Parent-Professional Collaboration: It’s More than a Meeting (continued)

It was such a relief to find people who knew autism and were willing to take the time to help me understand strategies so that I could use them as well. I offered to help out and really be a part of Aaron’s team at school. I was so blessed to find the people I did to help Aaron. They worked with me, and it made the difference between a life of mere acceptance and the life filled with experiences that Aaron leads.

Laura Maddox

The parent-professional relationship is often a balancing act for special educators and other professionals. While giving family members too much information may be overwhelming, not enough may be detrimental. It is important to be a good listener and to take time to understand why family members ask the questions they do. Understanding that family dynamics and preferences greatly influence how family members address the education of their child is critical to parent-professional collaboration. Our role is not to make choices for them, but rather to provide important information and guidance, while respecting that they will be still be dealing with these issues in five or 10 years—and the outcomes of our work will continue to affect their lives.

Autism’s Impact on Parent-Professional(and Professional- Professional) Collaboration

The unique way autism impacts each person with autism and the myriad of treatment options can have the potential to be confusing to parents and professionals. Even as this article is being published, there are efforts underway to further enhance our understanding of evidence-based practices. It is vital that parents, educators and administrators seek out information related to effective practices, as well as child and family preferences, and use this knowledge to guide programming decisions. Most importantly, family members should be active participants in goal development, implementation and progress of evaluation.

Another related, yet unique, element that impacts educational programming for children with autism is the availability of outside agencies and private treatment programs, offering families a choice between school-based services and private services. However, in actuality, an opportunity exists for collaboration among and within the growing community of service providers and educators who work with people with autism. Such a collaborative program has real potential to lead to substantial benefits for the child by enhancing generalization and maintenance of skills, in addition to drawing upon the expertise provided by everyone involved. Establishing this collaboration requires an emphasis on determining functional priorities and goals related to educational needs, as well as respect among all team members for the variety of professional and personal roles they play and models of intervention they use. It also is vital that all team members recognize that there are differences in practices between school programs and those implemented in private or clinical settings.

How do we make true parent-professional collaboration happen? Strong collaboration is achieved through the contributions of parents and professionals, individually and as a whole, by way of expertise, enthusiasm and dedication to the person for whom they collaborate.