I had a situation where a student was placed in a classroom where the teacher wasn’t really sold on the idea. The principal said, “We’ve really got to make this situation work, because if it doesn’t, it will make it difficult for all of us.” So the principal and I have gone out of our way to make sure the program has been a successful experience for the teacher. We’ve involved her in workshops and given her time out to prepare matirials. We’ve supported her every way we can and it’s worked very well. The teacher now believes that it is working and can see changes in the student.

In one instance, a teacher was having a lot of misgivings about having an exceptional student in the room. She felt the support she had was going to be taken away, and I had a hard time convincing her that she head to play a part in meeting the needs of the student. She didn’t feel she could do that, so I left it at that point. I didn’t feel it was my role to push it with her any more. I talked to the principal and asked him to access the situation from his point of view. In his regular classroom visitation, he was able to get the same point across and after a few weeks the teacher was coming to me and saying “I worked with him [the child] today and it was great.”