Conceptual Framework
Children and youth with disabilities who have high intensity needs often require the combined expertise of numerous professionals. Despite this, school personnel primarily serve children with disabilities in traditional ways using discipline-specific practices (Pfeiffer, et al., 2019). Discrepancies between desired and provided services are likely due to several reasons, such as differing professional cultures and philosophical orientations, perceived responsibilities, stereotypical views of professional roles, and lack of communication (Weist et al., 2012). Additionally, educator preparation programs rarely provide didactic and experiential opportunities to learn with and about other professionals and disciplines other than their own (Miller et al., 2014), making it less likely that school professionals will engage in interdisciplinary practices in schools.
Interdisciplinary approaches to personnel preparation, often referred to as inter-professional education (IPE), provide students opportunities to work alongside and learn about professionals they are likely to encounter in employment settings (Bridges et al., 2011; Rosenberg et al., 2015). IPE models generally consist of cross-disciplinary coursework, shared field work experiences, interdisciplinary courses, case study discussions, and role plays and simulations to develop a team-based, collaborative approach to service delivery (Chen et al., 2022). The interdisciplinary training project at CSULB reflects a combination of two best practice models of IPE described by Bridges et al. (2011): didactic and community-based learning. While both models emphasize a commitment to understanding one’s professional identity, a simultaneous focus is on awareness, appreciation, and knowledge of other school professionals’ roles. (Timm & Schnepper, 2021; Wharton & Burg, 2017).
In the present project, pre-service dual credential and school psychology candidates engaged in didactic learning experiences that included cross-disciplinary course work in the dual credential and school psychology programs, and completion of modules developed by the National Center on Intensive Intervention (e.g., Taxonomy of Intervention Intensity) and IRIS Center (e.g., Teaching English Language Learners: Effective Instructional Practices). Candidates also attended monthly interdisciplinary seminars where topics included team building, common roles of participating pre-service professionals, shared values and ethics, and common and complementary skill sets. Community-based IPE experiences included year-long interdisciplinary fieldwork placements in partner schools where students were provided supervised opportunities to engage in interdisciplinary practices, such as planning and implementing data collection protocols; collaboratively identifying intervention targets and developing lesson plans; and attending grade-level and leadership meetings to further plan and problem-solve with school teams.