Individualizing instruction for a child begins with gathering information. This video shows Kellie talking about what she wants to know about a child before developing a support plan that builds on the child’s individual strengths and needs. Kellie describes a form she uses to record information about the child and family in addition to strategies the educator has already tried. Disabilities Services Coordinators and educators can create similar forms to get to a better understanding of the child from the start.
How Do You Work with the Teacher to Gather Information?
Speaker: We have a tool that we use that’s an information-gathering form. In the context of a conversation with a teacher, I’m going to be taking notes and making sure that I ask some key questions that everyone on that site support team might be interested in. For example, we will talk through what’s the child's date of birth, are they receiving any services, have they previously accessed special ed services.
Then we’ll talk through, what’s the family situation, who’s the child living with, are there any family issues going, are there health concerns, are there social and emotional concerns, what strategies has the teacher already tried, and did those strategies work or not work. Most importantly, what are the child’s strengths, what are the things that are going well for this child that we can build on. Looking at that whole big picture.
I do use a tool. Anybody on our team can start with that information-gathering process and just pull all the information together so we really have a feel for who is this child and what is their story, so that we can see their strengths and begin to individualize for that child in the context of the classroom.
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