Collaboration with Families and Community Agencies

1. Professional Development and Presentation

1.1. There are many professional trainings available for families, service providers and educators on how to best meet the needs of children with special needs.

1.2. Nearpod and other apps provide a great way to engage each student in the learning process with the use of technology in the classroom.

1.3. Incorporating other teaching techniques into a nearpod presentation including Q&A, class and small group discussion can further enhance the instructional effectiveness of the lesson.

1.4. Consistency, clarity, and routine are key components to an effective autistic classroom environment.

2. Community Agency Poster

2.1. There are a lot of organization available for children and adults with special needs that address a wide variety services and advocacy.

2.2. Not one organization can meet the individual needs of a person with special needs. It takes a collaborative effort between many different organizaitions.

2.3. Many privately and publically funded programs seek to provide people with special needs the same opportunities as people without special needs.

2.4. Many agencies provide opportunities for families for socialization, to network and find support for their journey in caring for and raising a person with special needs.

3. Parent of a child with special needs

3.1. Not one agency, person, school or service provider can individually meet all the needs of a special needs child.

3.2. Parents need to be involved in the education of their special needs child so that the goals in the classroom and home are supported and worked on as a team.

3.3. It takes a community to effectively raise a child with special needs to some day achieve as much same freedom and opportunities as a child without as possible.

3.4. Regular and pro-active communication is vital to achieving a good level of collaboration between the parents and their child's education.

4. Self-Assessment Interview

4.1. I was raised with minimal exposure to people of different races and cultures but with no predjudices.

4.2. I was taught to treat all people equally being exposed to adults with special needs often beginning at an early age

4.3. As a foster parent I was exposed to many different family situations where basic needs were not being met by the parents. Handling a child with special needs is often out of their scope of ability.

4.4. My mother was involved in many charitable activities though the Catholic Church exposing us to a wide variety of socio-economic diverse families.

4.5. A good family friend was a parent of a child with MR we visited regularly becoming good friends with.

5. Community Agency Interview

5.1. Many agencies are made up of employees and volunteers who have raised or are currently raising children with special needs, or themselves have special needs.

5.2. Agencies have experienced the value personally of the importance of collaboration and support and want to share that same support that helped them along the way.

5.3. Most agencies make up an interwoven network of supports created to help each person with special needs and their families overcome as many obstacles as possible to live a normal life.

5.4. Providing transition services to a person with special needs helps them to establish employment, independent living, while building self-pride and self-worth.

5.5. Collaboration between the schools and agencies are key in connecting those families with the services they need the most for their special needs child.