Students with disabilities and paraprofessional supports: Benefits, balance, and band-aids

Focus on Exceptional Children, Mar 2002 by Giangreco, Michael F, Doyle, Mary Beth

If you have had any connection to special education during the past decade, you already know what a valuable asset paraprofessionals can be to support the education of students with, and without, disabilities. You do not need this article to tell you what the literature has been reporting for years-that too many paraprofessionals have been, and continue to be, inadequately appreciated, compensated, oriented, trained, and supervised (Doyle, 2002; Giangreco, Edelman, Broer & Doyle, 2001; Jones & Bender, 1993; Pickett & Gerlach, 1997).

You are already aware that a variety of approaches and materials are available to train paraprofessionals (CichoskiKelly, Backus, Giangreco, & Sherman-Tucker, 2000; Institute on Community Integration, 1999; Parsons & Reid, 1999; Salzberg, Morgan, Gassman, Pickett & Merrill, 1993; Steckelberg,& Vasa, 1998). You probably already know that the numbers of paraprofessionals have increased dramatically in the last decade (French & Pickett, 1997).

TRENDS

The increasing numbers of paraprofessionals and corresponding issues likely are reflected in your local schools. Consider the example of one Vermont school district where the increasing use of paraprofessionals in special education was characterized as "an explosion" given an 83% increase in the hours of paraprofessional services per day between 1994 and 1999, without any significant change in child count (Giangreco, Broer, & Edelman, in press).

Definitive, data-based reasons for the increasing numbers of paraprofessionals are not available. Nevertheless, a small amount of data and reasoned speculation in the literature suggest that the increases have been fueled by a number of factors (French, 1999; Giangreco, Broer & Edelman, 2002; Killoran, Templeman, Peters, & Udell, 2001; Passaro, Pickett, Latham, & HongoBo, 1994; Pickett, 1999; Pickett & Gerlach, 1997; Rogan & Held, 1999):

* Shortages of teachers and special educators

* Increases in early childhood special education services

* Increases in services for transition-aged students with disabilities

* Increasing numbers of students with high-intensity needs, such as those with the labels autism, emotional/behavioral disorders, and multiple disabilities

* Increasing responsibilities being assumed by general education teachers.

Most recently, the advancement of inclusive educational opportunities for students with increasingly severe disabilities has contributed to the increasing numbers of paraprofessionals (Giangreco, Broer, & Edelman, 1999). For many general education classroom teachers, having a paraprofessional accompany a student with a disability to class is considered an essential support (Downing, Ryndak, & Clark, 2000; French, 1999; Werts, Wolery, Snyder, Caldwell, & Salisbury, 1996; Wolery, Werts, Caldwell, Synder, & Liskowski, 1995). In many schools, assigning a paraprofessional to support students with disabilities has become the primary or exclusive service delivery mechanism to operationalize inclusive education.

CHANGING ROLES

Undoubtedly, assigning a paraprofessional to support the education of a student with a disability is intended to be a benevolent action. On the surface, it seems like an obvious support solution, is a relatively easy-to-implement response to advocacy for more support, and costs less than hiring professional staff members. When well conceived and implemented, paraprofessional support can be an appropriate service to offer. So what is the problem with continuing the trend of hiring more paraprofessionals? Wouldn't everything be okay if we just were to do a better job of orienting, training, supervising, compensating, and appreciating paraprofessionals?

Even though such actions are warranted and could be helpful toward the goal of having a more qualified and satisfied paraprofessional workforce, those important outcomes presume that the utilization of paraprofessionals as a primary mechanism to support the education of students with disabilities is an effective and desirable direction to maintain and advance. Although we have no doubt that paraprofessionals will continue to have vital and valued roles in special education, confusion about their changing roles has led to a situation in which some students with disabilities receive their special education services primarily or exclusively from paraprofessionals.

In a review of the paraprofessional literature, Giangreco, Edelman, Broer, and Doyle (2001) raised the following concerns that have yet to be addressed adequately in the professional literature:

Are models of service provision that rely heavily on paraprofessionals to provide instruction to students with disabilities appropriate, ethical, conceptually sound, and effective? Does it make sense to have the least qualified employee primarily responsible for students with the most complex challenges to learning? Is it acceptable for some students with disabilities to receive most of their education from a paraprofessional, regardless of training level, while students without disabilities receive the bulk of their instruction from certified teachers?