On today's segment of Ask Us Anything with my co-host, Paul Hubbard we answer two common challenges faced by special education teachers: handling difficult parents and figuring out how often to progress monitor students.

How do you deal with difficult parents?
Jennifer and Paul both emphasize the importance of building strong relationships with parents and maintaining professionalism during tough conversations. Jennifer recommends practicing what you want to say ahead of time, paying attention to body language and tone, and ensuring that communication is consistent and clear to build trust before conflicts arise. Paul highlights the need to reflect on the energy you project, suggesting teachers categorize parents into Advocate, Behavioral, and Combative types, and use different strategies for each. He recommends involving Advocate Parents as valuable members of the IEP team by assigning them specific roles, helping to create a more collaborative relationship.

How often should teachers progress monitor students?
Both Jennifer and Paul agree that while daily data collection can be overwhelming, leaving progress monitoring until right before a report is due isn’t effective either. They suggest finding a balance, such as weekly or bi-weekly data collection, depending on the student's needs. Paul explains how assigning different students to specific days for monitoring can help teachers stay consistent. They also recommend using digital tools like Google Forms to streamline data collection, especially with the help of paraprofessionals, ensuring that accurate data is readily available for IEP meetings and decisions.

Highlights:

• Building strong relationships with parents and effectively navigating tough conversations when emotions run high
• Body language and preparation can significantly impact your communication with challenging parents
• A breakdown of different types of difficult parents
• How involving parents in the IEP process can turn them into valuable allies
• Finding a balance for your daily data collection to avoid last-minute data rushes
• Strategies for incorporating progress monitoring into your weekly routine to ensure more consistent and accurate data collection.
• How using Google Forms and paraprofessional support can streamline data collection for IEP meetings.

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Resources Mentioned:

• Parent Communication Logs & Reports
• Send in your questions for the next Ask Us Anything
  
  

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