Collaborating with Related Service Providers
The Team
During your work as a special educator, you will have the privilege of working with many professionals to further the education of your students. Each member of the team is an expert on one or more aspects of student success. Your job as a special education teacher is not just to arrange and implement academic curriculum for your students, but to see the "whole picture" of how all of these team members can work together for the benefit of your students.
For a brief overview of the typical members of the team, see the contacts section of our site (link below) and the video about service providers on this page:
Related Service Providers
In a public school setting there are many members of an Interdisciplinary team. All members of a students IEP team are their to support the child through their unique specialized skill set. All members of an interdisciplinary team must work together in order to effectively meet the needs of each student as well as all families.
Within our school district the following related service providers play a critical role in the educational success of students receiving special education services.
Speech & Language Pathologist
~Speech and language pathologists work with children who experience delays or deficits in their speech production and language skills. ~As a special education teacher it is important to remember that the SLP that you work with is your go to expert when you have questions regarding a student's ability to communicate with you or others. ~SLP's often work with students to improve their articulation skills as well as their pragmatic language skills. ~Often SLP's will also be the point person for an augmentative communication device (AAC) device if your student has one.
Occupational Therapist
~Occupational therapists work with children who experience delays or deficits in their fine motor abilities as well as their sensory motor abilities. They occasionally will also work on improving a child's visual motor abilities in consultation with a teacher of the visually impaired (TVI). ~As a special educator it is important to remember that the occupational therapist in your school is your go to person if you have concerns about the fine motor abilities of your students. ~They can give you lots of tips and tricks for things to try within the classroom in order to assist all children in an inclusive way.
Physical Therapist
~Physical Therapists work with children who experience delays or deficits in their gross motor abilities, and muscle tome. Physical Therapists also work to help students who are immobile due to medical reasons. ~As a special educator it is important to remember that the physical therapist that you work with is your go to person when you have concerns about a child's gross motor abilities. ~Physical Therapists are a very important member of an IEP team as their services and recommendations often impact the child's health and wellbeing at school. They will often consult with doctors and nurses to provide appropriate physical therapy services throughout a child's day at school.
Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA)
~BCBA's work closely with children, families, and school staff to help support individual children through often significant behavioral challenges both at school and at home. ~As a special educator the BCBA is a member of the team that will be extremely helpful in assisting you to find various behavioral strategies to try in order to meet the unique educational and behavioral needs of your students within the classroom. ~Often BCBA's are a contracted service, meaning that they are not direct employees of the school district.
School Psychologist
~The School Psychologist works with children throughout the district who present with delays or deficits in their cognitive functioning skills as well as social emotional skills. ~The primary role of the school psychologist is to complete academic, psychological and sometimes behavioral testing in order to determine a child's individual level of academic, social, and behavioral functioning. ~The school psychologist plays a key role when the IEP team is determining a students eligibility for special education services.
School Social Worker
~The School Social Worker works with children throughout the district who present with delays or deficits in their social emotional skills. The social worker is also their to support students who may have minor behavior challenges within the classroom environment. ~The school social worker works with a variety of students both within the classroom setting as well as individual 1-1 consuling. ~The school social worker also works to support families of all children.
Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI)
~The Teacher of the Visually Impaired works closely with students and teachers in order to ensure that the needs of students with visual disabilities are met within the classroom and greater school environment. ~TVI's will sometimes see students in a direct service model, however often they are working with the child's teachers in a consultative model. ~Your TVI is the person who will give you tips/tricks and strategies to best meet the needs of your students with visual impairments. They can also provide you with equipment and educational tools to help your students.
Some general tips
The following tips will help you to collaborate with anyone on the team, or with the team as a whole, more effectively.
Get to know one another
All of us are human, and we all have different strengths and needs. The better the team knows one another, the more effectively relative strengths can be utilized. Spending time together and communicating honestly can be extremely beneficial.
For example, you may excel at language use and take time to proofread documents for a coworker, and they may be able to provide you with tips and tools for working with paraprofessionals if they are good at building strong interpersonal relationships.
Working together helps tremendously in effectively meeting the needs of all students.
Create simple routines
Try to establish times to make contact with one another outside of scheduled meeting times. You may find that a tradition of checking in quickly with one another at a given time allows you to make good on the promises you make yourself such as "I'll ask the SLP about that when I see her".
Often when IEP teams meet to discuss services for individual students consultations are built into the service delivery grid. Having this time built into the scheduled day ensures that team members are able to effectively collaborate and work effectively with each other.
Take note of progress
If you are working with a student and notice something that seems to have improved or a new strategy that they seem to be using effectively, share that information!
If a student has started to include articles in their speech when working with you, for example, let the SLP know. This kind of frequent communication allows everyone on the team know when some kind of intervention is successful.
A great way of facilitating this type of communication as a special education liaison is to share google docs. for each student with each service provider in order to notate any observations, tips/tricks etc. that may help other team members more effectively meet the child's needs.
Learn from one another
Remember that you are surrounded by experts! If you're unsure about something, you are fortunate to have a whole group of people to ask. You are not expected to know everything.
Additionally, it can be very helpful to observe one another or make time to work together if possible. It's likely that you will pick up some new strategies along the way.
Embrace collaborating
Working with others often prevents us from doing things exactly the way we planned, or from doing things the way that we always have. Be open to change and to trying new strategies.
Welcome the opportunity to work together! We work in a field where doing so (and sharing the workload and ideas) is celebrated. Everyone is working towards a common goal.
Remember your purpose
Every single person on the team is working towards one goal: the progress and successful and happy future of your students.
It's important that your students see you as all being on their team. Don't allow students to be witness to any tension or disagreement among the team. Reference one another and the positive work students do with each team member so that students respect and embrace each part of their education.