Collaboration

This week we learned about collaboration. the definition of collaboration is the action of working with someone to produce or create something. Collaboration is so important when working with children with special needs. If there isn't collaboration when working with and for special needs students they won't receive the care and education they deserve. 

After I had my stroke when I was 14 the doctors, nurses, therapists, and many other people had to collaborate together in order to come up with a plan to help me recover. If they hadn't collaborated I probably wouldn't be where I am today. It is so important for everyone to be on the same page when caring for special needs students. When people are on the same page the student gets the best education possible and is able to be successful.

Another example of collaboration I have is IEP meetings. Growing up I had an IEP meeting every year from kindergarten to 12th grade. If the staff that attended those meetings weren't able to agree on an action plan I wouldn't have been so successful in school and i likely wouldn't be two semesters away from my college graduation. When people get together and come up with a plan of action and create an IEP for a student most of the time the student is involved in the decision making. I never wanted to be a part of my IEP meetings but was forced to start being a part of them when I was a sophomore in high school. I hated hearing the IEP team talk about me because I hate being the center of attention. I learned a lot in those three years of participating in my IEP meetings and looking back I am grateful I was forced to be a part of them because now I know how to collaborate with others and am able to advocate for myself.

I am grateful for the people who have collaborated on my behalf so that I could get where I am today.

In the textbook Including Students with Special Needs Chapter Three it states seven parts to collaboration they are: shared problem solving, discover a shared need, identify the problem, propose solutions, evaluate ideas, plan specifics, and implement the solution. Each of these things are things that should be done when collaboration on behalf of a student with special needs. In an IEP meeting this is exactly what happens as the team talks about the needs and goals for the child. 

It is so important to work together when talking about the success of a special needs child. All the child wants is to be successful but they can't do it alone they need people who will help them and work together to do what is best for the child as an individual not just as "another student in the classroom."

~Kolbey Nicholls