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About a year ago, I wrote a post, What Your Interventionist Wants You To Know. In it, I shared four fundamental principles for what I wish every classroom teacher knew about intervention. This week I’m going to go into more detail about number two: Communication is essential.
Communication with Classroom Teachers
Communicating with the teachers of the students you serve will help you be the best interventionist you can be! You want the teachers you work with to share what the students are learning in class and what they are observing with the students you both serve. This way you can tag team the students and up their chance for success! There a few ways I have done this in the past that I’m going to share with you now.
The first and, my most favorite way, is to just go talk to the teacher. Find a mutual time to chat about students. This can be during their planning, before school, or after school. It can be quick. Sometimes a few minutes is all you need to update each other. This can be as simple as “I noticed (student name) is having difficulty with (name skill). Have you been noticing that, too?” It can also work the opposite way, “I noticed (student name) has been amazing with (name skill)! We’re going to move on to (name new skill). Do you agree?” When you have conversations with teachers, it’s a good idea to document it. That way you can reference it later during meetings or parent conferences.
If you have difficulty finding the time to meet with a teacher in person, shoot them an email. Emails sometimes get lost in teacher inboxes, so I’d use this one sparingly. And, again, be sure to document the contact.
Another way, is to make and share a communication tool. My team created one a couple years back that we have been tweaking each year. The most difficult part of utilizing a communication tool is finding the time to update it and know if teachers are actually using it. I found out this year that they are using it and want me to continue with it.
The idea was to create a Google sheet for each grade level with a tab at the bottom for each teacher. Then, type the students names in the first column. Across the top you will type reading skills in the order they appear in the curriculum. Underneath each skill, insert a check box. The skill that is being worked on will be checked. There is also a column next to each student’s name for notes. This is for the interventionist or teacher to jot notes back and forth about student progress. Ideally, this sheet would be updated weekly to bi-weekly, depending on the progress of the student.
Last, see if you can attend the grade level meetings or PLCs once in awhile. This is a great way to see all the teachers from the grade level at one time. This is one that I’d like to utilize a little more often, however, it gets tricky to fit it into an already busy schedule.
Communication With Other Support Staff
Classroom teachers aren’t the only ones you should be communicating with regularly. You should also be communicating with anyone else the student comes in contact with during the day. It could be their ML teacher for our English-language learners, the counselor or psychologist, speech pathologist, or, even the nurse.
I work very closely with the ML teachers for each grade level at my school. It’s especially important at the beginning of the year when creating schedules and making servicing decisions, and, again, mid-year for the same reasons. However, it’s helpful to discuss shared students with the ML teachers, in much the same way as classroom teachers.
If a student sees the counselor or psychologist regularly, it’s good to do a check-in with them. Two to three times a year should be sufficient, unless you have more serious concerns. This is who you’ll get your 504 plans from for any students who have them. It’s important to have them, so you can be sure to follow the student’s accommodations.
If your student attends speech, I recommend connecting with the speech pathologist, too. Find out what the student is working on in speech and you can reinforce it during intervention.
Furthermore, take the time to go talk to the nurse as well. Usually I go see the nurse about hearing or vision issues. The nurse will know who wears glasses, or you can put in a request to have a student’s hearing or vision checked. Sometimes we notice these issues before the classroom teacher does.
Communication With The Reading Coach
If your school has a reading coach, the coach is probably already regularly communicating with you. But, if not, don’t hesitate to make that contact. Usually the reading coach has to check in with interventionists about scheduling and student progress, typically before MTSS meetings.
Your reading coach can also be another ear to listen to concerns and bounce ideas off of. They should be knowledgeable about the general education reading curriculum as well as the intervention curriculum. Use the reading coach as a resource and supporter.
Communication With Admin
You mustn’t leave out admin communication. This may mainly happen during MTSS meetings, however there may be other times when meetings with admin may be warranted. Times such as truancy issues, behavior concerns, scheduling conflicts, etc.
Conclusion
As you can clearly see, there are many levels of communication as an interventionist. Communication is just as important as teaching your students. Having regular communication with staff helps to ensure none of your students “fall through the cracks.” It is one of the ways in which you are advocating for and supporting your students growth in reading.
And don’t forget about communicating with parents. You can do this regularly through whatever communication platform your school uses. Share the triumphs and the difficulties. You want to team up with the parent, so the parent will support their child’s skills at home. Don’t hesitate to make a phone call home at times, too, or attend parent/teacher conferences with their classroom teacher.
I hope this post gave you insight into how vital communication is to your position as an interventionist. And if you already knew, then, I hope you came away with a new idea to use to help support your student’s growth. I’d love for you to share in the comments any tools you use to keep the lines of communication open at your school!
If you enjoyed this post and want an in depth look at what an interventionist does, be sure to check out my post Reading intervention: A Day in the Life.