Serving English Learners with Disabilities: How ESL/Bilingual Specialists Can Collaborate for Student Success

By Dr. Phyllis Robertson

In this article, Dr. Phyllis Robertson provides both the rationale and the processes for implementation of a collaborative effort to support multilingual learners who may need special services.

The need for collaboration is evident because each stakeholder has essential knowledge to help the student. The ESL or bilingual teacher is primary in the team but may have limited knowledge of interventions for students with disabilities. The special education teacher may not be familiar with ESL strategies, and the classroom teacher knows general instruction strategies but likely has less experience with both of these types of students.

Robertson lists the following guidelines for effective collaboration. These focus on the ESL teacher, but they apply to all educators.

1. Build Partnerships with Families – Value them, support them, and get input from them.
2. Learn from One Another – Share knowledge, resources, strategies, and responsibilities with all stakeholders including administrators.
3. Establish a Structure for Collaboration and Evaluate the Results of Your Efforts – This includes planning, communicating with each other, keeping records, and sharing successes.
4. Use Collaboration to Develop Appropriate IEPs for ELs with Disabilities – Involve the family members in the assessments from bilingual/ESL teachers, general educators, and special educators to develop goals and strategies for instruction and monitoring progress.

Although it may be difficult to implement, the result is that “working collaboratively has the potential to reduce isolation and increase the effectiveness of all educators, and it can make our work more interesting, rewarding and fun.”

Here is the full article and a short video on the topic.