outcomes for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
collaboration
Any collective action in which two or more individuals work together towards a common goal of planning, implementing, or evaluating a specific aspect of an educational program for a student or group of students.
As you learned earlier, IEP team members (e.g., special educators, general educators, related service providers, family members) work collaboratively to determine appropriate goals, services, and supports for a student’s education. They also collaborate throughout the school year to implement the IEP in a way that ensures a student’s adequate access to and progress in the general education curriculum.
Although the IEP team plays a vital role in the student’s education, they are not the only professionals who should work collaboratively to help the student succeed. There are often many other individuals involved in the day-to-day life of the student. For example, a student may have multiple teachers across different content areas or specialty/elective classes (e.g., art, music). Or, a student may receive support from a paraeducator in the general education classroom. These educators all need to communicate and collaborate regularly to plan their instruction, deliver services and supports, and monitor the student’s progress.
Collaborating with Paraeducators
As noted above, students with significant cognitive disabilities are often supported by paraeducators—sometimes referred to as paraprofessionals or teacher assistants—in inclusive classrooms. Under the supervision of a general and/or special education teacher, paraeducators may take on responsibilities such as adapting materials, offering behavioral support, or facilitating peer interactions.
In these situations, the student’s teachers must collaborate closely with the paraeducator. For example, general educators can share materials in advance of a lesson to help the paraeducator prepare, and special educators can identify the key concepts for the paraeducator to support during instruction. Paraeducators may also require specialized training, such as that provided by a speech-language pathologist (SLP) on how to use a student’s communication system.
speech-language pathologist (SLP)
A professional who diagnoses and treats problems in the area of speech and language development; a related services provider.
Paraeducators must be careful to provide the appropriate amount of support to enable the student to access the general education classroom. For example, a paraeducator who is always right beside the student or who provides excessive assistance may unintentionally limit the student’s ability to interact with peers or fully participate in class. The IEP team should work together to plan ways that the paraeducator can offer support while maximizing the student’s independence.
When planning instruction and support, the most effective collaborative teams develop strong working relationships and meet regularly. Collaborative teams are most successful when they:
- Include interdisciplinary professionals to support all facets of a student’s experience in the general education setting. For example:
- General educator(s) to support grade-level academic content and skills
- Special educator(s) to support foundational skills and specially designed instruction
- Related service provider(s) (e.g., speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, school counselor) to support areas such as communication, physical access, or social-emotional needs
- Establish a shared understanding of goals and objectives for the student’s education
- Focus on the student’s individual strengths and needs
- Agree on ground rules for meetings (e.g., no phones, be on time)
- Create an agenda to guide the meeting and assign specific action items for follow-up
In this interview, Shawnee Wakeman describes some examples of interdisciplinary collaborative teams.
Shawnee Wakeman, Ph.D.
TIES Center, Co-Principal Investigator
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Transcript: Shawnee Wakeman
Interdisciplinary collaborative teams typically have at least two disciplines or content areas working together to plan, teach and/or assess. These teams often work together to make connections across the disciplines. An example of a team would be the social studies teacher and the ELA teacher planning a project regarding the role of Christopher Columbus in history. Another example would be the special education teacher and the speech-language pathologist co-planning an ELA lesson that is infused with core and targeted vocabulary for student responses. Members of an interdisciplinary collaborative team can also be the IEP team members. An IEP team would include at least one general education teacher that teaches the student, the special education teacher, any related service provider, an LEA, or local education agency representative, such as the school administrator or a district specialist, the student’s parents, and the student. Others may attend and participate in the IEP team meeting as necessary. The purpose of the IEP team is to review the performance of the student over a period of one year and make decisions regarding appropriate content, assessments, supports, and services to meet the needs of the student.
Lessons for All: The 5-15-45 Tool Whether you have 5, 15, or 45 minutes to collaborate on lesson planning, this tool provides action items to transform a standards-based lesson into more inclusive instruction for all students. Additional resources are provided to help educators advocate for common planning time and set team rules and meeting protocols. The video below illustrates how a special education teacher and a general education teacher use the 5-15-45 Tool during a collaborative meeting (time: 3:09). Transcript: Collaboration Narrator: Let’s listen in on a conversation between Mr. Carter and Ms. Saldido regarding the use of content standards in planning lessons for all students. Mr. Carter: I’m excited for Daniel to join our class, but I’m really concerned about his academics. Ms. Saldido: I totally get it. It can be pretty confusing, but luckily, I have some great resources that will help. Mr. Carter: I really appreciate that. So where do we start? Ms. Saldido: We actually start at the same place you’d start with the rest of your students– with the standards. Ms. Carter: Okay, that makes sense. I’m still not sure how to take those standards and make them meaningful for Daniel though. Ms. Saldido: That’s why I’m here. Let’s work through one together now. Mr. Carter: That makes me feel a lot better. Some weeks can be really busy though. How much time will we need to put aside? Ms. Saldido: We can be flexible! We’ll use this tool called the 5-15-45. It will walk us through the planning process whether we have 5 minutes, 15 minutes, or 45 minutes. Mr. Carter: I have 15 minutes now– let’s get started! Ms. Saldido: Great! First we’ll start with a lesson plan. Mr. Carter: Perfect! Let’s use the one that I sent you. Ms. Saldido: We’ll use these discussion guides each time we meet. First question is, What is the content being taught in this lesson? Also, what is most essential for all learners to know? Mr. Carter: The content being taught in this lesson will be finding the perimeter of a regular shape. By the end of the lesson, all students should be able to find the length of each side of a regular shape and understand the sum of all of its sides equals the perimeter. Ms. Saldido: Now that we’re on the same page, what are the instructional strategies and activities for this lesson? What instructional strategies and activities are most helpful for teaching the essential content? Mr. Carter: We will teach this content through a concrete-representational-abstract method. Students will use a ruler to physically measure the perimeter of real-world objects, draw and label the object using correct measurements, add up the sides of these objects, and then will use a formula to solve perimeter problems for a variety of shapes. Ms. Saldido: What is one barrier to learning we anticipate for Daniel? Is it related to his interest or engagement? To his background knowledge? Or to how he shows what he knows? Mr. Carter: I’m most concerned about Daniel’s previous exposure to mathematics vocabulary. Communicating about mathematics is extremely important for conceptual understanding. Ms. Saldido: Okay, let’s brainstorm how we can remove this barrier. Ms. Saldido: I think our plan to create visual response cards with the key vocabulary for the lesson will be super helpful for Daniel. I wonder if other students could also benefit from this instructional strategy? Mr. Carter: That’s a great idea. We can have students create their own response cards with illustrations so they can participate the same way as Daniel! Ms. Saldido: Sounds like we have a plan. Let’s list our action items and then schedule our next meeting to use the 5-15-45 tool! Narrator: The conversation between Mr. Carter and Ms. Saldido is an example of one that is essential for creating effective plans for all students. You will use the information presented in upcoming pages and activities.
A Guide to Implementing Paraprofessional Facilitation This document includes high-quality paraprofessional facilitation strategies that reduce student reliance on adults and increase student engagement with peers. A Planning Sheet and Initial Training Checklist are also available to support educators who supervise paraprofessionals.
Creating a School Environment that Facilitates Success for All Students: A Model for School Leaders Collaborative practices for inclusion in individual classrooms and schools rely on systemic supports from school and district leaders. This module offers a general overview of the concepts that principals should consider when creating inclusive schools. |
