Facilitating Effective Communication in School-Based Meetings: Perspectives from School Psychologists

This book offers guidance for school-based professionals participating in the special education process. It provides a foundation for effective oral communication and meeting facilitation in team meetings while highlighting methods to enhance collaboration between educators and families. School psychologists across the United States share how they structure meetings, provide examples for how to communicate educational and psychological concepts, and describe personas they present to support the meeting process. Chapters present a sequential facilitation process for school psychologist-led meetings and apply that process to problem-solving, suspicion of disability, eligibility/feedback, IEP, and manifestation determination meetings. Within each chapter, featured practitioners describe ways to address common challenges that arise. Aimed at graduate students and professionals, this text is a unique, example-based resource to enhance readers’ ability to facilitate and participate in the special education process.

Table of Contents:
1. An Introduction to Oral Communication and Meeting Facilitation; 2. Foundations of Effective Communication; 3. Meeting the Objectives of the Context of Communication; 4. Foundations of Meeting Facilitation; 5. Planning and Facilitating Problem-Solving Meetings; 6. Planning and Facilitating Suspicion of Disability Meetings; 7. Planning and Facilitating Eligibility/Feedback Meetings; 8. Planning and Facilitating Individual Education Plan Meetings; 9. Planning and Facilitating Manifestation Determination Meetings.

About the Author :
Jason R. Parkin, PhD, NCSP, is an assistant professor in the school psychology program at Seattle University. His professional interests include psychoeducational assessment and family/school partnerships. Ashli D. Tyre, EdD, NCSP, is a professor and program director for the school psychology program at Seattle University. Her research investigates perspectives of students, school staff, and families in educational change.

Review :
"Home-school meetings are a fragile interface between families and educators that require technical and clinical skill of school psychologists. Parkin and Tyre have managed to comprehensively capture the intricacies of home-school meetings and substantiate these intricacies with testimonials from practitioners and trainers throughout the United States. The text is a ‘must read’ for early career school psychologists and educators wishing to better hone their family-school collaboration skills." —Francis J. DeMatteo, EdD, NCSP, associate professor and director, School Psychology Program, Humboldt State University; author of Delivering Psycho-educational Evaluation Results to Parents: A Practitioner’s Model "Finally a resource on leading school-based teams, Facilitating Effective Communication in School-based Meetings: Perspectives from School Psychologists, fills the void in the school psychology literature in this critical area! Teams are frequently used in schools, but little formal training actually occurs, leaving school psychologists to learn on the fly. Especially noteworthy is its practicality because the author's painstakingly collected the art and wisdom of leading school teams by veteran practitioners. The book is thorough, clear and methodical in its approach, and fun to read. I will be using it in my program across a variety of courses."—Sam Song, PhD, president, Division 16, APA; program coordinator, UNLV School Psychology programs; co-editor of Social Justice and School Psychology; author of School Psychology in a Global Society "What a gift to the field of school psychology! Unpacking the dynamics of school meetings is so needed and rarely taught in such a practical way. New and seasoned school psychologists will learn so much from this book!" —Rebecca Branstetter, PhD, founder of The Thriving School Psychologist Collective