Involving Key Community Partners in the Implementation of Effective Practices

Increasing Community Inclusion for Students With Disabilities

“…For example, the special educator could lead a training on how to equip the student to communicate with AAC during the activity or develop a task analysis for the activity in collaboration with the leader(s). Additionally, special educators can help community leaders transform community activities into opportunities for students to learn and practice academic, functional, or employment skills (Kittelman et al, 2018; Rousey et al, 2022). For example, a student can practice customer service or social skills by serving as a greeter and welcoming peers to the community activity or reading materials aloud to the group.…”

Enhancing Support for Student Mental Health in Schools

“…In the second column, Garbacz and colleagues (2022) described different validated strategies useful for enhancing parent collaboration in the implementation of effective practices (e.g., relationship building, motivational interviewing, implementation planning). In the third column, Rousey and colleagues (2022) described important roles community stakeholders (e.g., vocational rehabilitation, transition specialists, employers) have in providing effective transition services for students with disabilities. For this column, we emphasize the importance and timeliness in addressing mental health problems facing students in schools and describe how stakeholders (e.g., school and community mental health professionals, parents) are vital in the implementation of effective practices to support students struggling with internalizing and externalizing problems.…”