Collaborating for the challenge of the future : strategic directions for supporting students with special needs
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Date
1994
Authors
Harvie, May
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Education
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education, 1994
Abstract
The education of students with special needs requires the
knowledge of professionals from many disciplines. Traditionally,
School Boards have hired Psychologists, Speech Language
Pathologists, Social Workers and sometimes Occupational and
Physiotherapists. While these professionals have worked for the
same organization, they have operated in isolation resulting in
fragmented services to children and their families. The study traces
the efforts of the Student Services Department of one School
District to become a unified interdisciplinary team with a vision for
the future which would give them the ability to foster collaboration
with the school personnel and with other agencies. After an initial
review of the literature in leadership, team processing, strategic
planning and interdisciplinary collaboration, five specific tasks
were identified as desirable outcomes (a) the Student Services
Department would work as a team; (b) Student Services Personnel
would collaborate with each other in solving problems related to
children; (c) Student Services personnel would identify ways to
collaborate with each other and support school staff;
(d) Student Services personnel would employ the team problem
solving method at Case Conferences with school staff and parents;
and (e) Student Services personnel would collaborate with other
agencies. In order to build the team concept, Student Services staff
undertook Strategic Planning which was a unifying force in allowing
the vision, mission and objectives to be determined by consensus. A
Needs Assessment was conducted with school staff to determine
how the team at Student Services could best collaborate with them
in providing services to students with special needs. Information
was also gleaned from an audit of the Instructional Support
Department of which Student Services is a branch. The Team
facilitates Case Conferences in a collaborative processing model as
opposed to the expert model. Although there are beginnings of
interagency collaboration, many barriers still have to be overcome.
The results are promising in the area of interdisciplinary
collaboration within the same organization. Further research is
necessary into making interagency collaboration successful.
Description
viii, 132 leaves ; 29 cm.
Keywords
Children with disabilities -- Education -- Alberta -- Case studies , Teaching teams -- Alberta -- Case studies , Group decision making -- Alberta -- Case studies