Why do we need to communicate?
Communication is key and vital to all successful teams. When we are managing multi-disciplinary (including parents) teams to target challenging student behavior, communication and consistency is even more vital for the success of that student. When a team communicates well, the team performs well. Professionals come together with a diverse set of expertise and experiences and bring them to the table. We can create strategic supports that helps students achieve success in their current environment. As needs shift over time, we can shift and reach out for professional feedback to edit the plan. However, as more professionals are added to the team, the need for a streamlined communication plan becomes critical.
How can we collaborate effectively and ensure we are tackling the same skills the student needs? Are we all delivering the instruction and explicit teaching the same way? How can we ensure we are all on the same page in regards to the student’s needs and successes? In this blog we will be discussing why collaboration is key for student success and outline 5 tips to help you collaborate with the child’s team!
Our framing of behavior
The function of behavior is VITAL to consider when we look at a child’s behavior. EVERY BEHAVIOR SERVES A PURPOSE. These maladaptive behaviors tend to fill in the gaps of an unmet need of the child.
Skills deficit versus performance deficit: when a skill is lacking, there is an inability to complete a behavior and when there is impairment in performance of an established skill there may also be an inability to complete a behavior. The impairment here is vital to understanding and choosing the appropriate intervention.
Behaviors show us there is an unmet need or lagging skill we can teach, model and systematically reinforce to create a new established skill. We do this work when a child is calm and has access to learning (not when they are upset and struggling).
Let’s think of behavior like the stock market. The stock market is something that we know to trust will shift. We know that in time, values rise and fall. We know and trust that it will rise again. As we think about behavioral learning profiles, think about a similar trajectory. Learning is never linear (a straight line) but it does resemble the stock market growth pattern.
When the child’s whole team values growth mindset, systematic tracking and planning, and has a working knowledge that behaviors are communicating unmet need, the team can cohesively plan to build success opportunities with appropriate support with much more precision. Of course, much of behavioral learning requires patients as the stock market fluctuates along the way.
You might ask us… How does this work when kids are working on skills at schools with their teachers, then going to see their therapists after school twice a week, and then participating in skills training on Fridays while also working with an occupational therapist in the home setting?
Getting on the same page and having a flexible plan in collaboration sets the child up for success. How do you do that?
Here are 5 ways to communicate with your child’s team in a way that supports learning from each professional:
Communication Journals: Communication journals are a tool to share information between team members on a daily basis to encourage fact based communication. Journals can be very simple. Note that this can be lost easily and that technology is often more effective and faster to grasp more information.
Google doc: Another variation on the journal, but with the benefits of technology. Google docs and Google sheets can be shared among parents, teachers and other team members. This allows the quick and efficient sharing of data collection and other pertinent information based on set goals for the child.
Behavior charts/data collection: If the student has some sort of behavior chart or Daily Report Card from a special education teacher or other service provider, share that with the team! Connecting information to share with all service providers and streamlining how this data is shared increases carryover of skills from school to outside services. Often times, information from the morning is important in the afternoon and without communication, this is hard to manage constructively.
Creating a visual representation of data in excel graphs is easily editable and shareable to team members. Behaviors tracked should be operationalized (defined clearly so all people involved code behavior reliably). This can be tricky to do well!
Monthly/quarterly meetings: I found monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly meetings with the whole team were great for students with more intense or severe needs. Behaviors can appear so quickly that we really had to stay on top of them as a team and communicate new updates in regards to the student that may be contributing to the increase or decrease in behaviors. I always liked to set up meetings throughout the year that allowed the team to touch base and review goals, overall wellness and progress. This allowed us to be able to shift supports or interventions in a meaningful way.
Wins & learning opportunities: Framing learning with a GROWTH MINDSET is key to allowing the helpers (teacher, parents, therapists, etc) to stay in their own motivation for the child. It is so often that we as helpers get down when the process “is slow” or “is not happening” when there is ALWAYS learning occurring. So, using a framing of wins and learning opportunities can be helpful to keep out brains looking forwarding instead of getting stuck in the toughest moments
In an ideal world, a team might utilize multiple tools!
Collaboration is hard, but essential and necessary for our students who need the most support. What steps are you going to take with your team to ensure collaboration?
This was a collaboration blog post written with Eleanor Ezell from @growlittleminds on instagram! Eleanor is a developmental pediatric therapist specializing in the treatment of anxiety and disruptive behavior disorders. She is a certified trainer for multiple therapies and consults with parents, teachers and other health professionals in behavioral care regularly. In addition to her clinical practice in TN, she runs Growing Minds Wellness and Consulting to bride the gaps of parenting education and increase access for families.