Beth

Montick 1
SPED 854: Family and Interprofessional Collaboration in Special Education
Family Interview - Reflection

1. Purpose:

The Family Interview Reflection Paper was completed for the course SPED

854: Family and Interprofessional Collaboration in Special Education. As stated in

the original assignment, the purpose of this assignment was to gain a better

understanding of the perspectives of the families of students with disabilities to

make collaboration more effective.

2. Approach to assignment and revisions:

For this assignment, I interviewed the mother of a student who I worked with

in the past in a private clinic setting. I chose to approach this mother for this

assignment because I know her well after working with her child for a year and a half

and I know that she is involved in her sons education at school. She is also someone

who I know would feel comfortable discussing these topics candidly. I focused my

questions on: how her experiences have changed as her son has grown, what was

most beneficial when she collaborates with his teachers, and where she sees areas of

need. I was grateful that this mother was so open to having this discussion. For this

assignment, I did not make any revisions and no revisions were required based on

the feedback that I received from the professor.

3. How the assignment contributed to my development as a special educator:

This assignment was important to my development as a special educator by

helping to open my eyes to how my own behavior may impact my collaboration with

the families I work with. In my reflection, I took note of making sure to schedule time

with parents to allow them the time to discuss issues that may arise. I am still quick
Beth Montick 2
SPED 854: Family and Interprofessional Collaboration in Special Education
Family Interview - Reflection

to try to fit in quick meetings at drop-off or pick-up but try to balance it out with

longer scheduled meetings. Our preschool program is in the process of developing a

new parent training model. We are growing as a program and attempting to catch up

with the needs of our families. When it was a smaller program, I had plenty of time

to spend extensive time with each family on a regular basis. As we grow, this is

becoming tougher and tougher. Reading this assignment reminds me of the impact

that quality family collaboration can have on the student and the family.