Cooperative relationship between medical staff and teachers for supporting children with learning disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the cooperative relationship between medical staff and teachers when supporting children with learning disabilities (LD). The participants were 140 medical staff including doctors, speech therapists and clinical psychologists. They completed questionnaires asking: 1) awareness of necessity of and experience in cooperating with teachers, 2) routine medical treatment, 3) efforts to learn skills to support children with LD, and 4) anxiety toward cooperating with teachers. The results showed that even though medical staff strongly felt the necessity for cooperating with teachers, they had only limited experience in working with teachers. The doctors had more cooperative experience with teachers than other medical staff, and this suggested that the doctor would play a key role when working with teachers. A structural equation analysis with path model showed that frequency of assessment enhanced the medical staff's support to teachers, which in turn led to improved cooperation between medical staff and teachers for supporting children with LD. Frequency of assessment increased when the medical staff was actively communicating with parents/class teachers.