Megan Kiefer

SPED 854
December 18th, 2015
Revised Personal Philosophy Statement

My personal philosophy of teaching is that educators should focus on what is

best for the child and their families. I believe there are many different paths to the same
outcome and we should be able to try many different strategies to achieve the best
learning environment for each student. Collaboration in special education is important
because there are many different members of the team that work with a specific student.
While each team member is ultimately trying to achieve the same goal, student success,
the method could vary and confuse the child.

As the team starts to be more

collaborative and on-the-same-page, it is easier to meet their goals and show

consistency.

Learning better communication skills aids in collaboration.

If there is

communication and respect between all parties, collaboration will be easier to achieve.
The key players in the collaboration process are generally the members of the
IEP team. The IEP consists of every support staff that works with the student, the
administration, the Special Education teacher, the general education teacher, and the
parents or guardians of the student.

Each student has at least the administration,

Special Education teacher, the guardians, and the general education teacher.

But,

some students also have Speech Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Counselors,

Social Workers, Behavioral Specialists, Adaptive P.E. teachers and many other types of
support staff. Regardless of how many people are on the IEP team, there needs to be
communication with all of the members to stay consistent with expectations of the
student.
The factors that must be in place to ensure successful collaboration in special
education are ready and willing team members that are open-minded, trusting your
team, using their expertise, willingly sharing ideas, speaking efficiently with each other,
plan ahead to meet, and having support from your administration. These factors will
help because they are what makes a good team, great. All the factors can be summed
up by learning how to communicate more efficiently. When teams can communicate
efficiently, they can achieve more and the student benefit more as well.
Potential barriers that might affect successful collaboration are lack of
communication, oppositional team members, lack of planning, and inconsistent
behavioral management. These will affect collaboration because they will hinder the
ability to be effective.

The reason behind collaboration in special education is to

effectively communicate ideas and methods to the entire team.

Important time points in a students education in which collaboration should occur

are weekly when you collaborate with the general education teacher on their lessons,
quarterly when progress reports are due, and annually when IEPs are renewed. The
form of collaboration can change and you might not want to share every lesson with the
parents, but the line of communication should always be open. Also, students can have
collaborative services. This means the students receive services in the classroom with
their peers and the teachers are not giving them direct services, but are working with
other students in the room also. Collaborating with the general education teachers in
this situation is futile to the success of your students as well as making your time in the
classroom effective.
Culture affects collaboration in special education because if the school has a
culture of collaborative communication starting with the administration all the way
throughout, it is clear to other service providers and parents that the school is easy to
communicate and collaborate ideas with. If the culture of the school does not support a
collaborative model, it makes it harder to meet with parents and staff for meetings and
the behavioral management and academic support is choppy and inconsistent.
Progress is harder to obtain as well as academic success.

Teachers must also be

aware of the culture of the families they are working with. When IEP meetings are held,

sometimes there are translators present. It is crucial for the teacher to be clear with
responses. English language learners are usually unaware of colloquialisms.
In conclusion, do the best for the child and their family, collaboration is key in all
areas of your job, and to obtain a positive relationship with families, try to be as clear as
possible.