JAASEP SPRING/SUMMER 2026 Part 3 of 7
All series
- ADHD Series
- Assessment in Special Education Series
- Autism Spectrum Disorders Series
- Bullying of Children
- Classroom Management Series
- Diagnosis of Students with Disabilities and Disorders Series
- Discipline of Students in Special Education Series
- Early Intervention Series
- Genetics in Special Education Series
- How To Series
- IEP Components
- Inclusion Series
- JAASEP – Research Based Journal in Special Education
- LD Report
- Lesser Known Disorders
- NASET News Alert
- NASET Q & A Corner
- NASET Survival Guides
- Parent Teacher Conference Handouts
- Resolving Disputes with Parents Series
- RTI Roundtable
- Severe Disabilities Series
- Special Education: What Do the Latest Numbers Tell Us?
- Special Educator e-Journal – Latest and Archived Issues
- The Practical Teacher
- Treatment and Support for IEP Students with Disabilities
- Working with Paraprofessionals in Your School
In United States public schools, children aged 3-21 years found eligible as having a disability are required by law to be appropriately served by a multidisciplinary team under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004). Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are members of special education teams in schools, providing service delivery to students within the disability category of speech or language impairment (SLI), which is currently the second largest percentage of students who received services under IDEA (National Center for Educational Statistics [NCES], 2023). In addition, SLPs may be related service providers on teams where students are demonstrating speech or language challenges secondary to a primary disability that falls into another category, such as specific learning disability (SLD), other health impairments (OHI), or autism. To fulfill their roles and responsibilities on school-based teams, collaboration with stakeholders, such as educators, administrators, other service providers, and families is recommended (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association [ASHA], 2010).
The roles and responsibilities of school-based speechlanguage pathologists (SLPs), as outlined by ASHA (2010), emphasize collaboration across grade levels, disability areas, and service contexts to support curriculum access and culturally responsive practice.
Abstract
A qualitative focus group design was utilized to investigate the collaborative experiences of SLPs as members of K-12 special education teams in U.S. public schools. The authors sought to explore how one describes their collaborative experiences as similar or different given an individual’s sociocultural identity and background. The participants were 12 school-based SLPs from differing sociocultural backgrounds, including age, geographic location, and racial identity. A semi-structured interview protocol was used to guide participants’ discussion around their perceptions of collaboration, factors impacting their ability to collaborate, and recommendations to improve collaboration. This study’s findings suggest that SLPs perceive school-based collaboration as highly variable and complex and that many factors impact collaborative outcomes. Preliminary findings also illustrate the need to consider the role an SLP’s identity plays in their school-based collaborative perceptions and interactions. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.