A barrier we, as a special education team, have been struggling with is how to best collaborate with teachers/allign with curriculum content in our small group settings. This year we have been attempting to attend every 2nd and 4th grade level meeting to discuss curriculum and data. However, scheduling has proven to be a big issue (i.e., IEPs, evaulations, and feedback meetings). The sneek peek has been VERY useful for where exactly classrooms are for the given week of instruction. One struggle we are having is being able to identify when one of our students are low within a content area that we do not provide service. For example, we may see them for math instruction. But, their reading begins to dip in relationship to standards and reading is not on their IEP. Any brain storm ideas for communicating these areas of weakness when it may not be clearly identified on the IEP.
I know that communicating the area of struggle is the straightforward answer. But, frequently we do not hear about it....until the problem becomes significant.
Maybe the first step is as simple as letting the classroom teacher(s) know that you would like that information. I think teachers often try to be very self sufficient. If we see a problem, we try to solve it in the ways that we know. Classroom teachers may also view it as "their problem" if a student is struggling in an area for which s/he does not receive services. I've certainly had conversations with case managers when I notice a student struggling in a different subject area, but I'm not sure that I would view it as a necessity unless I was told by the case manager.
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