Amber Gilbert

Sped 854: Family and Interprofessional Collaboration in Special Education

Personal Philosophy Statement

Reflection

Personal Philosophy Statement

Purpose:

The purpose of this assignment was for me to develop a personal philosophy statement about

the meaning of collaboration in special education. This statement included a collection of my

beliefs around the meanings, purposes, and processes related to collaboration within special

education. Some questions to consider for this project directly from the assignment, included:

Why is collaboration in special education important?

Who are the key players involved in collaboration in special education?

What factors must be in place to ensure successful collaboration in special education?

What are potential barriers to successful collaboration in special education?

What are the different ways to collaborate in special education?

What are the important time points in a students education in which collaboration

should occur?

In what ways do culture and power affect collaboration in special education?

How you addressed the assignment requirements (if relevant)

Taking the above questions into consideration, I explained what I believe to be important for

successful collaboration in special education.

Why you chose to revise (if you did)

Amber Gilbert
Sped 854: Family and Interprofessional Collaboration in Special Education
Personal Philosophy Statement

There was no revision needed for this assignment.

What you learned from this assignment and its contribution to your development as a special

educator.

When completing this assignment, I quoted Cook and Friend (2010) The State of the Art of

Collaboration on Behalf of Students With Disabilities, pg 6, School collaboration is highly

successful in some settings and functions as a catalyst for accomplishing significant school

reform. In other settings, however, collaboration exists as a series of informal relationships that

are fragile and person-dependent I still feel this is a very relevant quote. The importance of

being able to collaborate with other professionals is essential to the success of the students we

are assisting.

At the end of the course, we were asked to reevaluate this personal philosophy statement if

needed. I felt just as strongly at the end of the course as I did when I originally wrote this.

Looking back at the assignment today, I still understand that the successes and failures of some

students come down to collaboration amongst the educators working with them. For me, this

was a very powerful assignment.