—PLEASE READ INSTRUCTIONS ENTIRELY BEFORE SUBMITTING A BID!!!—

Overview

For this Assessment, you will demonstrate your ability to plan for  effective collaboration in support of a young child who may be at risk  of developing an exceptionality. You will create a Collaboration Plan  for the prereferral process by identifying the members of a Child  Support Team and explaining essential elements of how they will  collaborate with the child’s family to support the child.

Professional Skills: Written Communication and Applied and Collaborative Learning  are assessed in this Competency. 

Instructions

Before submitting your Assessment, carefully review the rubric. This  is the same rubric the assessor will use to evaluate your submission and  it provides detailed criteria describing how to achieve or master the  Competency. Many students find that understanding the requirements of  the Assessment and the rubric criteria help them direct their focus and  use their time most productively..

Preparing a Collaboration Plan

Step 1: Read the “Case Scenario” that follows: 

Andrew is a 5-year-old boy in a full-day kindergarten program in Mrs.  Brown’s classroom. During the first few weeks of school, Mrs. Brown  notices that Andrew is struggling to adjust to the kindergarten day. In  particular, he has difficulty following directions and making  transitions from one activity to the next. However, other children are  also having difficulty adjusting, so Mrs. Brown continues to observe  Andrew. As the weeks follow and most of the class settles into the daily  routine, Andrew’s difficulties seem to increase. Mrs. Brown’s  observation notes identify concerns about Andrew’s behavior and  development, including the following:

• Early Literacy Skills: 
  • Limited expressive vocabulary outside of his areas of interest, which include animals, and especially dogs
  • Limited sight-word vocabulary for kindergarten
• Fine-Motor Skills: 
  • Poor fine-motor skills, especially with cutting
  • Difficulties using a computer mouse
  • Poor eye-hand coordination (also noticed by the P.E. teacher)
• Behavioral Concerns: 
  • Frequent interruptions, for example, Andrew will ask unrelated questions and change topics during daily group times
  • Becomes frustrated when unsuccessful with both learning tasks and physical activities

Mrs. Brown also has the following anecdotal notes from her Fall  parent-teacher conference with Andrew’s parents, both of whom attended  the conference: “Andrew’s father, Mr. Unger, works full time. Since  Andrew and his two younger siblings were born, his mother has stayed  home to care for the children. Mrs. Unger’s native language is French.  She appears to speak and understand English with little difficulty,  although, she stated she is more comfortable with email and other  written forms of communication. The family speaks both French and  English at home. Mrs. Unger explained that Andrew’s experience with  group programs before beginning kindergarten was mainly in family-based  activities offered by the community, such as at the local library. She  also noted that Andrew has always had a lot of energy, as do his  siblings. Along with the family’s two dogs, she describes them as all  ‘very lively’.”

Mrs. Brown draws on her experience to support and foster Andrew’s  growth as best she can. However, after not seeing improvement, she  shares her concerns with the school’s special education teacher and asks  for a prereferral intervention for Andrew. In turn, Andrew’s parents  are notified, and the prereferral process, including forming a Child  Support Team for Andrew, begins.

Step 2

Based on the information in the Case Scenario on Andrew and  research-based practices/strategies, use the Collaboration Plan Template  document to develop a Collaboration Plan for Andrew’s Child Support  Team. Follow the instructions on the template to complete all six parts  of the Collaboration Plan.