Special Education Topic: Tips on Teacher &

Paraprofessional (Para) Collaboration

Special education programs would be in dire straits if there were no

paraprofessionals (paras). Special education teachers are spread thin and can not often carry the
case load and multitude of responsibilities without the help of paras. There is however, a great danger
that things can go wrong. Lets start out with a list of challenges and issues that both paras and special
education teachers face in the process of working together for the benefit of children with special
needs. Then we will move on to the many benefits as well as tips for successful teacher para
collaboration.

Challenges and Things to Avoid: Being Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Paras are all too often left to teach without professionally developed lesson plans.
They often make decisions about child behavior management and access to rewards.
Without the training of a certified teacher, they do the work of a certified teacher.
They are often left to do most of the communication with parents of students in ERR.
Paras often have the problem of falling into patterns of gossip and back-biting. Conflict
between paras at a school can create a negative atmosphere that causes stress and
discomfort for everyone, including children with special needs under their care.
They can be unprofessional in behavior, such as spending time on cell phones or visiting
with other paras, especially when working with nonverbal students with low academic
abilities or routines.
Paras sometimes break confidentiality rules by talking with others who have no role or right
to know about a student in their care or a confidential details about the students family.
They often are not given a chance to collaborate with teachers in order to understand the
students needs or figure out challenges they are facing with some students.
Paras are often neglected, undertrained, underappreciated, and disrespected.
When a para has a diverse background ethnically and/or linguistically, they often find
themselves misunderstood, underused, and/or marginalized by other paras and teachers who
represent mainstream culture.
Tips for Developing Collaborative Special Educator-Parafessional Teams
(adapted from One Paras View, Hauge & Barkie, 2006):

1. Explain and review with the para the purpose of the students IEP goals and objectives, as
well as any accommodations and modifications. Do that with each student the para is going to
work with.
2. Instruct paras on how to work effectively in inclusive environments with different teachers.
3. Ask for input from the para regarding student progress, especially when dealing with
behavior plans, and be willing to accept the paras experience and expertise regarding the
students with whom whe or he works.
4. Discuss the paras role with the family and their feelings regarding confidentiality
matters. Gain family permission to share pertinent information with the para to best meet the
students needs.
5. Clarify for both families and paras the limitations of the paras role in discussing the child
with the family.
6. Meet on a regular basis with the para. Schedule a weekly time to debrief/review student
progress and address any issues that may be of concern. Scheduling a specific time allows both
the para and the special educator an uninterrupted period of discussion and problem solving.
7. Include the paras as much as possible in weekly classroom team meetings. This allows the
para not only to be viewed as a professional but also to gain an understanding of issues and
concerns the team may have regarding students progress.
8. Teach the para how to work with students when you want her to provide instruction.
Dont expect the para to know how to teach concepts unless reviewed, and dont expect
implementation to occur without providing clear explanation and/or lesson plans.
9. Train and provide practice in collecting data, and explain the purpose before assigning the
para this task and provide changes to practice, ask questions and give/take feedback.
10. Identify and teach the para how to look for warning signs that a child may be about to
experience problems controlling his or her behavior.
11. Share information and materials with the para as appropriate to assist her in developing
increased knowledge. This should not be done as a requirement for the para, but more as a
collaborative, collegial interaction.
12. Private discussions are essential when the special education teacher feels it is necessary to
correct some aspect of the paras behavior or interaction with students. This should never be
done in front of students or other staff.
 Creating Effective Teacher-
Para Teams

1. Communicate to the para that you are a team.

Individuals cannot be effective team members unless
they see themselves as being important to the team
effort (Friend & Cook, 2017).
2. Discover your paras interests & skills. This is
important because it conveys respect and a positive
team atmosphere from the start (Biggs, 2016).
3. Explain to your para(s) your legal and instructional
responsibilities to students so they know what to expect
from you (Devlin, 2008).
4. Discuss issues of confidentiality. Paras need to know
what can and cant be shared under certain situations.
The confidentiality guidelines of IDEA should be
followed as they are law.
5. Be proactive regarding classroom behavior
management. A discussion regarding the code of conduct for the classroom should happen
before the 1st day of school (Kovach, 2014).
6. Be aware of how you communicate. Different communication approaches work better with
different people. Avoid personal attacks, and take steps to spend uninterrupted time giving and
getting feedback about questions and challenges the para is experiences during the school day.
7. Delegate some decisions to the para such as what type of bulletin boards to put up and ideas
for free time for student activities, etc. But professional need to keep in mind that they have the
accountability for academic decisions that are made and should welcome ideas from a para
during collaboration but take the responsibility for making the final decision (Friend & Cook,
2017).
8. Special education teachers should provide paras with professional development as needed,
arranging a time to plan with them, discussing their assignments, clearly communicating with
them, and appropriately supervising their work (Friend & Cook, 2017)