Effective Team Practices: Interprofessional Contributions to Communication Issues With a Parent's Perspective

Abstract

Purpose This clinical focus article contains a detailed description of how to build effective teams that use interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) with special-education professionals, speech-language pathologists, and families of children with severe disabilities. Method This clinical focus article provides information on using the essential elements of team building and IPCP to provide quality care to families who have children with severe disabilities. The 6 essential elements for team building are described, with suggestions for including families in each: goal-setting, roles and responsibilities, effective and efficient process, communication and interpersonal relationships, collaborative problem solving, and evaluation. The 4 competency domains of IPCP are embedded into each of the team-building elements to demonstrate how teams can implement IPCP. Results A case study illustrates the difficulty one parent experienced working with a team across the 6 essential team-building elements when seeking communication services for her child with severe disabilities. Conclusions Building teams with IPCP can be effective for including families and creating high-quality outcomes for individuals with severe disabilities.