Essential Collaborative Consultation Competencies for Regular and Special Educators

Abstract

This study was designed to identify and validate essential collaborative consultation competencies needed by both regular and special educators interacting to meet the educational needs of learning disabled and other handicapped students in the regular classroom. Using a Delphi technique, a 100-member interdisciplinary, expert panel from 47 states identified 47 competencies in eight categories as essential to the consultation process. Those competencies receiving highest panel ratings included skills in interactive communication, collaborative problem solving, and personal characteristics. Skills in evaluating the effectiveness of consultation were also deemed essential. Competencies receiving ratings indicating less importance to the consultation process included consultation research, theory, models, and systems analysis. Staff development competencies were rated as important, but not essential. Of particular note was the intense level of panel participation, involvement in competency generation and modification, and “ownership” in the identification and validation of the essential competencies. The development of a preservice/inservice curriculum for training both regular and special educators in collaborative consultation, based upon the essential competencies validated in this study, is discussed. Future research to determine the impact of joint, systematic training of regular and special educators in consultation skills is emphasized.