Running Head: WEEK THREE DISCUSSION 1

Week Three Discussion

SPED 854: Family and Interprofessional Collaboration in Special Education

University of Kansas

Dr. Irma Brasseur-Hock & Naheed Abdulrahim

Brent Seager

May 27, 2017

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Week Three Discussion

Perception: Is how a person views or observes a situation, idea, or event. Perception can vary

significantly between each person in a conversation, which is why it should be taken into

consideration while communicating with others.

Throughout my time in education, perception has played both positive and negative roles

in my interactions with others. One example of how perception played a negative role in an

interaction was several years ago another staff member overheard a partial conversation that I

was having with another student in crisis. The other staff member reported their concerns about

their perception of the conversation to the principal. I was called into the office to discuss the

matter and relay the entirety of the events up to and during the conversation. The principal

understood that it was a misperception and discussed this issue with the entire staff in the weekly

meeting. One example of how perception has played a positive role in interaction occurred

during this school year, as I noticed that a student seemed to be acting and responding to others

differently. Due to my perception, I intervened and triaged with the student before the student

escalated and made a decision that they would have regretted later. Even though each teacher,

staff member, student, and parent will have different perceptions, teachers must take this into

account during conversations, meetings, and conferences.

Body Language: This is a form of non-verbal communication that can be used to communicate

how a person is feeling or reacting to a situation. It can be anything from a person rolling their

eyes, shrugging their shoulders, laying their head down, frowning, and other countless motions

or actions. Body language can also be misconstrued and misunderstood, causing a breakdown in

communication.

During this school year, I was assigned to teach an interpersonal skills class, and body

language was one of the topics discussed in the communication unit earlier in the school year. I
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designed a lesson that had pictures of people using different types of body language and had the

students write their ideas about what message the person was trying to communicate. When the

final picture was shown, I reviewed with the students the actual meaning of the body language

being presented; this allowed them to see how each person saw things differently and similarly.

This lesson was memorable, as I saw an improvement in how the students used their body

language in my classroom and in other school environments. I also taught a learning strategies

class, in which body language was a topic during the resume and mock interview unit, the

students were surprised to learn the impact of body language and the interview process.

Presupposition: This occurs before a conversation or communication between others begins,

and it involves when an individual believes that they know the answer to a question or topic of a

conversation. Presupposition can lead to miscommunication and difficulties in collaboration

between teachers, parents, and students.

While not all conversations and communication involving presupposition are always

negative, my experiences with presupposition in my first year of teaching have proven to be

mostly negative. One incident that occurred earlier during this school year is still vividly in my

mind. It involved another teacher who asked me how many times that I sent a former student of

theirs to the office this year. Knowing that the teacher asking the question was presupposed to

the idea that the student being discussed was already struggling, I invited the teacher to my

classroom anytime to observe the student. Not only did this prevent other presuppositions with

this teacher, it also allowed me to build a good working relationship with this teacher during this

school year.

Congruence: This occurs when things are similar, line up, or everyone is on the same page.

Congruence is one of the cornerstone concepts of effective communication, as congruence

allows each person in a conversation to play an equivalent role in a conversation.

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During my tenure in the education field, I have experienced congruence in conversations

and collaborations. While working as a para educator several years ago, I would often

collaborate and communicate with my supervising teacher throughout the school week. My

supervising teacher allowed me to have an equivalent role in our conversations and

collaborations, which allowed us to be more consistent in the classroom; which better supported

the students in their learning. I have also been part of communication and collaboration that did

not have congruence, and it was difficult to participate in this discussion, as I felt that my

opinion and ideas were not valued and that I was not an equivalent member of the collaboration

team and conversation. I believe that congruence is an essential element in communication and

collaboration, as each contributing member of the conversation or collaboration team needs to

play an equal role in the conversation or collaboration.

Spatial Relations: This relates to the distance of people within a conversation or collaboration.

This is sometimes referred to as personal space within a conversation. Spatial relations and

distances can sometimes vary, depending upon the type of conversation or collaboration taking

place.

Spatial relations was another topic of conversation that I taught in my interpersonal skills

classroom during the communication unit. I designed an activity in which students observed and

practiced how spatial relations worked in a conversation with others. The students first observed

videos, images, and demonstrations of how spatial relations work during conversations, and the

amount of space to give in each type of typical conversations. The students then practiced this

with each other. The next day, I assigned the students into groups and had them select five

different conversations and spatial relations, and the other groups guessed which interaction was

taking place. The lesson was invaluable, as the students became more aware of their

surroundings and how to ensure that the correct amount of personal space was given during each
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type of conversation. Even other teachers and administrators made observations and comments

about how each student improved the amount of personal space when communicating with

others.