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1. PLCs (Professional Learning Communities)- Scheduled and structured team meetings where teachers meet to strategize, analyze data, and plan interventions.

2. Shared Data Collection and Progress Monitoring- Teachers, specialists, and other related service providers collect, share, and analyze student data and performance.

3. Cross-disciplinary Planning and Consultation- Collaboration and planning with teachers, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, counselors, and any other service providers.

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1. Teamwork Makes the IEP Work: Practical Strategies (Diagnostic Center, Southern CA)- This is an online on-demand webinar that lasts 1.5 hours. The training is focused on realizing the demands and time constraints for educators and multi-disciplinary school-based teams, and providing them with strategies to streamline collaboration to plan, implement, and provide services to special education students.

2. Building and Sustaining a Collaborative Educational Team: Teachers and Paraprofessionals (Urbani, LePage, Watson-Alvarado, 2024)- This article addresses the relationship between the special education teacher and the paraprofessional. It explains the strong necessity for them to be collaborative partners as well as the importance of communication and conflict resolution.

3. Increasing collaboration and knowledge in school communities to enhance outcomes for autistic students (Griffiths et al., 2023)- This article is the research confirming that the training for healthcare providers, educators, autism service providers, and families is effective. The training, Advances in Autism 2025: Translating Research to Clinical Practice, provides insights into treatment and intervention for students with autism. The course does have a fee, but is fully online and participants have access to a recorded training for 3 weeks after the training.

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This video is a short (5:36) video lending tips to the special education teacher about collaborating with specialists (music, P.E., art). She mentions the importance of open communication, broadcasting students' strengths, giving a hard copy of accommodations, and making yourself available for conversation. These are all important aspects to supporting all staff regarding students with special needs, and she does a great job at getting to the point quickly.

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Top Strategies for Special Ed Teachers to Collaborate with Specialists!

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1. MindMeister- This is a collaborative mind mapping tool that allows teams to brainstorm together virtually, map out plans, and organize their ideas. One helpful aspect of this tool is that it allows for real time collaboration. This would help with planning meetings, sharing instructional strategies, and planning team meetings.

2.  Google Workspace- This tool is formerly known as G-Suite. This consists of Google's cloud based storage which creates a platform to collaborate in real time and organize documents. This can be helpful for all members to have access and update all documents created and shared within the team.

3. Microsoft Teams- This is a hub for video meets, chats, and file sharing within the team members. On this platform you are able to have text as well as video chats. This platform allows for all team members to be involved in a continuous chat or meeting platform. This is also a great tool to record meetings for those who could not attend.

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1. Structured Meeting Protocols-Use agendas, timelines, and clarify roles in order to make meetings (IEP, 504, or parent teacher conferences) run effectively and efficiently.

2. Preparation and Advanced Sharing of Materials- It is important to provide information long before the meeting dates. This give parents a chance to be prepared for the meeting as well as to add their input into the meeting notes beforehand.

3. Culturally Responsive Communication- While meeting with families and students, it is important to take their culture into account. ·       Use plain language, interpreters, and respect for diverse cultural values and communication styles during meetings and communication to make all members successful.

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1. IEP Meeting Facilitation Strategies for Meaningful Inclusion of Students With Disabilities (2024)- This is an article outlining the strategies for a special education teacher to facilitate a meaningful IEP meeting in order to advocate for inclusion of students with disabilities in their classrooms. The article outlines that coming to the meeting prepared is the most important. You should come with an agenda, progress monitoring data, strengths and successes and areas of need or concern for the student, and ideas for goals and instructional strategies to help the student be successful. Being prepared allows for collaboration during the IEP meeting from all of the team members.

2. Examining Family Testimonials for the Reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act — Hardy, Fulton, Kim, Li, Burke, Rossetti et al.(2024)- This article studies testimonials from families regarding the reauthorization of IDEA. The article analyzes results and suggestions from families with students with disabilities and how they hope to see IDEA improve. The findings included would help special educators realize what is important to the families of our students and better collaborate with them during meetings.

3. How to Effectively Collect Parent Input (with Wendy Taylor)

Episode 208 • 4th March 2025 • The SLP Now Podcast • SLP Now- This is a podcast by Wendy Taylor that lasts just over 30 minutes. In the podcast she speaks about how important parent input is to the IEP. She stresses the importance of communicating with parents before the meeting about their input, and including it in the IEP as well as discussing their concerns and thoughts during the meeting. She gives tips on how to effectively gather the information and incorporate it in the meeting and IEP.

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This 12 minute video offers tips for new special education teachers on how to prepare for and run efficient IEP meetings. In the video, she offers tips on planning and gathering data and parent information as well as general tips for how to act and respond. A few tips she has are planning ahead, sharing a draft of the IEP to team members before the meeting, put arrow "stickie notes" on important places and signing lines for the parents, bring work samples, tests, and data, be positive, and use active listening. All of these tips lead to the most important tip which is to focus on the student.

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How to Prepare For and Run Efficient IEP Meetings| Tips for New Special Education Teachers

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1. Free Editable IEP Agenda Template- This is a fully editable template in Google Slides format to use to create an agenda for IEP meetings. It is a free download including step by step instructions for customization. This template can be used in all IEP meetings from initial evaluation to yearly reviews. It has a professional design and can save time in order to focus on the content of the meeting instead of formatting an agenda. It would be very helpful to keep all attendees on the same page and foster effective communication.

2. Ablespace- This is an app for special education professionals to use for IEP Goal Tracking. It is a digital caseload management tool that offers IEP Goal Tracking, Reporting, Service Time Tracking, Medicaid Billing, and more. This would be helpful to store all tracking in one place and it would be easy to pull a report to share with team members before and in the meetings.

3. Zoom Meetings- This is an online meeting platform that allows you to meet virtually with staff and families. The service allows team chat/instant messaging, members can dial in by phone, scheduler allows you to send links to participants and add to calendar, meetings can be recorded and shared. This would be a helpful tool to use in cases where family members or district staff are unable to attend in person meetings.

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1. Collaborative Problem-Solving with Families- Work together with families to address barriers to learning such as attendance, behavior, and access to services.

2. Family Engagement in Goal Setting- Involve families in identifying academic and behavioral goals during IEP meetings or student-led conferences.

3. Home–School Learning Connections- Provide families with strategies, resources, or activities to reinforce skills at home such as reading routines, math games, flash cards, or online learning programs.

4. Regular, Two-Way Communication- Use multiple methods such as calls, texts, apps, emails, or written communication to keep families informed and to invite their input.

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1. Lessons from the Field Webinar – Engaging Families to Support Student Achievement (January 2025)- This webinar explores ways schools can strengthen family engagement to support student achievement, create welcoming environments, and enhance communication and collaboration between staff and families. It also offers strategies and best practices for creating welcoming meeting environments, promoting family voice, strengthening communication, and providing tools to make sure families feel heard and respected. This webinar was performed in January of 2025, but is recorded so that you can watch the video and have all attached resources and information at any time.

2. Special Education Teachers’ Perceptions of Parental Involvement in Inclusive Education (2024)- This article is regarding a study regarding the parental involvement of students with disabilities in inclusive education. It discovers that when parents are more involved in their child's special education, inclusive education is more successful. Active involvement helps parents feel accomplished, resilient, capable, reassured, and more satisfied with their student's education. The study also reveals that when there is more parent involvement, the student improves development, learning outcomes, academic achievement, and lowers the rate of school withdrawal. The study confers that teachers' perceptions of parental involvement in inclusive education was indeed what they thought.

3. “This is me”: Using Bronfenbrenner's Systems Model to Prioritize Student and Stakeholders’ Voices in the Co-Design of Individualized Education Programs- This article describes how two students with visual impairments participated in their IEP process. Their perspectives on learning environments and challenges were very valuable for the special education teacher when developing the IEP. It goes to show that students being involved in their education is important.

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This 10 minute video shares best practices for engaging families in special education, focusing on clear communication, family input, and strong collaboration with staff. It highlights strategies like preparing families before meetings, being transparent about goals, and using culturally responsive practices to build trust. The video shows how including family voices in the IEP process improves support, satisfaction, and student outcomes.

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Arlington Public Schools Parent Resource Center 

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Family Engagement in Special Education: Best Practices for Educators

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1. Seesaw- This is a digital learning app where students can share work through photos, videos, drawings, and voice recordings. Families can easily see updates, get messages from teachers, send messages to teachers, and use built-in translation to communicate in their own language. For special education teachers, it helps families stay connected to student learning and progress in real time.

2. Remind- This is a communication app that lets teachers send messages to classes, small groups, or individual students without sharing personal phone numbers. Families can receive messages and attachments like photos, files, or voice clips. Teachers and families can also reply, creating easy two-way communication. For special education, Remind helps teachers share updates on IEP goals, show examples of student work, explain accommodations, and quickly address family questions.

3. Google Classroom- This is a free, easy-to-use platform that works with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Meet. Teachers can create and share assignments, grade work, and communicate with students, and students can submit work and track their grades and homework. Special education teachers can use features like differentiated assignments, private comments, and accessibility tools to support diverse learners such as screen readers, voice typing, live captions, and translation. Families can receive weekly updates showing student activities, upcoming assignments, and progress, making it easier to stay involved. Google Classroom helps teachers and families collaborate to support student learning both in and out of the physical classroom.