Educational Services for Individuals with Exceptionalities

Multicultural Issues

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At the end of this presentation, you should be able to:

• Describe how collaboration can enable students with disabilities to progress in the general curriculum.

• Discuss the various stakeholders in collaboration.• Identify effective approaches to collaboration.• Describe the process involved in creating collaborative teams.• Connect multicultural responsiveness with student success in the general

curriculum.• Describe how culture can influence roles and expectations in collaborative

teams.

Ensuring Progress in the General Curriculum: Collaboration &

Multicultural ResponsivenessChapter 3 Objectives

Chapter Objectives

Chapter 3

Ensuring Progress in the General Curriculum: Collaboration &

Multicultural Responsiveness

Who Are Ronda Taylor, Donald Harness, and Luisa Rodriquez?

• Three students from culturally-diverse backgrounds in New Orleans, LA• Ronda spent many years undiagnosed and misdiagnosed, resulting in poor

placements and services.• School administrators did not know how to handle Donald’s aggressive

outbursts, and his parents were frustrated with their interactions with the school.

• Luisa’s parents are undocumented immigrants, do not speak English, and feel Luisa has a possible disability, but the district will not evaluate her.

• Ronda and Donald benefited from their parents seeking collaboration support from Pyramid Parent Training Center.

• Luisa’s parents sought help from Catholic Charities; unfortunately, Luisa is still not receiving proper educational supports.

Ronda

• 14 year old student - African American• Recommendations for assessment from preschool when entering elementary school• School refused for 4 years• Denied placement due to lack of strengths• Finally agreed a year later with varied classifications• Repeated third grade, suspended in fourth grade due to acting-out behaviors, physically

restrained during fifth grade, placed with new teacher in sixth grade• No thorough reevaluation despite deteriorating behavior; no connection to regular

curriculum

• Use Activity Plan & Accommodations Checklist

Donald

• Autistic• Uncertified teachers• Uncontrolled behaviors• School recommended medications for behavioral control - a “standard

operating procedure” • Received positive behavior support instead of sending to juvenile court• Led to inclusion in general curriculum and increased success in all areas

Luisa

• Parents are illegal immigrants and unemployed• Sought help from social agency• In need of basic necessities but afraid of seeking help, in fear of being

deported• Speaks only Spanish• School will not evaluate, but refer for medical examination• Brother translates for family, who are unable to follow school

recommendations, and communicates that Luisa is failing in school• Able to find agency that can provide food

School Restructuring

• Flex time for educators and parents to meet• Flex place for meetings• Employmenr of translators• Commitment to making a difference in students’ lives

Defining Collaboration

How Does Collaboration Enable Students to Progress in the General

Curriculum?

How Does Collaboration Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum?

• How does collaboration enable students to progress in the general curriculum?– What is collaboration and why is it so highly valued?– Who are the people involved in collaboration and what roles do they play?– What are state-of-the-art collaborative practices?– What is the process for creating collaborative teams?

• How does multicultural responsiveness enable students to progress in the general curriculum?

Describe how collaboration can enable students with disabilities to progress in the general curriculum.

What Is Collaboration & Why Is It So Highly Valued?

Describe how collaboration can enable students with disabilities to progress in the general curriculum.

• Collaboration is a dynamic process in which team members work to solve problems in a creative and responsive way.– Team members may include educators, parents, students, & families

• The goal is to improve teaching and learning so that all students progress in the general curriculum.

• In the past, general and special educators had specific jobs to perform in an independent manner.

• Collaboration enables teams to work systematically on mutual challenges.• Collaboration encourage innovative solutions to problems.

How Does Collaboration Enable Students to Progress in the General

Curriculum?

Who Are the People Involved in Collaboration & What Are Their Roles?

Discuss the various stakeholders in collaboration.

• Students– Foster self-determination– Teachers and parents may be unsure on how to include students

• Parents– Help foster a sense of equality in parent-professional relationships– May help alleviate power issues in decision-making

• Teachers– All teachers should be involved in teaching students with exceptionalities– Collaboration with general education can help students make progress in

the general curriculum, as mandated by IDEA

How Does Collaboration Enable Students to Progress in the General

Curriculum?

• Related-service providers– Help incorporate aspects of related services into interactions with students

• Paraprofessionals– Provide individualized instruction to groups of students, facilitating

friendships, supporting peer tutors, using technology, teaching in community settings, and helping with self-care

How Does Collaboration Enable Students to Progress in the General

Curriculum?

Discuss the various stakeholders in collaboration.

Who Are the People Involved in Collaboration & What Are Their Roles?

• Language translators and interpreters– Translators communicate written materials; interpreters facilitate oral

communication– Sometimes family or friends must serve as interpreters, but this may be

inappropriate• Administrators

– Help foster collaboration when they assign teacher duties, foster family-teacher partnerships, allocate money, and set the tone and direction of schools and districts

– Good administrators are self-directed risk takers, invested in relationships, accessible, reflective, collaborative, and intentional

How Does Collaboration Enable Students to Progress in the General

Curriculum?Who Are the People Involved in Collaboration & What Are Their Roles?

Discuss the various stakeholders in collaboration.

What Are State-of-the-Art Collaborative Approaches?

Identify effective approaches to collaboration.

• Restructuring and reallocating a school’s resources to promote collaboration• Co-teaching

– Plan and teach together– Develop instructional accommodations– Monitor and evaluate student performance– Communicate student progress to others

• Research shows that co-teaching has a positive impact on student learning• Parents have positive perspectives about co-teaching

How Does Collaboration Enable Students to Progress in the General

Curriculum?

What Is the Process of Creating Collaborative Teams?

Describe the process involved in creating collaborative teams.

• Five critical elements in creating a collaborative process:– Frequent face-to-face interaction among team members – A mutual feeling of positive interdependence– Focus on the development of small-group interpersonal skills– Regular assessments and discussion of the team’s functioning– Methods for holding one another accountable

How Does Collaboration Enable Students to Progress in the General

Curriculum?

Connect multicultural responsiveness with student success in the general curriculum.

How Does Multicultural Responsiveness Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum?

• What is culture and how does it affect students’ progress in the general curriculum?

• How can you establish reliable alliances with students and families from diverse backgrounds?

• How can you enable students to broaden their menu of response options?• How can you collaborate to promote cultural mediation?

How Does Multicultural Responsiveness Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum?

What Is Culture & How Does It Affect Students’ Progress in the General Curriculum?

Describe how culture can influence roles and expectations in collaborative teams.

• Culture is the way in which each person is socialized • Culture:

– Influences our rituals – Determines our language– Shapes our emotions– Is the basis for how we determine what is right and wrong about

ourselves, others, and society• Cultures come from micro-cultures

How Does Multicultural Responsiveness Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum?

• To achieve cultural competence, you must:– Gain insight into how education is perceived in students’ culture– Investigate students’ prior experiences with the subject matter you are

teaching– Identify the kind of skills and knowledge that is especially valued in your

students’ culture– Incorporate the strengths of students, their families, and their communities

into classroom instruction– Encourage students to identify future goals and relate instruction to the

goals that are especially relevant to them

What Is Culture & How Does It Affect Students’ Progress in the General Curriculum?

How Does Multicultural Responsiveness Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum?

Connect multicultural responsiveness with student success in the general curriculum.

• How can you establish reliable alliances with students and families from diverse backgrounds?– Good rapport is necessary– Teachers should adopt “a posture of cultural reciprocity” (Kalyanpur &

Harry, 1999)• Learn about families’ cultural priorities and share your own

• How can you enable students to broaden their menu of response options?– Help them practice other behaviors without eliminating the behaviors they

culturally value– Study your own response options

How Does Multicultural Responsiveness Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum?

Connect multicultural responsiveness with student success in the general curriculum.

• How can you collaborate to promote cultural mediation?– Cultural difference can create unfamiliar values, roles, expectations, and

goals• This can be disconcerting and cause conflict

– Cultural mediators support students with disabilities and their families– Parent training centers may be a resource for cultural mediators

• How does responsiveness to multicultural considerations enable students to progress in the general curriculum?– Strategies for universally designed instruction can enable students from

diverse cultures to make substantial progress

How Does Multicultural Responsiveness Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum?

Connect multicultural responsiveness with student success in the general curriculum.

A Vision for Ronda’s, Donald’s, and Luisa’s Future

• The collaborative support secured early on by Ronda’s and Donald’s family will allow them to continue through school and graduate.

• More staff to translate English to Spanish will allow Luisa to receive the help she needs from English-as-a-second-language classes and special education.

• Pyramid Parent Training Center can continue to advocate for students with disabilities and help families and schools collaborate to provide effective services for students.

• Educators need to learn more about multicultural considerations as the population of the United States continues to change.