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What are skills every team member needs to be an effective
partner?
As discussed, different people with different backgrounds will also have varying
skill levels in areas of communication and cooperative planning. Assumptions
cannot be made that everyone on a team will be able to work together in quite
the same way. Skills that are essential for team members to cultivate fall into
just a few categories:
Effective communication
- Presentation of thoughts and ideas – clear
and concise delivery
- Active listening (hearing what someone is saying and thinking
it through BEFORE formulating a response)
- Remaining focused upon the ideas, not the emotions that may be
tied to them
Assertiveness
- Clearly defining one’s position
- Confidence that advantages and consequences of all choices have
been carefully considered
- Retaining respect of others opinions and ideas
- Maintaining emotional control
- Knowing all the avenues of appeal or due
process before needing
them
Problem solving
- Maintaining objectivity – not letting
emotions cloud the issues
- Recognizing one’s own strengths and weaknesses
(i.e. keeping focused on topic, shyness, emotionality, etc.)
- Respecting your own intuition (i.e. is what
you are being told making sense or matching what has been said
previously? Does it ‘feel’ wrong?),
and finding the right questions to ask
- Thinking through not just the short term effects of decisions,
but long-term ones as well (i.e. due process may alienate staff for
years
to come, or, a student transitioning to another class or school
now may have to transition again soon to middle school, and can he
handle
two transitions)
- Flexibility and willingness to learn new ways of dealing with
problems
Organization
- Keeping accurate records and notes
- Conducting research to gather needed information
to justify your position (i.e. information substantiating therapies,
data on student’s
progress, etc.)
- Actively seeking and obtaining resources when needed (i.e. advocacy
services, assessments, state-funded services, etc.)
- Completing necessary tasks without delay to
avoid rushing or confusion (i.e. not waiting until the night before
an IEP meeting to decide
whether or not the student’s placement is appropriate)
- Consistency - always attending meetings, being on time, coming
prepared
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