Alternatives to Overreliance on Paraprofessionals in Inclusive Schools.

82 Alternatives to Overreliance on Paraprofessionals in Inclusive Schools A key challenge facing both principals and special education administrators is designing and implementing special education service delivery models that meet the educational needs of students with a full range of disabilities within the context of general education classrooms. Nationally, as more students with low incidence disabilities (e.g., autism, severe behavior disorders, intellectual impairments, multiple disabilities) receive their education in general education classrooms, one of the most common service delivery responses has been to hire and assign more paraprofessionals. This has contributed to the burgeoning numbers of paraprofessionals in American schools and corresponding costs. Simultaneously, the wisdom of proliferating a service delivery model that is highly dependent on paraprofessionals for the successful inclusion of students with disabilities has been questioned conceptually (Brown, Farrington, Ziegler, Knight, & Ross, 1999; Giangreco & Broer, 2003b; Mueller 2002) and a variety of concerns have been illustrated in the research literature (Downing, Ryndak, & Clark, 2000; Giangreco, Broer, & Edelman, 2001; Giangreco, Edelman, Luiselli, & MacFarland, 1997; Hemmingsson, Borell, & Gustavsson, 2003; Marks, Shrader & Levine, 1999; Wallace, Shin, Bartholomay & Stahl, 2001). These concerns include: • The least qualifi ed group of staff members, paraprofessionals, sometimes have primary or extensive responsibilities for teaching students with the most complex learning characteristics. • Special education paraprofessionals remain untrained or under-trained for their roles, which at times are questionable (e.g., making curricular decisions, planning lessons, designing adaptations, serving as a liaison with families). • Similarly, many teachers and special educators remain untrained or under-trained to direct and supervise paraprofessionals; some remain hesitant to undertake this role. • Inappropriate utilization or excessive proximity of paraprofessionals has been linked to inadvertent detrimental effects (e.g., dependence, interference with peer interactions, insular relationships, stigmatization, provocation of behavior problems). • Assignment of individual paraprofessionals has been linked to lower levels of teacher Alternatives to Overreliance on Paraprofessionals in Inclusive Schools