Motivations For Involvement : A Preliminary Investigation Of Parents With Disabilities

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) greatly emphasizes the participation of the child’s family during the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process. Parents and/or caregivers are considered one of the most essential members of their child’s IEP team. Their involvement benefits their child’s overall academic success. Unfortunately, full parental involvement does not always occur and there can be many different reasons for their nonparticipation. The IEP process can be a very overwhelming experience for families with children with special needs, especially for those who are culturally diverse. It is the job of the professionals and special education teachers to understand the importance of collaborating with family’s

For this assignment, I interviewed a parent of a child who does not have an IEP or receive special education services. Through this interview I was able to learn how parents of children with no special needs are aware of the inclusion classrooms.

Being a parent to special needs student can be the most difficult challenge a parent can face. Being able to find the necessary support comes with frustration and struggles when

I believe that the parents of children with disabilities play a pivotal roll in the educational and social development of their children. When a child is diagnosed with a disability it leaves the parent with a lot of responsibility and difficult decisions to make. When parents start planning to have children, most of them do not expect to have a child with special needs. It is the parents’ responsibility to provide everything that they are capable of to give the child what they need to succeed regardless of what those needs may be.

Hernandez, Beth Harry, Lynn Newman and Rene Cameto in an effort to learn more of parental awareness of special education rights and programs, perceptions of parental involvement and satisfaction with the District’s special education process as well as comparing the results to those nation wide. This study was conducted in two waves the first wave was conducted in the spring of 2005 and the second wave in the winter through spring of 2006. The interviews were conducted in eight languages among those Spanish, English, Chinese and Korean. The questions were formed in an aim to find out about parental awareness of special education rights and programs, parents participation in IEP meetings, reasons why parents did not attend meeting. Data was also collected in regards to the type of notification of meetings and for those parents who do not speak English they were also asked about translators. On wave 2 one more question was included to find out about income. A random sample of 2000 was selected for each wave. To promote higher response two letters were sent to parents notifying them about he interview before phone calls were made. Their response rate was about 70% for first wave and 72% for second wave. The survey showed the following results 85% of the parents reported to attend IEP meetings and 75% reported

Because African American children represent a large percentage of students in special education programs, an understanding of their parents’ views on the special education process should be an integral aspect of professional preparation and professional practice (Harry, 2008). This review was conducted to understand the experiences and perceptions of African American parents who have children with disabilities and are receiving special education services. I have reviewed a total of thirteen studies that investigated the experience of Africa America parents. A total of 105 parents/guardian participated in all the studies reviewed and their years of experience with special education system ranges from 2 years to 24 years. What follows is a discussion of the findings from the review.

The purpose of the parental participation is give the parents information in a timely manner so they can participate in educational decisions. The school has to let the parents know if there are any changes in identification, evaluation, or educational placement. The school district also has to provide notice to the parents so they have a chance to participate in meetings. The meetings are usually about evaluations and educational programs and placement. The special education process for students that may have a disability include programming, evaluating, and

Having a good support system is the key for parents when having a child with intellectual disabilities. I had the opportunity to discuss this with a teacher, Mrs. Karen Derrick, who teaches Special Education. She has

The age of the participants are in the range from 18 to 61, with a average age of 36. Among these participants, 55% were white, 36% were black/African American, 5% were Native American, and 4% were another races.(Tull, 2012;Gratz, 2012;Coffey,2012 p.765) The majority of the participants were single, which is 70% of the participants. And 47% of the participants have a annual income below $10,000. With regard to their educational backgrounds, 27% did not complete high school or receive a GED, 35% had completed high school or received a GED, 39% had attended at least some college or technical school which 7% of them had successfully graduated.

Parents have special knowledge about their child that school personnel might be unaware of. This aspect of parental involvement is especially important when applying special education services for a child with disabilities (Smith et al., 2005). That being said, parents need to understand that while they know a lot about their child overall, the school knows a lot about their child in an academic setting. It is very important to have open lines of communication and mutual respect for each other; to be able to bring together these different aspects of the child to create a successful intervention allowing complete access to education.

The intent was to inform and educate school principals that behaviors such as “benevolence, openness, and competence may have a high significance when considering how principals relate to families of children with disabilities” (p.168). Finding suggest that increased involvement with families of children with disabilities and adequate knowledge about disabilities is beneficial in building trusting relationships with families. Participants in the study indicated that “visioning, modeling, coaching, managing, and mediating” as described by Tschannen-Moran (2004) are skills that have an impact on creating a trusting culture (p.168). The data was collected through semistructured interviews with sixteen mothers of children with disabilities and one of the three authors of the paper. Mothers who participated in the interviews were identified through the distribution of study literature by school administrators and

The scenario of the issues that involve the father involvement, early intervention program and well-being of children with special needs have led to the father involvement study in an early intervention program for the well-being of children with special needs to be studied by the researcher with some principles that can support it. Based on Ecological Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1986, 1989); Identity Theory (Erikson, 1968) and Human Needs Theory (Maslow, 1943, 1998), some key points related to the theoretical framework of this study (Figure

     The central theme of this essay is empowerment and the roles that parents, schools and professionals take on in the quest for the best educational decisions for those children with disabilities and those children that are gifted and talented. It is important to understand the historical development of family-professional relationships to fully comprehend the significance how far we’ve come and how far we still need to go.

Children with special needs are slightly different from non-disabled kids, but they’re should not be a barrier between non-disabled children and children with disabilities. Special needs covers a wide range. Some children with physical disabilities use wheelchair, or cane while other children with learning disabilities such as, autism, or emotional disorder. Children with special needs are like all children they want to make friends. Non-disability children want respect, love, good education and job of their dream. Children with special needs can do the same things non-disabled kid do, but it can take them longer. It requires additional explanation or attention. Parents of children with special needs usually feel isolated and uncertain about their child 's future. Schools can help them find support that children are not alone and help is available. Teachers should meet with parents in order to get to know the children better, the specific of their children. Special teachers may come into the class to work one-on-one with the student, for individualized attention. Change begins with an honest examination of understandings, knowledge and belief. Children with special needs should spend more time with non-disabled kids. Children with special needs should study more at public school to learn from

Over the past twenty years, there has been a strong movement within schools around the United States to integrate students with disabilities in to general education classrooms. Schools have been making more efforts to increase educational opportunities for students with disabilities, and while there are many benefits to inclusion, there are also many challenges. Inclusion of special education students in a regular education classroom continues to be the center of debate amongst administrators and teachers. Everyone has their own ideas and attitudes towards inclusion, and research studies have revealed that there are many things that contribute to those positive or negative attitudes.