EDU 221 Children With Exceptionalities

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Chapter 9
Partnership with Families

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Family Patterns and Expectations
• What is a family?
– The answer is constantly changing.
– Families are individuals who care about one
another and often have a bond.
– It may be a group of individuals related by
blood; but they may also not be, just live
together.
– Family is also a cultural group that you are
attached to.

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Family Patterns and Expectations
(continued)
• Cultural competence
– In working with families, a teacher needs to
become culturally competent:
• Learn about the families you serve.
• Work with cultural mediators.
• Learn words from their language.
• Take time to work with interpreters.
• Use forms of communication acceptable to the
family.
• Recognize collaboration.

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Family Patterns and Expectations
(continued)
• Families of children with disabilities
– Research has been done on mothers’
reactions, often wanting the best for their
child.
– Little research has been done on fathers, who
see the big picture and think about money.
– Attention needs to be paid to grandparents
and siblings as well.

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Family Patterns and Expectations
(continued)
• Family adjustment
– Grief is typically the first emotion.
– The family grieves for the loss of the normal,
healthy child they were planning for.
– Decisions need to be made, causing stress.
– Families need to work together for the benefit
of the child and the family stability.

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Family Patterns and Expectations
(continued)
• Enabling and empowering families
– Enabling is creating opportunities for family
members to become more competent and
self-sustaining with respect to their abilities to
mobilize their social networks to get needs
met and attain goals.

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Family Patterns and Expectations
(continued)
– Empowering is carrying out interventions in a
manner in which family members acquire a
sense of control over their own developmental
course as a result of their own efforts to meet
needs.

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The Parent-Teacher Partnership
• Parent involvement
– Provides an ongoing support system that
supports the program
– Maintains and elaborates the child’s gains
after the program ends

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The Parent-Teacher Partnership
(continued)
• Rationale for parent participation
– Parents are the first teacher.
– Skills are learned faster when practice is done
at home.
– Early intervention provides support for
parents.
– Consistency of expectations is maintained.
– Parents know their child best.

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The Parent-Teacher Partnership
(continued)
• Degree of participation
– Parents cannot always do as much as they
would like or caregivers would like due to
• Work schedules
• Other children
• Attitude toward child and child’s problems
• Culture
• Parental education and health

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The Parent-Teacher Partnership
(continued)
• Establishing trust
– Teachers need to work hard to develop trust
with the parent.
– This can be done by talking to the parent
honestly.
– Share concerns in a caring manner.
– Protect a child’s confidentiality.

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The Parent-Teacher Partnership
(continued)
• Communicating with parents
– Informal exchanges
– Parent observations
– Telephone calls
– Written notes
– Email
– Two way journal
– Audio- and videotapes
– Newsletters
– Class websites

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The Parent-Teacher Partnership
(continued)
• Parent-teacher meetings
– Large group meetings
• Parents are called together to share information
that affects the group at large
– Changes in curriculum
– Scheduling
– Staffing
– Child development

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The Parent-Teacher Partnership
(continued)
– Parent conferences
• More one-on-one with the child’s parents.
• It is a give-and-take meeting.
• Parents have a time to share concerns.
• Teachers share progress and address
weaknesses.
• Parents are allowed time to question.

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The Parent-Teacher Partnership
(continued)
• Parent support groups
– These groups offer support to families in the
areas of information, social gatherings, and
advocacy.
– Teachers should be familiar with the groups in
their area to share information with the
parents.

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The Parent-Teacher Partnership
(continued)
• Parent feedback
– Indirect feedback
• Said in passing by a parent or said to another
parent in hearing of the teacher.
– Direct feedback
• Questionnaires and suggestion boxes are ways to
solicit feedback from parents who won’t share
vocally.

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The Parent-Teacher Partnership
(continued)
• Home visits
– This is an essential part of the family
partnership.
– Teachers can help parents with skills at home
once they see what the parent has to offer.
– Teachers also break the ice with the child and
can help with transitioning the child.
– Teachers show respect to the parent as
teacher through a home visit.