- The selection of the paraprofessional assigned to the program
is a joint decision between the special education and the community
early education teachers.
- The paraprofessional enjoys children and has good interaction
skills with children and adults.
- The paraprofessional values the opportunity to acquire specific
competencies for working with the child with severe disabilities.
- The paraprofessional shares the same value base and program
vision as the early childhood staff.
- The paraprofessional attends and participates in all community
program orientation meetings, program training activities, and
school-related social events with the early education staff.
- The paraprofessional has observed in the program and has become
familiar with the setting before children with disabilities
have begun attending the program.
- The special education and early childhood teachers maintain
good communication in order to jointly determine priorities
for the paraprofessional and to evaluate his or her performance.
- The teacher feels like a part of the program and a valued
member of the child's team.
- The preschool teacher, teaching assistant, paraprofessional,
and special educator discuss at length the ideal experience
for the child as a full member of the class and how that affects
their roles.
- A plan for how the paraprofessional could exchange roles with
the teacher and the assistant is developed to ensure that they
can all spend time with all of the children.
- The paraprofessional acquires the necessary competencies to
take over the role of the teacher and teacher's assistant as
planned.
- The teacher and teaching assistant acquire skills for positioning,
handling, and feeding the child and are skilled in using or
setting up devices and equipment used by the child.
- All three classroom personnel participate in inservice training
in order to understand and become skilled at using instructional
strategies and techniques, as well as specific facilitative
strategies.
- The teacher and the paraprofessional are active participants
on the child's team and participate in the development of the
IEP.
- The teacher takes an active role in determining ways to embed
the child's individual objectives into the classroom activities
and routines.
- The classroom staff and family meet weekly to plan and discuss
how things are going in relation to the child. Open and honest
communication is valued during these meetings. The meetings
start and end on time and follow a team-determined agenda.
- Appropriate opportunities and strategies for fading involvement
and stepping back to let children interact without adults are
identified, implemented, and evaluated.
Adapted from: Thompson, B., Wickham, D., Wegner, J., Ault, M.,
Shanks, P., & Reinertson, B. (1993). Handbook for the inclusion
of young children with severe disabilities. (pp.85-110). Lawrence,
KS: Learner Managed Designs.
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