Empowering Special Education Clients Through Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: Lessons Learned for Current Clients and Future Professionals

Abstract

This Article provides a description of a consultation simulation assignment at the College of William & Mary created by a professor from the Law School and a professor from the School of Education. Law school students working in a special education advocacy clinic and education students enrolled in a reading methods course partnered to consult on cases of special education advocacy. Teams determined the learning needs of a student with a disability and made subsequent instructional recommendations for the benefit of each such student, empowering the families of those students with expert recommendations to aid in the development of that student’s IEP. This Article reports the perceived benefits and logistical challenges identified by participating law and education students, and it discusses plans for future collaborations across these two disciplines.

Keywords: special education, special education clinic, cross-disciplinary, interdisciplinary