One of the most important roles of the special services team members is that of collaborating and consulting with community preschool staff involved with the inclusion of a child with disabilities. In fact, it is not uncommon to feel that more time is spent interacting with adults and in team meetings than actually having direct contact with the child with disabilities. Some team members might have feelings of anxiety regarding diminished direct service time and increased consultation time. The feeling might be that to be truly doing my job, "I need to have my hands on the child." (Read staff's concern about inclusion) An important aspect of inclusion to remember is that consultation with classroom staff is serving a very important purpose and through collaboration, consultation, and ultimately role release, the childþs needs are being addressed and met within the community preschool setting all the timeãnot just when the special education service providers are available.

In examining service provision to children with disabilities within community early childhood programs, one of the first steps in the process of collaboration and consultation is to address training and inservice issues. It might be helpful to survey or interview all participating staff regarding what types of skills, knowledge, and information they would like to have prior to beginning the inclusion process. Training is an ongoing process, and the needs of the child as well as the needs of the participating staff will dictate what issues and topics should be addressed (Read more about personnel preparation in our Guidelines).

Team meetings are the foundation of the consultative model. It is important that core team members meet on a regular basis to address concerns, issues, and progress toward the child's IEP goals and objectives. Meetings are an appropriate time to develop and discuss programs, share new information, and talk about needed adaptations for materials, projects, etc. Ideally all persons involved with the inclusion of the child in the community preschool setting are present at the core team meeting. When all team members are present, issues and concerns can be discussed and addressed immediately (Read more about team meeting in our Guidelines).

Although it is preferred that all core team members be present at meetings, it will happen that some members will miss a meeting. All interested parties need to be aware of issues that have been discussed so it is important to keep minutes or notes of the meeting and distribute them to team members (see chapter 4 appendix). This is especially important when an item on the meeting agenda specifically relates to the person absent or when a task is assigned. Keeping minutes of the meetings in a safe place accessible to all of the team members and distributing copies to those who were absent helps to ensure that tasks and responsibilities delegated will be completed.

Related Link:

• "Form 2: Collaboration & Teaming" Index Page