7 Expectations and Collaboration: Maria’s Opportunity to Learn from Deaf Families

Maria Jackson is a preschool teacher who has licensure in PreK-Grade 3. She is employed by a school division that uses a system of “blended and braided” funding to support 3 and 4 year olds. This means that some of the children in Maria’s classroom are enrolled in the Virginia PreKindergarten program, some of the children are eligible for a Head Start slot, and some of the children have a developmental delay or disability and receive Early Childhood Special Education  (ECSE) Services. There is space for 12 children in Maria’s class, although at the beginning of the year only 10 children were assigned to her room. In addition to Maria, the classroom team consists of Jeri, a full-time paraprofessional, Cynthia, an ECSE itinerant teacher who is present for 60 minutes each day, and Nadya, a speech-language pathologist who is present for 30 minutes three days per week.

Anya Rubles is a 4-year-old girl who joined Maria’s classroom in November, after a move across the state. Anya uses a hearing aid, her parents are Deaf, and the primary language at home is ASL. Maria is unsure if Anya needs an ASL interpreter in the classroom or if she is able to understand all classroom activities and directions with the use of her hearing aid. The IEP from Anya’s former school has some information, but it appears that details are missing. Maria wonders if there are supplemental notes that were part of Anya’s file previously, but were not sent with the IEP document. Maria has asked Cynthia for support in understanding Anya’s needs and strengths in the classroom setting.

In the past week, Maria sent notes home in Anya’s backpack and received replies to the specific questions asked. However, Maria does not feel that she really knows Anya’s parents (Mila and Sofia) or their priorities for Anya’s time in her classroom. Maria sends home a note asking Mila and Sofia to meet with her so she can better support Anya. She provides two dates and times to meet based on her schedule and an available interpreter’s schedule. Sofia responds that she is available during both times, but that her wife, Mila, is not. Could they find an alternate time? Anya responds that the interpreter is only available then, so they arrange the meeting. When Sofia arrives, she meets the available interpreter for the first time and the three of them sit down. Maria shares the curriculum and asks what areas Anya might struggle with. The interpreter shares these questions and Sofia’s expression conveys that she is upset. Unfortunately, Maria isn’t quite sure how to remedy this.

Where might the disconnect have happened in this scenario? How might Sofia have felt about Anya’s learning? Let’s consider her perspective.

Sofia and Mila were delighted to receive an invitation to meet with their daughter’s teacher in person, but given the nature of Anya’s disability, they wondered why other members of the care team weren’t included and why they weren’t asked if they have a preferred interpreter with whom they also have a relationship. Compounding their frustration was the inflexibility regarding timing so they could meet as a family. That said, they certainly understood how busy everyone is, including them. There had been multiple instances where something couldn’t be shifted in their own lives and only one of them could meet with a member of a care team, a provider, or an educator. When Sofia sat down, she expected to be asked some broader questions, but instead the teacher asked what Anya would struggle with. “Excuse me?!” she thought to herself. What she wanted to say was, “You should have asked me about all of the areas in which my daughter excels.”

Mapp and Bergman (2019) identify educators’ low expectations of families and learners as a barrier to effective family engagement, and, ultimately, student and school improvement. They also note that many families, like Anya’s moms, have experienced negative interactions with educators, leading to families feeling unheard and not valued. Let’s instead reimagine this meeting to explore a more positive foundation for family partnerships.

Given the missing details in the IEP from Anya’s former school, Maria writes the family an email asking for the opportunity to learn more about Anya and how she can best collaborate and coordinate with the other clinicians and team members. She asks if they have a preferred interpreter, knowing that with their recent move, there is a possibility that they don’t yet have a local contact. Still, they may and it is preferable to use a known interpreter with whom a family has a relationship. She also asks what other members of the Anya’s support team they would like present or if they have information they would like to bring, as well as the family’s. availability. When they respond with options and that they don’t yet have a preferred interpreter, but have been in touch with a particular agency, Maria coordinates with that agency to identify an interpreter who is available when both parents are available. 

Sofia and Mila arrive at the same time as their interpreter and provide copies of information from Anya’s audiologist, pediatrician, and ECSE teacher from their prior community to the interpreter and to Maria. Maria took the time to ask the agency about etiquette in advance and knows to look at Sofia and Mila when talking instead of the interpreter. She smiles at each and thanks them for the additional information, then asks if they might share a bit more about what worked well in her prior early childhood classroom and what presented a challenge. She asked what accommodations supported Anya’s learning and full inclusion during activities with her peers. 

In this version, Sofia and Mila felt immediately at ease, happy to share what worked well for Anya and in what areas she excelled. They came away from that conversation feeling that Maria wanted to collaborate with them and with the rest of the team to meet all of Anya’s needs, including her social and emotional needs; they understood that Maria wanted to facilitate Anya’s feelings of belonging in a classroom of children who shared similarities and differences from one another.  The extra steps that Maria took to learn about Deaf culture and etiquette facilitated a feeling of comfort. She was also able to use the time to ask the interpreter and the family how they would prefer to communicate in both situations that could be arranged in advance as well as those that required a quick update or question and response.