HEAD START®

Leading the Way: Disabilities Services and the Mangement Team

Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community

Table of Contents | Preface | Introduction | Module 1 | Module 2 | Module 3
| Continuing Professional Development | Resources

PREFACE

Yvonne Lacy has been a Head Start director for more than 20 years. During those years, she has seen a number of changes, the biggest of which is the relationship between her program and the local education agency (LEA). “For years, we simply weren't seen as equals,” Yvonne says. “Head Start was not regarded as part of the education system.”

When Laura Clark become the LEA's special education director, they met to discuss provision of services to preschool children with disabilities. From the start, Yvonne and Laura made a commitment to work together, and together they grappled with tough questions: “What are our goals, and how can we work together to reach those goals?”

Laura reflects, “We were two administrators from two different programs, each trying very hard to meet the needs of children.” Together, Laura and Yvonne tried different models of collaboration. First, the LEA hired a special education person to supervise the provision of services to children with disabilities. That failed. Then they tried a self-contained classroom. That was even worse. After observing children in the self-contained classroom who rarely interacted with each other or with staff, Yvonne approached Laura. Yvonne had an idea. She suggested they collaborate on an inclusive preschool program where children with disabilities played side by side with children who did not have disabilities, and Head Start teachers worked side by side with LEA teachers and specialists.

Laura agreed, but there was resistance. LEA specialists felt this new model would get in the way of meeting their primary goals: serving children with disabilities. Head Start staff felt they didn't have adequate training to work with children with significant disabilities, and they were concerned about working with highly trained and certified LEA staff. Would there be turf battles? Would the specialists try to take over the classroom? Parents from both sides also expressed concerns. Would their children really get what they needed in an inclusive classroom?

But Yvonne and Laura insisted on trying. They talked continually with staff and with families about their concerns and their questions. Together, they talked about their fears, about the future, and about the importance of moving forward, despite the concerns.

And they did move forward. Because of the program, now in operation for three years, children are thriving and staff from different backgrounds have opportunities to learn from each other. Launching a program with administrators who have different mandates, guidelines, agendas, and priorities has not been easy. What kept them going, despite the difficulties? They had a common goal. “We needed each other,” say Yvonne and Laura. “We needed to come together, to achieve common ground, a common voice. We had to reach out to each other to achieve our vision, to help all children grow and learn.”

The true story on the previous page illustrates the importance of working collaboratively to provide the best services for children with disabilities and their families. As most people who have developed collaborative relationships realize, leadership from the top is key to making them work. Managers must believe in the effort, make it a priority, and model it for staff.

While the disabilities services manager has a unique role in leading the effort, all Head Start managers must have a common vision of quality disabilities services, understand their role and responsibility in creating an inclusive program, and be knowledgeable about the regulations and laws that affect it.

That is the purpose of this guide: to provide all Head Start managers with the skills and knowledge needed to plan and implement integrated services for children with disabilities and their families. This includes managers who have just begun to take a critical look at their program's disabilities services and teams that have considerable experience. This guide will help managers develop a broader view of their roles and set the stage for developing a more collaborative and coordinated way of working with each other, with LEAs, and with other community agencies.

Each program will need one key person to coordinate this effort. Each program will also need to make decisions about which internal and outside people are best suited to lead specific activities. Most of the activities in this guide can be conducted by internal staff. In fact, we recommend that managers take turns leading activities. Sharing the role of facilitator will underscore the responsibility that all managers have to ensure that children with disabilities and their families receive the services they are guaranteed. Because of the technical and evolving nature of the content of Module 2: A Look at ADA and 504, we do recommend inviting a consultant knowledgeable about the laws to lead these activities. The Disability and Businesses Technical Assistance Center (see the Resources section) can offer suggestions for qualified low-cost trainers.

This technical guide is one of a series that includes the foundation guide written for all Head Start staff, parents, and consultants: Setting the Stage: Including Children with Disabilities in Head Start. We hope that these materials will strengthen Head Start's capacity to reach and include children with disabilities and their families.