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Chapter 3: Collaborating with Parents and Families in a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Society

The first parent group on behalf of children with disabilities was the National Society for Crippled Children, organized in 1921. The United Cerebral Palsy Association, founded in 1948, and the National Association for Retarded Citizens (now called The Arc), organized in 1950, are two national parent organizations largely responsible for making the public aware of the special needs of children with disabilities. The Learning Disabilities Association of America, formed in 1963, also organized by and consisting mostly of parents, has been instrumental in bringing about educational reform. Parent members of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps (TASH), founded in 1975, have been effective advocates for family-focused educational services and the inclusion of students with severe disabilities in neighborhood schools and general education classrooms. The mission of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment, founded in 1998 by parents and professionals, is to disseminate accurate, scientifically sound information about autism and its treatment. Many other parent-led organizations continue today to advocate for effective education, community acceptance, needed services, and the rights of individuals with disabilities.

Educators: Seeking Greater Effectiveness

Research shows a strong correlation between parent involvement and improvements in a variety of measures of academic achievement and school performance such as better attendance, higher grades, better scores on standardized tests, higher graduation rates, and improved social skills (Fan & Chen, 2001; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005; Pomerantz, Moorman, & Litwack, 2007; Speth, Saifer, & Forehand, 2008; Westat and Policy Studies Associates, 2001).

Legislators: Mandating Parent and Family Involvement

Parent participation in the form of shared decision making is one of the basic principles of IDEA that provide the general framework for carrying out national policies for the education of children with disabilities. IDEA stipulates procedures schools must follow to ensure parents of children with disabilities have input with regard to referral, testing, program planning, placement, and evaluation. In addition, the law mandates due process procedures if parents believe that their child’s needs are not being met.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 also views parent involvement as a key to academic success of students and spells out three parent involvement components: schools must (a) notify parents of their improvement status; (b) collaborate with parents in developing and implementing a school improvement plan in which parents, school staff, and students share responsibility for improving academic achievement; and (c) include strategies that promote “effective” parent involvement in the plan (though “effective” strategies are not defined).

But the most important reasons that families and educators should develop and maintain collaborative partnerships are that children with disabilities will benefit from

• increased likelihood of targeting meaningful IEP goals;

• Greater consistency and support in their two most important environments—home and school;

• increased opportunities for learning and development; and

• Access to expanded resources and services.

Early research on parents’ responses to having children with disabilities identified mostly negative outcomes as parents went through three stages of adjustment some call a grief cycle: confronting, adjusting, and accepting or adapting (e.g., Anderegg, Vergason, & Smith, 1992; Blacher, 1984; Ferguson, 2003). First, parents experience a period of emotional crisis characterized by shock, denial, and disbelief. This initial reaction is followed by a period of alternating feelings of anger, guilt, depression, shame, lowered self-esteem, rejection of the child, and overprotectiveness. Eventually, parents reach a third stage in which they accept and adapt to their child’s disability.

The Many Roles of the Exceptional Parent

CAREGIVER Caring for any young child is a demanding task. But the additional caregiving requirements of children with disabilities can be tremendous and cause added stress.

PROVIDER Food, clothing, shelter, transportation, health-related expenses, childcare, not to mention music lessons, sports, hobbies: it takes a lot of money to raise a child. The U.S. Department of Agriculture calculated that raising a child without disabilities from birth to age 17 costs an average of $226,920 in 2010 dollars (Leno, 2011). Providing for a child with disabilities means additional expenses.

TEACHER Most children learn many skills without anyone teaching them. Children with disabilities, however, often do not acquire new skills as naturally or independently as their typically developing peers do.

COUNSELOR All parents are counselors in the sense that they deal with their children’s changing emotions, feelings, and attitudes. But parents of a child with disabilities must also deal with their child’s feelings that result from his particular disability

BEHAVIOR SUPPORT SPECIALIST All parents are challenged and frustrated from time to time by their children’s noncompliance and misbehavior. But the frequency and severity of challenging behaviors exhibited by some children with disabilities can make it nearly impossible for their families to experience and enjoy normal routines of daily life.

PARENT OF SIBLINGS WITHOUT DISABILITIES Children are deeply influenced by having a brother or a sister with special needs (McHugh, 2003); the nature of that influence, however, is varied. Some studies have found negative effects, such as a higher incidence of emotional or behavioral problems (Orsillo, McCaffrey, & Fisher, 1993), lower self-esteem (McHale & Gamble, 1989), or resentment or jealousy (Hutton & Caron, 2005) in siblings of children with disabilities.

MARRIAGE PARTNER Having a child with disabilities can put stress on a marriage. Specific stressors can be as diverse as arguing over who is to blame for the child’s disability; disagreeing about expectations for the child’s behavior; and spending so much time, money, and energy on the child with disabilities that little is left for each other

INFORMATION SPECIALIST Grandparents, aunts and uncles, neighbors, the school bus driver: all of these people can be important influences on a child’s development. While parents of children without disabilities can reasonably expect them to receive certain kinds of treatment from significant others, parents of children with disabilities know they cannot depend on appropriate actions and reactions from others.

ADVOCATE IDEA not only defines the rights of parents of children with disabilities, it also requires specific efforts and responsibilities. Although involvement in their child’s education is desirable for all parents, participation is a must for parents of children with disabilities.

Principles of Effective Communication

Ongoing two-way communication is the key operational element of the family– professional partnership. The family members in the study by Blue-Banning and colleagues (2004) said they needed frequent communication, but they also highlighted the importance of the quality of communication.

ACCEPT PARENTS’ STATEMENTS Accepting parents’ statements means conveying through verbal and nonverbal means that parents’ input is valued. Parents are more likely to speak freely and openly when they believe that what they say is respected.

LISTEN ACTIVELY Good listeners attend and respond to a conversation partner in a sincere and genuine manner. A good listener pays attention to content, noting who said it and how.

QUESTION EFFECTIVELY Educators should ask mostly open-ended questions when communicating with parents. An open-ended question such as “What did Shareena do with her homework project last week?” is more likely to evoke a descriptive and informative reply from parents than is the closed-ended question “Is Shareena having trouble with her homework?” which might result in a yes or no response.

Parent–Teacher Conferences

Parent–teacher conferences are a universal method of home–school communication. In a face-to-face meeting, teachers and parents can exchange information and coordinate their efforts to assist the child with disabilities in school and at home.

CONDUCTING THE CONFERENCE The child’s classroom is an appropriate setting for most parent–teacher conferences because it provides ready access to student records and curriculum materials and reminds the teacher and parents that the purpose of the conference is to work together to improve the child’s education.

Written Communication

Although much can be accomplished in a face-to-face meeting, parent–teacher conferences should not be the sole means of home–school communication. Written messages, especially when part of a systematic program of ongoing information exchange, can be an effective way to maintain home–school communication.

Teachers should never rely on written messages, regardless of their form, as the sole method of communicating with parents. Educators must also be sensitive to the cultural and linguistic backgrounds and educational levels of parents.

HOME–SCHOOL CONTRACTS A home–school contract specifies parent-delivered rewards for the child contingent on her behavior or academic performance in the classroom.

Parent-to-Parent Groups

Parent-to-parent (P2P) programs help parents of children with special needs become reliable allies for one another (Santelli, Poyadue, & Young, 2001). The programs give parents of children with disabilities the opportunity to receive support from a parent who has experienced similar circumstances and challenges.

SUMMARY

Support for Family Involvement

• Three factors are responsible for the increased emphasis on parent and family involvement in the education of children with disabilities: parent advocacy, educators’ desire to increase their effectiveness, and legislative mandates.

• A successful parent–teacher partnership provides benefits for the professional, the parents, and, most important, the child.

Understanding Families of Children with Disabilities

• Many parents experience similar sequences of emotions and challenges as they react and adjust to the birth or diagnosis of a child with a disability (e.g., shock, denial, grief, reflection, advocacy, appreciation).

• After a period of uncertainty, most families of children with disabilities exhibit strength and resilience, reestablish healthy family functioning, and become determined to do whatever they can to meet their children’s needs and to move forward with an enlightened sense of optimism.

• Parents of children with disabilities fulfill at least nine roles and responsibilities: caregiver, provider, teacher, counselor, behavior support specialist, parent of siblings without disabilities, marriage partner, information specialist/trainer for significant others, and advocate for school and community services.

• A child’s disability affects parents and siblings without disabilities in different ways during the different lifecycle stages of the family.

• Respite care—the temporary care of an individual with disabilities by nonfamily members—is a critical support for many families of children with severe disabilities.

Developing and Maintaining Family–Professional Partnerships

• Five principles of effective communication between educators and parents are accepting what is being said, active listening, questioning appropriately, encouraging, and staying focused.

• Attitudes of and behaviors by professionals that serve as barriers to communication with parents and families include making assumptions about the services and information that parents need, treating parents as clients or adversaries instead of partners, keeping professional distance, acting as if parents need counseling, blaming parents for their child’s disability or performance, disrespecting parents’ suggestions, and labeling parents who don’t act the way the professionals believe they should.

• Dialoguing is an approach to conflict resolution in which both parties try to see each other’s point of view.

Working with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families

• Differences in the cultural beliefs and linguistic practices of professionals and families often serve as barriers to parent involvement.

• Cultural interpreters help school personnel understand the home culture and help the family understand school culture, policies, and practices.

• Understanding differences between our own perspectives and those of people from other cultures and ethnic groups requires careful examination of our own cultural background and belief system.

Home–School Communication Methods

• The most common modes of home–school communication are parent–teacher conferences, written messages, and telephone calls. Teachers are using class newsletters, websites, and e-mail to communicate with families with increasing frequency and effectiveness.

• Ten guidelines for communicating with parents of children with disabilities:

• Don’t assume you know more about a child than the parents do.

• Junk the jargon, and speak in plain, everyday language.

• Don’t let assumptions or generalizations guide your efforts.

• Be sensitive and responsive to cultural and linguistic differences.

• Don’t be defensive toward or intimidated by parents.

• Refer families to other professionals when needed.

• Help parents strive for a realistic optimism.

• Start with something that parents can be successful with.

• Allow and respect parents’ right to say no.

• Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.”

Other Forms of Parent Involvement

• Many parents can help teach their child with disabilities.

• Parents and professionals should work together in planning and conducting parent education groups.

• Parent-to-parent groups provide new parents of children with disabilities support from parents who have experienced similar circumstances and challenges.

• Parents who serve as research partners help brainstorm research questions, collect performance data on their children, and share those data with other parents and teachers.

• The mirror model of parent involvement assumes that not all parents need everything that professionals have to offer and that no parent should be expected to participate in every form of school involvement.

· Question 1

1 out of 1 points

	Mrs. Lucas is preparing for an annual review of Mia's IEP. The team has recommended that Mia receive services in the resource room rather than a self-contained classroom. Mia's current teacher has informed Mrs. Lucas that her parents expect Mia to receive lots of individual attention in class. Mrs. Lucas is expecting Mia's parents to be angry about the decision and she has prepared herself to stand firm and defend the team's decision. Which barrier to effective communication is being displayed by Mrs. Lucas?
	Selected Answer:   She is treating Mia's parents like adversaries. Correct Answer:   She is treating Mia's parents like adversaries.

· Question 2

1 out of 1 points

	All of the following are features of two-way home- school communication forms except
	Selected Answer:   they include spaces for students to write comments Correct Answer:   they include spaces for students to write comments

· Question 3

1 out of 1 points

	Which of the following statements has the least support from the literature on culturally diverse families?
	Selected Answer:   They may view school officials as part of their extended family. Correct Answer:   They may view school officials as part of their extended family.

· Question 4

1 out of 1 points

	Effective home-school partnerships are characterized by
	Selected Answer:   a climate of mutual respect and trust Correct Answer:   a climate of mutual respect and trust

· Question 5

1 out of 1 points

	Principles for effective communication between parents and educators include all of the following except
	Selected Answer:   Passive Listening Correct Answer:   Passive Listening

· Question 6

1 out of 1 points

	The steps in the RERUN approach to conflict resolution described by Gonzales-Mena (2006) are
	Selected Answer:   reflect, explain, reason, understand, negotiate Correct Answer:   reflect, explain, reason, understand, negotiate

· Question 7

1 out of 1 points

	Which of the following is not one of the ten guidelines for communicating with parents and families?
	Selected Answer:   Don't take "No" for an answer. Correct Answer:   Don't take "No" for an answer.

· Question 8

1 out of 1 points

	Mrs. Rodriquez thinks that Byron, a student with a physical disability should have surgery so that he can use special equipment that will allow him to stand for several minutes each day. Byron's mother, Mrs. Williams will not consent to the surgery because it is very risky and will not enable him to walk. Therefore, she feels it is not worth it, Mrs. Rodriquez respects the decision that Byron's mother has made. She is demonstrating
	Selected Answer:   cultural reciprocity Correct Answer:   cultural reciprocity

· Question 9

1 out of 1 points

	Teachers who implement home-school contracts
	Selected Answer:   depend on parents to deliver rewards for progress in the classroom Correct Answer:   depend on parents to deliver rewards for progress in the classroom

· Question 10

0 out of 1 points

	Patricia is a 5th grade student with a learning disability. Mrs. Duley, her teacher, wants Patricia's mother to provide some home tutoring in reading. She has sent a list of tutoring guidelines to Patricia's mother. Which of the following guidelines on Mrs. Duley's list is inappropriate?
	Selected Answer:   Tutoring should allow your child to practice or extend skills learned at school. Correct Answer:   Set aside time each day for tutoring.

· Question 11

1 out of 1 points

	Which of the following statements about phone calls to parents is true?
	Selected Answer:   Regular phone can be effective in maintaining parent involvement. Correct Answer:   Regular phone can be effective in maintaining parent involvement.

· Question 12

1 out of 1 points

	Research on the use of a Talking Photo Album as a strategy to enable parents of English language learners to provide tutoring in vocabulary concluded that
	Selected Answer:   the strategy was effective for teaching new vocabulary to parents and children Correct Answer:   the strategy was effective for teaching new vocabulary to parents and children

· Question 13

1 out of 1 points

	What percentage of parents' rights documents are written so that most parents are able to read and understand them?
	Selected Answer:   4%-8% Correct Answer:   4%-8%

· Question 14

1 out of 1 points

	The key operational element of family-professional partnerships is
	Selected Answer:   ongoing two-way communication Correct Answer:   ongoing two-way communication

· Question 15

1 out of 1 points

	Common feelings of siblings of children with disabilities include all of the following except
	Selected Answer:   fear that they will be rejected by their disabled sibling Correct Answer:   fear that they will be rejected by their disabled sibling

· Question 16

1 out of 1 points

	Which of the following strategies would be least effective in increasing the involvement of families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds?
	Selected Answer:   Scheduling meetings during the teacher's planning time Correct Answer:   Scheduling meetings during the teacher's planning time

· Question 17

1 out of 1 points

	Which of the following is an assumption of the mirror model for parent involvement?
	Selected Answer:   Parents may not need everything that professionals offer. Correct Answer:   Parents may not need everything that professionals offer.

· Question 18

1 out of 1 points

	Which of the following is a universal method of home-school communication?
	Selected Answer:   Parent-teacher conferences Correct Answer:   Parent-teacher conferences

· Question 19

1 out of 1 points

	Which of the following statements about parent involvement and special education is true?
	Selected Answer:   Parent involvement is an essential element of special education. Correct Answer:   Parent involvement is an essential element of special education.

· Question 20

1 out of 1 points

	Who is/are the most powerful and pervasive influence(s) in a child's life?
	Selected Answer:   Family Correct Answer:   Family