For the new classroom teacher, the sheer volume of related service providers in a school can be a little bewildering. But it’s important to get to know these colleagues and the services they provide to students with disabilities.

All the mandated services a student receives are driven by their Individualized Education Program, so one of your first tasks, early in the school year, is to read your students’ IEPs. Make sure you understand the mandates outlined in that document and review the IEPs regularly in case they change.

If you’re a special education teacher, you are legally obligated to work with your students on their goals, track their progress and update their IEPs at the intervals specified in the document. Progress on related service goals is reported by the related service provider.

If you’re a general education teacher, you’ll still need to be familiar with your special education students’ needs and collaborate with related service providers and your co-teacher, if you work in an integrated co-teaching classroom.

“Related service provider” is an umbrella term for educators and therapists who provide support and services to a child with a disability. For example, a speech teacher might provide articulation or pragmatic language support. In general, physical therapists work with children on gross motor skills and occupational therapists work on fine motor skills, coordination and executive functioning. School counselors typically provide counseling for children with emotional disabilities. In accordance with the child’s IEP, school nurses, audiologists, school social workers and psychologists, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education Service providers and Educational Vision Service providers all provide related services to help students with disabilities engage with the class work.

All of these services can be “push in” (the related service provider comes into the classroom to work with the child during your lessons) or “pull out” (the provider takes the child to another classroom or workspace, where they may work with them individually or in small groups), depending on the student’s needs. Related services, wherever they are delivered, are what the student needs to benefit from instruction.

Speech Chapter Leader Caroline Murphy says it’s important for the classroom teacher and related service providers to find a way to communicate. She says some speech teachers create simple Google forms to ask classroom teachers what the in-class unit covers. She also suggests communicating by email or sharing documents that outline lessons or units. This information will help the related service provider align their work, especially if it’s pull out, with the lessons you’re teaching in the classroom.

Related service providers are also an invaluable resource for how to help your students participate in the lessons in the classroom — whether that means a visual schedule or checklist at a student’s desk or installing a calming corner in part of the classroom.

“The related service providers can suggest modifications and accommodations that the classroom teacher might not be aware of,” said Murphy. “If you’re a new teacher, don’t isolate yourself. We are a team.”

If you have students with disabilities in your class and don’t feel confident you know how to meet those students’ needs, talk with your co-teacher if you have one, your mentor (first-year teachers are entitled to mentoring from a veteran teacher in the building), related service providers in the building or UFT Vice President for Special Education MaryJo Ginese and the union’s Special Education Division. You yourself need support when teaching children with disabilities, and you shouldn’t hesitate to seek it out.