Involving Parents of Children with Disabilities

By: MPRRC Staff in collaboration with the PEAK Parent Center

The blending of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Implementation Act 2004 (IDEA) and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements continue to expand the responsibilities of general education and special education to share in the responsibilities of education for all children. More and more children with disabilities are served primarily in general education classes, and it is even more important now for teaching teams to build and maintain productive partnerships with families.

Support services for families whose children receive special education services can be obtained from the State Parent Training and Information Centers and Community Parent resource Centers located in each State. Each state is home to at least one parent center. Parent centers serve families of children and young adults from birth to age 26 with all disabilities. They help families obtain appropriate information regarding education and services for their children with disabilities; work to improve education results for all children; train and inform parents and professionals on a variety of topics and connect families of children with disabilities to community resources that address their needs (http://www.taalliance.org/index.htm).

Schools can do many things to promote positive and meaningful interaction between parents and teachers so that together they can assure positive educational results for children.

Families are critical players in improving the important work of schools. Families are an incredibly valuable asset to ensuring that quality educational practices and successful learning take place for all students in our schools.  Just like every other player involved in this business of educating students, families are both teachers and learners who are necessary to the process.  It is time that all families feel empowered to fill their important role. But, there are many barriers to the interaction of families when the child has disabilities.

Often an imbalance of power exists between families and educators when parents are involved in important decisions about the child in educational goals and placement of services. Educators may need to reflect on their values and attitudes about parents when they believe that parents should not have the power to influence how schools are run, what curriculum is used, selection of teachers, or the instructional practices used in the child’s classroom. Although most educators recognize that parents have a legitimate interest in what happens to their child some schools are threatened by what may appear to be over involvement in the decisions traditionally made solely by the school.  

Cultural differences not only apply to people from different ethnic cultures but also to families which include children or adults with disabilities.  These families’ life experiences are impacted by the various barriers created by societal practices, stereotypes and attitudes about people with disabilities. The impact is even greater when a family has a child with a disability and is also from a diverse ethnic or cultural background.

Because their children’s unique needs often challenge educators to customize instruction, many families find they must work to ensure that individualization is happening. Parents are concerned that their child does not get lost in the curriculum or worry that the instructional practices being used don’t fit the child’s needs.

Positive and meaningful engagement of families can be achieved and can support the educational system. There are many examples of schools and projects that are working to achieve collaborative, inclusive school communities where everyone has a voice and every voice is valued and heard. Each district and each school has the unique opportunity to begin the kind of change necessary to shift the family involvement paradigm to one of family engagement. 

Following are suggested Action Steps to get things going:

1. Develop a policy statement for family engagement.
2. When inviting families, to become engaged in the work of the school, look beyond traditional stereotypes about “what kind of family” is typically involved so that you can ensure that diverse and / or typically uninvolved families are represented.
3. Establish deliberate practices for ensuring that everyone has opportunities to gain information and knowledge about educational issues and practices which the school must make decisions about.
4. Establish regular opportunities for assessing the level of family engagement and participation and the quality of the dialogue that takes place between families and educators.
   

Families are an incredibly valuable asset to ensuring that quality educational practices and successful learning take place for all students in our schools.  Just like every other player involved in this business of educating students, families are both teachers and learners who are necessary to the process.  Families who feel empowered and supported will be able to fill an important role and contribute in new and creative ways.

Breaking away from old practices, preconceived assumptions and other barriers may not be easy.  However, the stakes are too high for settling on merely tinkering with existing practices or lip service to the importance of family involvement in education. Everyone is responsible for seeing that schools and school decision-making groups adopt a new paradigm for family engagement.


References:

PEAK Parent Center, Inc.
611 North Weber, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Phone: 719-531-9400
TDD: 719-531-9403 / 711 Relay
Fax: 719-531-9452
Website: www.peakparent.org

Parent Training and Information Centers and Community Parent Resource Centers
(find the PTI or Community Parent Resource Center nearest you)
http://www.taalliance.org/centers/index.htm