Share information with early childhood educators
DEC Recommended Practices specifies that special education teachers and service professionals should use collaborative skills when consulting and communicating with other team (members) including families and regular teachers. (Sandall et al.) Information can be shared ahead of time so all team members know what issues will be discussed and what resources to bring.
Eun Mi Cho, Ethel I. Baker, Full Inclusion Head Start Preschool-Sacramento City Unified School District
Communication and planning 3 to 4 weeks ahead of time are important to insure participation by all. Regular education teachers often will use a one-page form to outline typical expectations for challenges and successes, along with strategies that can be planned with all staff and parents. As the child continues in the program, communication continues so that suggestions for new goals and strategies can be developed. The regular education teacher might not stay for the entire IEP, but comes prepared with some pre-planning with parents already done.Develop a variety of ways for participation
Scheduling and ensuring the participation of the early childhood educator on the IEP team is often difficult. Attending part of the meeting may be a good way to minimize time away from the classroom.
A regular education teacher who can not attend an IEP in person may be able to participate in the development of the IEP through telephone conversations or through written input. Another way to encourage involvement is to make use of informal pre-IEP meetings or conference calls with parents and other IEP collaborators.
Part B regulations do not specifically address who may serve as the regular education teacher for children in preschools. The DEC recommends that a preschool "regular education teacher" be an early childhood educator who meets the Personnel Standards for DEC and who is from the educational program that works with the child. (Walsh et al.) Further, "the regular education teacher who serves as a member of the IEP team should be a teacher who is, or may be, responsible for implementing a portion of the IEP, so that the teacher can participate in discussions about how to best to teach the child…" (CFR, Appendix A)
Jan Kearns, Shasta County Office of Education
We involve an ECE teacher in all IEP meetings. For those children who are referred from a classroom, we include that teacher. For those who are referred who are not in a current program anywhere, we utilize a teacher from either the classroom where we will place the child if going into a full inclusion setting, or from one of our state preschool or child care classes. We pay for the teacher's time if it exceeds their typical hours or we pay for a substitute.Next: Think creatively to ensure participation »
