1. Collaborating with Parents and Families in a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Society
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2. Support for Family Involvement
Parents and families are natural and necessary allies to educators
Families know certain aspects of their children better than anyone
Parents can provide extra skill practice and teach their children new skills in the home and community
Family is the most powerful an pervasive influence in a young child’s life.
Parents know their child better than anyone else. Long before the child comes to school, they have been taught by their parents. In a parents mind, no one will ever love and care about their child as much as they do.
Parents are with their child when you are not so they can enhance the skills the child is learning in school
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3. Support for Family Involvement (continued)
Parents have the greatest vested interest in seeing their children learn as they are the constant in the child’s life
Parents must live with the outcomes of decisions made by IEP teams all day, every day

4. Three Factors Responsible for Increased Emphasis on Family Involvement
Parents want to be involved in their child’s education
Parents were an important catalyst of PL
Educational effectiveness is enhanced when parents and families are involved
Repeated research and practice demonstrates the benefits
The law requires collaboration
The law requires In both IDEA and NCLB, parent involvement is a key component to students’ academic success
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5. Benefits of Family Involvement
Increased likelihood of targeting meaningful IEP goals
Greater consistency and support in the child’s two most important environments
Increased opportunities for learning and development
Greater access to expanded resources and services
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6. Understanding Families of Children with Disabilities
Adjustment process includes feelings of:
Shock, denial, and disbelief
Anger, guilt, depression, shame, lowered self- esteem, rejection of the child, and overprotectiveness
Acceptance, adaptation, and appreciation
Educators should refrain from expecting parents to exhibit any kind of typical reaction
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7. The Resilience Model The Resilience Model is based on the following:
Parents and family members are the best source of knowledge about their child, their own strengths and needs.
Parents’resilience may not be immediately appreciable but should be identified and supported.
Parents are engaged in a continuous adjustment process that can be facilitated by sensitive and caring professionals.
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8. The Five Stage Resilience Model
Stage One
Identification of Disability
Stage Two
Self-education
Stage Three
Reflection about Self and Family
Stage Four
Advocacy and Empowerment
Stage Five
Appreciation and Enlightenment
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9. The Many Roles of the Exceptional Parent
Caregiver - Additional needs of an exceptional child can cause stress
Provider - Additional needs often create a financial burden
Teacher - Exceptional children often need more teaching to acquire skills
Counselor - Must often help their child cope with the disability
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10. The Many Roles of the Exceptional Parent (cont.)
Behavior Support Specialist - Some have to become skilled behavior managers
Parent of Siblings Without Disabilities - Meet the needs of their other children too
Marriage Partner - Having a child with disabilities can put stress on a marriage
Information Specialist - Must ensure that others appropriately support their child’s dignity and acceptance
Advocate - Advocate for effective educational services and opportunities
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11. Principles of Effective Communication
Accept parents’ statements
Respect parents’ point of view
Listen actively
Respond to parents with interest and animation
Question effectively
Speak plainly and use open-ended questions
Encourage
Describe and show parents their child’s improving performance
Stay focused
Focus on the child’s educational program and progress
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12. Roadblocks to Communication
Treating parents as vulnerable clients instead of equal partners
Keeping professional distance
Treating parents as if they need counseling
Blaming parents for their child’s disability
Disrespecting parents as less intelligent
Treating parents as adversaries
Labeling parents
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13. Conflict Resolution
Dialoging is an approach to conflict resolution in which both parties try to see each other’s point of view.
The RERUN approach include
Reflect
Acknowledge the other person’s thinking or feelings
Explain
Explain your perspective concisely
Reason
Explain the reason you believe or feel as you do
Understand
Try to understand the situation from both points of view
Negotiate
Brainstorm to find a mutually satisfying solution
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14. Portrait of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families
Many are English-language learners
Many live in low-income and poverty
Although some have not finished school or cannot read, they are “life educated” and know their child
Undocumented immigrants are naturally fearful of interaction with anyone representing authority
The number of English language learners is rising from 97/98 – % increase compared to the general population growth of students by 7.2%
The inability to understand the language of school is a major deterrent to parents who do not have English proficiency
Limited English proficiency can hinder school/home communication
Teaming is counter to some cultures (Hispanics)
These parents still know their child better than you as the educator
By law children are not a suspect class under the regulations of Office of Immigration and Naturalization Services
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15. Portrait of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families
Many tend to be family-oriented
Some may have different experiences with and views about disability including causes and treatment
Many had negative educational experiences that persist through adulthood
The general and special education systems may be intimidating to the family
Multi-generations living together and parenting – it is important to understand how the culture views individuals with disabilities
Different views and experiences – carrying students with physical disabilities in Egypt
Some cultures put professionals on a pedestal and believe that they are the expert and therefore should not question

16. Culturally Responsive Services for Families
Have native-speaking staff members make initial contacts
Provide trained, culturally sensitive interpreters during parent-teacher conferences and IEP/IFSP meetings
When a language interpreter is not available, use a cultural interpreter whenever possible for conferences and family interviews
Conduct meetings in family-friendly settings
In order to increase the participation of individuals from other cultures we as educators can do a number of different things.
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17. Culturally Responsive Services for Families (continued)
Identify and defer to key decision makers in the family
Recognize that families from diverse cultures may view time differently from the way some professionals do, and schedule meetings accordingly
Provide transportation and child care to make it easier for families to attend school-based activities
Work toward cultural reciprocity
Cultural reciprocity – understanding how different values and belief systems may influence families’ perspectives, wishes and decisions. Educators must recognize our own cultural beliefs and see how differences between our own perspectives and those of people from other cultures and ethnic groups
You need to take the time to build bridges

18. Home-School Communication Methods
Parent-teacher conferences
Preparing for the conference
Establish objectives
Review records of the student’s recent grades
Select examples of the student’s work
Prepare a graph or chart showing cumulative progress
Prepare an agenda for the meeting
Conducting the conference
Build rapport
Obtain information
Provide information
Summarize and follow up
There is always parent teacher conferences however these can be intimidating for some parents – make sure you take time to build rapport with your parents, ask if the parents have any information they would like to share, provide information about the child (concrete and jargon free, share examples of student work and discuss ways to make improvements, and finally summarize and follow up on all that was discussed
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19. Home-School Communication Methods
Written communication
Happy Grams and Special Accomplishment Letters
Two-Way Home-School Reporting forms
Dialogue notebooks
Home-School Contracts
Class Newsletters and Websites
Telephone communication
Phone Calls
Voice Mail
and Text Messaging
I can not stress enough the importance of home-school communication
You want to make sure you are not just communicating the negative things but also positive items
Never rely on written messages as the sole method of communication – make sure that the material that is written is on a 4th grade reading level
Two way reporting forms should be simple to use – the goal is to get the parent involved
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20. Other Forms of Parent Involvement
Parents as Tutors
Systematically teach self-help and daily living skills to their children
Parent Education and Support Groups
Provide education for parenting
Parent-to-Parent Groups
Provide help to parents of children with special needs become reliable allies for one another
Parents as Research Partners
Assist researchers in knowing if their ideas and findings have validity
Home based tutoring can enhance a child's educational progress and give enjoyment to both child and parent. In order to be successful sessions must be kept short, the experience must be positive and there must be frequent opportunities for the child to respond, parent responses to the child must be consistent, tutoring should be to practice and extend skills already learned in school and finally keep a record of progress
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21. Video “Dr. Rudy Crew…” “Parent Involvement Matters!”
1. What did you learn about parent involvement?