You are Tia's preschool teacher. Tia is a 3 1/2 year old girl with a tracheostomy which was placed when she was 6 months and old and which her doctor has said will be permanent. She has Spina Bifida as well as the health issues due to the tracheostomy. She is verbal and scores right at her age for cognitive skills. Tia has a number of behavior concerns. When she doesn't get her way she can hold her breath until she has to be resuscitated. Therefore, oxygen and a bagger and her suctioning equipment must always be close. She often refuses to follow teacher instructions. She argues with and hits other children, which doesn't hurt them, but may cause them to hurt her. She is very sensitive to other children being mean to her and cries easily. It means a lot to her to have a friend to play or work with. She can walk with crutches, but whines and sits down when asked to go more than 3 or 4 steps. She refuses to push her own wheelchair more than 10 feet. Her social skills are her area of greatest need at this time.

Tia receives services from several therapists and you and your staff try to meet often with them, but it is really hard to schedule meetings because they are so busy and it's hard for you and your staff to get away from the kids. The speech therapist has talked to you about working on Tia's speech goals in the classroom. You feel that now the speech therapist wants you to do her job too!

The team is gathering today to address your concerns with Tia's social skills and to plan for the sharing of knowledge among your staff and the therapists.

What questions do you have for this meeting? What would you like to see as out comes from this meeting?