1. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-1 Chapter 12 Professionals and Families as Partners for Student Outcomes

2. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-2 Sharing Their Story Ryan Frisella was a “villager” and his parents relied on people in and outside his school, “a whole village” to ensure that Ryan’s basic needs were met. Ryan graduated with a B average, now attends college, lives in a dorm and leads the typical college life. Ryan’s preparation for college included assistance from his dad (John) in academics (math). He was monitored in high school by his teachers and his parents received communication from school staff as to his progress or lack of it.

3. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-3 Sharing Their Story The Family Education and Freedom Act entitles Ryan to have access to his college records. His parents no longer have this right. He will have to be the one reaching out to organizations and services. He will have to navigate the college health care maze without a case manager. Ryan is now an adult and he will have to access staff and advocate for himself.

4. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-4 Think About It What if Ryan’s father, with support from teachers, had not helped him with his homework? What if Ryan’s high school teachers had not been so willing to post more than just his grades on his personal site at high school? What if a speech teacher had not encouraged him to join the Circle of Friends? What if he had not been supported outside school by peers with disabilities in the program entitled “What’ Next”?

5. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-5 Think About It What kind of “village” can you create for your students, supporting them to move from one program to another while they are in school, and then from school to post secondary lives? Just what does it take, besides highly qualified teachers using scientifically based instructional methods and curricula, to make it possible for all of the “Ryans” to have an equal opportunity to learn, to be independent in their adult lives, to participate in their communities and to receive the training that will lead to economic self- sufficiency?

6. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-6 Benefits of Partnerships The importance of family-professional partnerships to achieve student outcomes: IEP/IFSP have included family-parent partnerships that have discussed and agreed to the educational outcomes for the student. A mutual commitment to the student has been established; Effective partnerships honor and encourage families’ contribution to their child’s learning and development; Partnerships respect families’ preferences for participation in education; Parents engaged in learning activities resulted in better students’ performance and achievement.

7. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-7 Benefits of Partnerships Family-professional partnerships are significantly important in promoting students’ learning and development. Increased parent involvement in students’ learning promotes: Reading and math achievement Positive attitudes towards school School attendance and retention Homework completion Positive behavior in home and in school

8. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-8 Benefits of Partnerships Homework is generally assigned to: Enhance achievement; Promote study skills; In some cases, to keep parents informed of student progress. As a result of NCLB and increased participation in the general curriculum, more students with disabilities are expected to complete homework.

9. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-9 Benefits of Partnerships Positive Features of Including Parents in Student Homework: Students develop positive attitudes toward homework and learning. Students feel more self- confident. Students take greater responsibility for completing their work. Drawbacks of Including Parents in Student Homework: Time demands, particularly when students have disabilities. Some parents feel inadequate to help with homework. Communication challenges between home and school can lead to feelings of frustration.

10. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-10 Partnerships in Homework Practical Suggestions Create communication opportunities between students, families, and general and special educators. Minimize family responsibility for homework. Use strategies to improve homework practice.

11. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-11 Partnerships To Use Assistive Technology Assistive Technology (AT) is a related special education service designed to increase, maintain, or improve a student’s functional abilities in home, school, and community settings. “Low tech” (AT): adapted spoons, cups, communication cards and boards. “High tech” (AT): computerized speech recognition systems and computers.

12. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-12 Partnerships To Use Assistive Technology The successful use of technology rests largely on how families are involved in the decisions about their child’s use of assistive technology. Reasons why parents may not use the (AT): Parents may be unprepared or unable to carry out the responsibilities that teachers assign ; Parents may perceive technology as incompatible with family’s values, culture background and lifestyle.

13. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-13 Partnerships To Use Assistive Technology Professionals’ support for families includes: Providing information (about types of devices, features, warrantees, funding etc. ); Providing training (demonstrations, hands-on learning); Providing support groups (other families who have experience with similar devices); Providing training using, programming and maintaining assistive devices; Providing ongoing support and guidance.

14. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-14 Promoting Friendships and Community Membership Fostering friendships and a sense of community for students and their families is another opportunity for parenting and professional partnerships. Approaches to promote friendships in the classroom include: Provide opportunities for friendships to develop Teaching about diversity. Teaching about friendships. Providing social skills instruction. Encouraging participation in extra-curricular activities. Use peer support

15. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-15 Promoting Friendships and Community Membership Fostering Parent Participation Families need to feel that they are an important part of the school community. Strategies for creating partnerships occur when families: Attend school events; Contribute to classroom instruction; Contribute to other school tasks; Attend classes of their own; Participate in parent-teacher organizations; Participate in family resource centers.

16. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-16 Using Positive Behavior Support Positive Behavior Support (PBS) is a problem solving, data-based, and proactive approach to changing students’ challenging behaviors. PBS uses systemic and individual strategies to modify the environment, the interactions between students and other individuals including educators and peers, to prevent problem behavior and to maximize student’s behavioral and learning outcomes.

17. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-17 Using Positive Behavior Support Elements of Family-professional Partnership Partnership with families Functional assessment to understand the purpose of the behavior and develop support strategies Attention to family priorities, values, and resources Multicomponent support plans (both instructive and preventative) Family setting as a unit of analysis and intervention

18. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-18 Using Positive Behavior Support Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support provides three levels of student support: Universal: Provides clear expectations and positive feedback for all students across all classrooms and in non-classroom settings. Group: Group support for “at-risk” students in classroom and non-classroom settings. Individual: Highly individualized behavioral support for students with significant behavior challenges, supports are typically designed for school and home settings.

19. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-19 Partnering with Colleagues The same partnership principles that drive family- professional partnerships also drive professional partnerships. While both types of partnerships are critical to the implementation of the IEP and IFSP, the quality of professional partnerships strongly influences the degree to which services are coordinated and implemented.

20. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-20 Partnering with Colleagues Professional partnership strategies to support the coordination of services include: Ensuring adequate planning time; Assessing team roles, responsibilities, and functioning; Providing services within classrooms and other naturally occurring contexts.

21. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-21 Integrating School and Community Services Full Service and Community schools School-Community Partnerships are vital to the needs of both students with disabilities and their families. Service integration seeks to provide comprehensive seamless support for children and their families.

22. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-22 Integrating School and Community Services Full service and community schools seek to: Provide a quality education; Link their students and staff to a vast array of services provided by the school and community agencies within the school-based location. These schools are characterized as : Having a single point of delivery; Meeting the holistic needs of the student within the context of the family; Providing services needed to enhance student’s success.

23. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-23 Integrating School and Community Services Wraparound is a comprehensive, well-integrated service delivery model that is designed to: Coordinate school and community services for students with complex mental health needs; Utilize a strengths-based planning process to identify and coordinate services that reflect the perspectives of the student, family, and other key adults; Help students and families by blending natural supports, such as friends, extended family and neighbors, and community-based services.

24. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-24 Revisiting Ryan, Mary, and John Frisella This family’s story is about great expectations and ambition. Great expectations held by the student, the family, teachers, and counselors. Great ambition spurred on by Ryan, his family and his counselor. It started with Ryan facing his limitations not his disability. For him, his limitations were academics and accepting support from his father and counselor. The key to the outcomes that Ryan achieved was partnerships and holding great expectations.

25. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-25 Summary Equal opportunities especially in education can be achieved when families and educators promote: Partnerships in homework; Partnerships in using assistive technology Partnerships that foster parent participation in fostering friendships and community participation; Partnership that utilize Positive Behavior Supports Partnerships with Colleagues Partnerships that integrate school and community activities

26. Families, Professionals, & Exceptionality: Positive Outcomes Through Partnerships & Trust, 6e Turnbull / Turnbull / Erwin / Soodak / Shogren ISBN: 0137070578 © 2011, 2006, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12-26 Linking Content To Your Life Understanding the assumptions, skills and knowledge you have on your own teaching and learning will help you form partnerships with families. Reflection questions presented on page 281 allows you to link the content of this chapter to your life.