Abstract
This chapter introduces interprofessional competencies and an assessment that can guide preparation and impact competency of interdisciplinary professionals working in special education to meet the needs of children with disabilities and families from diverse communities. Additionally, this chapter highlights examples of integrated preparation approaches that allow interdisciplinary professionals to learn about each other's discipline to advance their knowledge and skills to meet the needs of young children with disabilities from multicultural communities. These practices include: (a) virtual learning communities; (b) professional development micro credentials awarded by digital badges; (c) subject matter expert panels; and (d) combined field experiences.
TopInterprofessional Competencies
Federal regulations, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), established the necessity of multidisciplinary collaboration to support the growth and development of children and their families. Likewise, the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) Division of Early Childhood’s (DEC) recommended practices highlight teaming and collaboration for practitioners as an effective way to improve the development of young children with delays or disabilities. The siloed services initially offered by early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE) professionals have evolved to a recognition that multiple people with varied perspectives must be mobilized to provide optimal services to young children and their families (Bricker et al., 2022).
To support EI/ECSE interprofessional work, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Early Childhood Personnel Center was tasked with developing interprofessional competencies. Using a sampling of seven EI/ECSE service provider professional standards, the group developed four common training competencies, which include (1) coordination and collaboration; (2) family-centered practice; (3) evidence-based intervention; and (4) professionalism (Bruder et al., 2019; Early Childhood Personnel Center, 2020). Although these competencies mention coordination and collaboration and represent areas of consistent knowledge, skills, and dispositions, they do not provide specific “interdisciplinary” competencies.
Due to a lack of interdisciplinary competencies, the EI/ECSE literature suggests that preparation programs turn to interprofessional competencies and practices developed in health education as a model for interdisciplinary education (Bricker et al., 2022). The Institute of Medicine’s (2001) recognition of the need to develop skills to effectively communicate and coordinate care led to the formation of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC). In 2016, due to a lack of clarity about outcomes in interdisciplinary education, a consortium of U.S. professional associations representing six disciplines created Interprofessional Education Collaborative core competencies.
With the vision of enhanced interprofessional collaborative practice, the IPEC competencies serve to frame dialogue for interprofessional education and collaborative practice. These competencies support team-based care and provide direction for professional schools of health care. These competencies are a catalyst to improve service provision and enhance outcomes. After publishing the original competencies, IPEC (2021) convened multidisciplinary working groups to review and update these competencies to provide the best available evidence and research related to interdisciplinary education and collaborative practice; review common definitions for competence and competency; and ensure the competency framework accurately reflects the most up to date research, policy, and practice.
IPEC established four domains areas for competencies to support professional development, which include (1) values and ethics of interprofessional practice; (2) roles and responsibilities; (3) interprofessional communication; and (4) teams and teamwork. These competencies focus on the experience of being a member of a professional team and emphasize interactions and dynamics. Table 1 includes the original health care descriptions of the interprofessional education competencies with adapted classification for addressing the needs of young children with disabilities and their families.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Virtual Learning Community: Professional development groups, which have the same characteristics of professional learning communities, where participants meet virtually using an online platform (e.g., Zoom).
Field Experience: Experiences that allow preservice professionals (e.g., university students) to practice their professional skills in applied settings. For this article, it considers only educational settings.
Early Intervention: Intervention that consists of services and supports provided in natural environments (e.g., homes) to young children with developmental delays and disabilities age zero until the age of three and their families.
Interprofessional Competencies: Knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors that support effective and innovative collaboration between professional disciplines.
Early Childhood Special Education: Education that incorporates services and supports to meet the needs of preschool students with developmental delays and disabilities in various environments, including but not limited to classrooms, community childcare centers, and homes.
Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC): A collective of health professional groups that aim to support interactive training of future health professionals toward enhanced team-based care.
Social Work: Aa helping profession that seeks to strengthen individual and societal well-being and support people in fulfilling their basic needs. The professional discipline recognizes six foundational values of service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence.
Interdisciplinary Practice: Practice that integrates methods, knowledge, skills, and perspectives of different disciplines to develop innovative solutions to complex needs.
Digital Badges: Badges provided virtually (e.g., online), which provide professionals with an efficient way to offer evidence of specific knowledge to others.
Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Practices: Practices that draw upon, infuse, and affirm students’ existing social identities, schema, experiences, funds of knowledge, and perspectives to optimally facilitate learning that provides racial and cultural equity and expands opportunities for historically marginalized students ( Alim & Paris, 2017 ; Gay, 2010 ; Ladson-Billings, 1995 ).
Micro Credentials: Mini certificates that offer knowledge and assessment of targeted skills. Micro credentials can be awarded through digital badges.
Competency Based Assessment: Evaluation, often directed by regulatory bodies, to determine students’ knowledge, skills, abilities, or behaviors linked to professional practice.