Refliction

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Chapter 3

Family-Based Early Childhood Special Education Services

Historical and Legal Perspectives

The history of family involvement in the education of young children with disabilities moved from trying to figure out how professionals can involve parents and provide training to them in areas we think are important to how can professionals provide support to parents in areas that parents consider important to their child and family.
Table 3–1 provides a chronology of the family movement in early intervention/education (p54).

The Changing American Family

The nuclear family refers to a family group consisting of a father, a mother, and their children.

The conventional perspective of the nuclear family definitely has changed over the years and will continue to change.

Some of the Trends that Impact the Status of Families in American Society

More than half of all marriages end in divorce.
Every 18 seconds, a child is born to an unmarried mother.
One out of two children will live with a single parent at some point during childhood.
Almost 60% of all children in poverty live in single- parent families.
Sixty-one percent of grandparents who report being responsible for their grandchildren are in the labor force; 20% of grandparents raising grandchildren are living in poverty.

The Changing American Family

Hybrid family - Family that redefines itself and produces something new and different from the origins that created it.
An example of a hybrid family would be one in which each parent has a different ethnic and religious background.
As a result of the changes that have occurred in families, early childhood professionals often face many unique challenges and opportunities related to family diversity in the twenty-first century.

Family Reactions to a Child
with a Disability

Most professional in the field of special education understand that families respond or react differently to having a child with a disability.

Professionals must tailor their interactions and provide support based on the individual and ever-changing needs of families.

Family Systems Theory

Family systems theory is that a family is an interactional system with unique characteristics and needs.

Family systems theory was adapted to focus specifically on families of young children with disabilities and is used widely in the field of early childhood special education today.

Family Systems Conceptual Framework

Family Characteristics

Family size and form, geographic location, cultural background are some of the variables that make each family unique

These variables contribute to each family’s interactional patterns and adaptive strategies in dealing with a child’s disability.

Family Interactions

Family interactions are composed of the relationships that occur among and between the various family subsystems or subgroups.

Family Interactions

Subsystems include the following:

Marital (husband-wife)

Parental (parent-child)

Sibling (child-child)

Extended family (nuclear family, friends, neighbors, larger community including professionals)

(Turnbull et al, 2011)

Family Interactions

Cohesion is a type of emotional bonding that holds families together (Olson et al., 1989; Turnbull et al., 2011)

Adaptability is the family’s ability to change its power structure, role, relationships, and rules in response to crisis or stressful events occurring over a lifetime (Olsen, Russel, & Sprenkle, 1980; Turnbull et al, 2011).

Family Functions

Family functions refer to the eight interrelated activities that are necessary to fulfill the individual and collective needs of the family.

Family Functions

Areas of family functions:

affection socialization

self-esteem recreation

spiritual educational

economics

daily care

Family Life Cycle

Family life cycle refers to developmental changes that occur in families over time.

Transitions (movement from one stage to another and the accompanying adjustment period) can be stressful events for families, but especially for families of young children with disabilities.

Applications of Family
Systems Theory

Family empowerment was defined as a process through which individuals increase their ability to influence those people and organizations that affect their lives, as well as the lives of their children and others they care about.

Applications of Family
Systems Theory

Characteristics of empowered families:

The ability to access and control needed resources

The ability to make decisions and solve problems

The ability to interact effectively with others in the social process to gain the resources they need

Applications of Family
Systems Theory

Many teams have found eco-maps (a visual representation of the family system) to be useful in promoting collaboration among families and professionals.

Steps in developing an eco-map:

Identifying informal family supports

Identifying strengths and relationships

Identifying formal family supports

Family-Based Philosophy

There is the recognition that families are all different
Families should be partners with professionals in planning, service provision, and decision making
Families are viewed as the ultimate teachers and decision-makers for their children

Table 3-3: Family-Centered Philosophy

Family-Based Philosophy

The history of the role of professionals in working with families of young children with special needs is in the following order:

professional-centered,

family-allied,

family-focused,

family-centered,

family-based, and

family-directed.

Family-Professional Partnerships

The best type of relationship that can develop between families and professionals is one in which families are viewed as full-fledged partners.

“No matter how skilled professionals are, or how loving parents are, each cannot achieve alone what the two parties, working hand-in-hand, can accomplish together.”

(Peterson & Cooper, 1989)

Key Components of Family- Professional Collaboration

Cultural responsiveness

A complex concept involving the awareness, acknowledgement, and acceptance of each family’s culture and cultural values

Effective communication

Conferences and meetings

Home visits

Ongoing support and information exchange

Chapter Summary

Professionals are continuing to make changes in policy and practices in an attempt to move families to the center of the service delivery system.

It is very important for early childhood special educators to consider the concerns, priorities, and resources of families and to view the family as a system with many interacting forces.