The State of the Art of Collaboration on Behalf of Students with Disabilities - Essay Example

?The of the Art of Collaboration on Behalf With Disabilities/ Article by Lynne and Marilyn The issue of collaboration in special education draws significant attention in providing quality education to students with disability. This article seeks to provide the best of information concerning challenges and successes that collaboration in special education bears to educators, parents and other stakeholders in special education. The article focuses on the issues that children with disabilities face in their daily lives in terms of education. In this regard, the article brings to light all attempts made by “The No Child Left Behind Act” of 2001 and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education improvement Act of 2004” (Cook and Friend, 2010 p.1). The two acts work together to put in place requirements aimed at modifying the perception of a teacher and other professional bodies in the field. In this case, the two acts state that all students with disabilities should be in a position to access the general curriculum, and should do so within the least restrictive environment. It goes on to give other laws that play a crucial role towards the realization of what the two, earlier stated, acts seek to achieve. These include highly qualified teachers and team decision making for students with disabilities, as well as general educator participation in individualized education program and parental participation. The first issue to be addressed in the article is the origin of the collaboration, founded with the aim of helping children with disabilities gain access to quality education and keep up. This includes the legislative background dating way back to 1975 with the passage of the “The Education of all Handicapped Children Act” that built social awareness. It then goes on to place emphasis on the issue of special education and partnerships among all stakeholders, read parents, professionals and other service providers and their efforts to emulate consultation models emanating from psychology and counseling fields. From the origins of the conception of the collaboration, the article draws attention to recent issues and their effects in current times. These include issues such as successes of collaboration in recent times and developments, in the field of special education. In addition, it focuses on modern challenges facing collaborations in special education in the form of inconsistent attention paid to the incorporation of collaboration in school practices and culture. These apply to multiple school based factors that include teacher and professional preparation programs, as well as school organization structures. In addition, the article goes on to define the term collaboration in schools. This goes hand in hand with disambiguation of the term as it is used in schools represent a myriad of meanings leading to confusion in the education sector, rather than clarity. To this, it gives the official meaning, and terms used to represent collaboration in the field. It also touches on the challenges affiliated with the use of the term collaboration to represent terms such as inclusion, integration and co-teaching. To this effect, the terms are differentiated into their appropriate meanings and proper usage in context. The article goes on to look into challenges that researchers face in the examination collaboration, in special education. Such include the criteria to be used in the studying collaborating and the activities included in collaboration since collaboration as a style that only works when applied in an endeavor. All this is followed by application of collaboration approach and opinions, as well as description of collaboration by various scholars and stakeholders in the field of special education such as Friend and Cook. Finally, the focus shifts towards successes and failures of school collaboration in terms of settings and functions, as well as the impact collaboration on the accomplishment of school reforms. The closing starts with the references followed by a form of short background information on some scholars contributing towards the information in the article. The authors have multiple standpoints in the article and on their views. This is in terms of swaying in support of collaboration and the benefits it has to offer all stakeholders and the effects of its success. The sway side is that of challenges where researchers and educational stakeholders face difficulty in implementing that which is expected of them. However, the predominant standpoint is that which is in support of collaboration and offering possible solution and an understanding of the said challenges. This puts the authors at an objective position where they offer possible resolves to challenges and offer a positive side to all issues faced. The writers’ bias lies on the optimistic side, rather than the pessimistic by offering hope to all stakeholders. The research draws its strength from the coverage of multiple positions in the article. This is in that it follows all aspects that are likely to draw controversy and lack of understanding. This is by giving a qualitative and quantitative education to the expected reader by defining all terms used therein and following up with contextual use in ways that make sense. In addition, the bias found in the article is of the positive kind offering a hope to all affected parties such as professionals, educators and students with disability. It also provides a detailed description of the problem that provides all required information, rather than allowing the reader to seek additional information to complement that, which is found in the article. On the downside, one of the strengths of the paper turns out to be a genuine weakness. This is in regard to providing all required information, meaning that the reader is not required to read other documents, meaning that should the information provided be shallow, the reader has no way of knowing it. The other issue is that of ordering or sequencing of the article. This is in terms of providing an introduction of the research subject followed by more information in support of the research, and finally definition of terms before getting to the body and the real issues at hand. The definition of terms, though informative and in support of the article, should come after the introduction in order to allow the reader gain a clue on the terms integration and collaboration among others. In addition, the article still exhibits weakness in the sequencing. This is in organizing the content of the research to create credibility to the reader and other interested parties. In this case, the background information of the authors should be provided at the beginning so that the reader can at least know whether the authors are credible rather than going through the entire research article and waiting for it at the end. The article is of good quality as it looks at the critical aspects that found in then issue of collaboration and its impact. It is highly educative and critical of most of the issues facing collaboration in special education; thus, anyone looking for information on the issue should look a good look at the article for greater insight and quick information. The study could help in designing research methods that are immune to the challenges facing research on collaboration and its accomplishments, as well as successes and failures. In addition, it provides the groundwork for future studies as it is a precedent for other researches to follow. Reference Lynne, C and Marilyn, F. (2010). The State of the Art of Collaboration on Behalf of Students With Disabilities. Journal of Educational & Psychological Consultation. Vol. 20 Issue 1, p1-8, 8p. Retrieved from Read More