Solving your child's problems is rarely easy because you will have to deal with the school no matter what happens, but if you choose to have your problem mediated, the mediator will take much of the worry out of the process. In mediation you will still have to work with the school personnel, but the mediator will guide the process so that you can concentrate on the substance.
The mediator will be a neutral facilitator who is trained in the techniques and the spirit of helping others in collaborative problem solving. In special education mediation, she will also know about the rules governing special education. The beauty of mediation is that you learn to work together with the very people who you may think have been giving you a hard time.
During mediation you will learn to understand these people better, and to communicate with them. If the mediation is successful, you and the school staff will be effective partners in the work of helping your child precisely because you went through mediation together, and worked it out together.
The practice varies, but the school is usually represented by its special education person in addition to your child's teacher. You are allowed to bring your attorney or a friend or relative for support, but this is your process in which you participate directly and not through your attorney. If you are certain that you cannot participate directly, then you should not go to mediation.
If you are merely uncertain about it, it is worth the effort to try. Although mediation procedures vary somewhat, and different special education programs give different directions to their mediators, these basic steps are universal:.
The mediator will usually greet you and introduced himself and then ask all the parties to agree to rules, such as "no interruptions" and keeping the content of the mediation confidential. You may be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. Each party will have a chance to tell his or her story. You will have a chance to speak without being interrupted about how you view the conflict, what you believe your child needs, and why these needs have not been met.
The teacher will have an equal chance to tell his story. The mediator may occasionally interrupt to clarify a point and then summarize what was said. As part of the mediator's summary, she will usually identify what she hears as the main concerns that you and the school have.
These are the issues, or problems to be solved. The mediator will make sure that all your concerns are listed and acknowledged. She will then select the first issue to work on. In this step, the mediator will guide the parties in finding and agreeing on solutions to the problems or issues that have been identified. Often, the mediator will lead you in a brainstorming session in which you and the teacher will be asked to make creative suggestions for solutions.
Whether the mediator calls it brainstorming or not, you will be asked to take a very active role in problem solving, and it is essential that you do so to feel that you can commit to the solutions you eventually agree on. Your special knowledge of your own child is vital in this phase, because you may have solutions from your home life that the teacher would never have thought of. The mediator will guide you in agreeing on solutions and modifying solutions to agree on them in such a way that all the issues have been addressed.
This is negotiation assisted by the mediator. Time: Several hours. After the private conversations, the mediator brings you and the school back together to talk. This is when an agreement may be reached. Time: An hour or more. If you and the school reach an agreement, the mediator writes out the main points in a possible final agreement. You might sign this at the mediation or take it for a few days to look it over. The next step may be another mediation session.
Or it may be a more serious step like due process. Time: 30—60 minutes. This is a basic outline of mediation, but it could be different in your school. The purpose is the same—to help find a plan everyone is happy with. Mediation can be a quick, free way to resolve a disagreement and get what your child needs.
In most cases, mediation takes a few hours and no lawyers attend. The agreement is legally binding. The school and parents usually take it seriously and work hard to find agreement. Mediation is one of the most common ways parents and schools find a way to deal with special education disputes.
Every year, there are thousands of successful special education mediations across the country. Everybody signs it. Part VI. Explain how follow-up works. Remember to thank the people for being there and for letting the mediation service help them. Johnson, David W. Johnson, and Bruce Dudley. Lam, Julie A. ED Lane, Pamela S. Jeffries McWhirter. EJ Meek, Michael. Mitchell, Vernay. Newton, Ansley. Robertson, Gwendolyn.
Satchel, Brenda B. Lakeland, FL: Nova University, Sorenson, Don L. Wolowiec, Jack, ed. Chicago: American Bar Association, ED number will be assigned. Library Reference Search. Please note that this site is privately owned and is in no way related to any Federal agency or ERIC unit. Further, this site is using a privately owned and located server.
This is NOT a government sponsored or government sanctioned site. Conflict is a normal, natural part of everyday life. The word conflict has its roots in the Latin word conflictus, meaning "striking together. However, unresolved and lingering conflict frequently leads to violence, interfering with productivity and the quality of life in schools and the community. Extensive data illustrate that instances of violence, including bias-related violence and disciplinary problems in schools around the country, are severely interfering with the learning environment of students.
Almost , high school students are attacked physically each month and one in five students in grades 9 through 12 carries a weapon to school Meek , Peer mediation programs, where students are trained generally to resolve disputes involving other students, have been shown to be an effective means of resolving disputes in school settings. There is anecdotal evidence that students transfer the mediation techniques learned in school to settings beyond the classroom.
Students have reported using their mediation skills to resolve disputes at home with their siblings and in their community with peers Johnson, Johnson, and Dudley , Trained mediators follow a simple procedure, such as the model outlined below from the American Bar Association Wolowiec , 16 :. The following list includes references used to prepare this Digest. However, they can be located in the journal section of most larger libraries by using the bibliographic information provided, requested through Interlibrary Loan, or ordered from the UMI reprint service.
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