Interview Assignment

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Arizona State University *

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Apr 3, 2024

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Interview Assignment Interview Assignment Rhonda D. Barnett Arizona State University SPE 541 Collaborating, Consultating, & Working in Teams: for Students with Special Needs Erin Rotheram-Fuller, Patricia Geraghty November 11, 2023

Interview Assignment Childcare Director Interview 1. How long have you been in the childcare field and what populations do you have experience teaching? I started with this facility 10 years ago as a volunteer after leaving a very stressful corporate job. Shortly after, I joined the team part-time during the school year and full-time on school breaks. I worked with the toddlers at first, then I took over the preschool class. I also have worked as the homeschool teacher, summer camp teacher and for the last three years, I have been the director. I love the babies, but it was not fast enough paced for me; I like to be on the move. As the director, I spend most of my day in the classrooms, so I have experience with all age groups. I love the ability to move around because I get to study and know each child, and also train the teachers. 2. Do you have experience with students who receive special education services or that show signs of delays? How do you handle this? There have been many students with special needs at this facility over the years; some school age and some that are fulltime students here. For our school age children, we communicate regularly with the parents when their children are in attendance. The older children are already receiving services in their schools, and are just with us during summer and the school holidays. If I notice signs of delays in a younger child, I have to be really careful about how I approach the situation because I am not a trained professional. So, I have to ask questions like, “Does he talk at home,” etc. to see if the parents notice and then share information about developmental milestones. If they then ask about services, I direct them to Babies Can’t Wait, which helps children up to age three. Unfortunately, after three, there aren’t many services like that program and if the child does not get assistance until they go to school, so much valuable time has been lost. The earlier the intervention the better, so I really try to gently encourage parents to seek assistance as early as possible. 3. What has been your experience with collaborating with parents of children with special needs? Sometimes, it can be challenging. Some parents feel defensive and do not want to communicate about it. It’s like a denial. That doesn’t do anything but hurt the child from progressing. Some parents are very involved and keep me posted every step of the journey and those are the children that are most successful. Unfortunately, I have had to dismiss some children that have parents who will not work with us because the child has endangered others or have even harmed the teachers. While I do not take those decisions lightly and hate to make them, I have a duty to protect my teachers too. Without them, we cannot run our program. Part of the facilities mission statement is that it takes a village, which means we need all players taking part for the betterment of the children. 4. Share some positive collaboration experiences you have had with the partners in this collaboration. We have had several therapists come in the facility over the years to work with children for physical and speech therapy. Most of them have been open to our questions and given us insight

Interview Assignment on how we can help the students. In those situations, the teachers and I have noticed the children using more language, which is a great experience. We can see that the partnership is working, 5. Share some negative collaboration experiences you have had with the partners in this current collaboration. Unfortunately, I feel we have been left out-of-the-loop by both the therapist that visited our center weekly and the child’s parents. It was May when the therapist first reached out to introduce herself. She left us with a key ring of a few flashcards and a sign for the potty, but no real instruction on how to use this in the preschool class that had 20 other children. She just said to use these over the summer and that his actual care would begin in August. That really put our teachers at a disadvantage because they are not trained in special education. When she started her weekly visits in August, she first began by observing the total class and then would take the child into the art room alone, and would just leave when done. She never communicated with the teachers or any administration on what we should be doing to improve on his progress. Next thing we know, he is going to the public school three times a week and was dropped off here at 2:30. Then it was increased to 5 days a week with no notice from the therapist or the parents. I had to reach out to the parents to see what was going on and what we should expect moving forward. It has been really frustrating. 6. What are your suggestions for increasing collaboration between the parents and the childcare facility with this student? After learning that public school the child attends in the mornings updates his IEP every nine weeks, I will schedule a call with the parents at the end of each 9-week session to get an update on how we can better support the child here at the facility in the afternoons. I also asked for a copy of any documentation that is provided to them so that I can share the goals and all pertinent information with the childcare teacher so that we can reinforce the skills being worked on at the public school. I also asked the parents to give periodic updates through email.

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