1. When Special Education and General Education Unite Denise Long-2 nd grade Teacher Beckie Rotondo-Autistic Support Teacher Whitehall Elementary School, Norristown Area School District

2. Agenda  Personal Backgrounds  What is Collaboration?  Collaboration between Special and General Education  Considerations for Successful Collaboration  Whitehall’s Collaboration  Questions and Answers

3. Denise Long  General Education Teacher  22 years of teaching service for NASD  16 years at Whitehall (taught 1 st, 2 nd and 4 th grades)  7 years of experience with inclusion of Special Needs Students in a general education classroom setting

4. Beckie Rotondo  Itinerant Autistic Support Teacher  12 th year teaching-all at Whitehall  Teaching students with autism for over 12 years 5 years in a self-contained Autistic Support classroom Last 7 years as the itinerant teacher

5. Collaboration is…  Working together within a classroom to meet the needs of all students  Meeting together to discuss students’ needs, curriculum, etc.  Requires a shared goal  Shared responsibility for key decisions  Shared accountability for outcomes  Based on trust and respect

6. Collaboration and Special Education Service Delivery  Co-teaching-Two teachers, one general education teacher and one special education teacher, working together to teach a heterogeneous group of students One teacher leads, the other assists  The special education teacher can collect data and assist students Station Teaching  Both teachers plan and implement lessons with small groups  Guided Reading Parallel Teaching  Co-plans and delivers the exact same instruction to half the class Team Teaching  Both teachers share instruction

7. Considerations for Successful Collaboration  One teacher could not accomplish all that needs to be done without the other’s support  Teachers must be flexible and committed  Scheduling  Collaboration is a must when moving students with disabilities from a more restrictive to less restrictive environment

8. Benefits of Teacher Collaboration  Increased opportunity for teacher interaction  Obtain new ideas and strategies/share knowledge  Problem solving  Increases awareness  Provides support systems  Smaller student-teacher ratio  Student needs are more easily addressed

9. NASD Statistics  The AS program started in 1992 with 1 class at Whitehall Elementary  Now we have 8 Autistic Support classrooms-5 self- contained and 2 itinerant teachers who service all 6 elementary schools  We service over 70 students with ASD 45 are in inclusive settings for some part of the day 30 out of those 45 are included for at least half of the day

10. NASD-cont.  Over 50 general educators provide instruction to students with ASD on a daily basis, including all regular education teachers, special area teachers, reading and math specialists, and the gifted teacher

11. How does NASD Collaborate?  Co-teaching  Co-planning  Providing accommodations and alternative materials for students  Behavior plans  Weekly team meetings  Station Teaching  Data collection forms  Staff Development

12. NASD’s Collaboration-cont.  Inclusion Incentive Plan  Peer tutors and Peer Buddies  Provide Supplemental Aids and Services  Share teaching ideas and strategies  Provide structured and consistent learning environments

13. NASD’s Collaboration-cont.  Implementing Specially Designed instruction and Sensory Diets  IEP teams include several members from the general education staff  Assemblies and school-wide activities