Just as there are many parenting styles there are also many diverse approaches to promoting parental involvement in special education. Tyrell shared in the comments that his school has held several events to open and include the parents. His experience was that the parents of typical learners attened while the parents of students in special education were noticable absent. My experiences over a twenty year period of teaching special education at a school that only serves special education students were that when we held PTA meetings we would have every teacher there and an average of 3-5 parents for a student body of close to 150 students. I don't think that people outside of special education realize just how big of a problem there is when it comes to parent involvement. I believe that so much of society including a majority of parents who have a child in special education think that it is the teachers and the school district's job and that they don't need to be a part of the process. I sometimes found it hard to even get the parents to respond to notes about the needs for even basic things for their students such as lunch money or diapers. When goals were discussed at IEP meetings that needed to be cared over into the home environment, many parents expressed that they felt that people in the school district were trying to tell them how to parent their child. They wanted us to work on everything at school but did not feel that it was important or found it easier and quicker to just do things for the child at home.
I think that some parents forget that this is my job and that I do my best to meet the needs of each student in the best possible ways, but it is their child and this child will be with them for a lifetime. I try to get to know the parents of my students to get a feel for where they stand on understanding their childs needs and for planning for their child's future needs and desires. At times I feel that I am a parent to some of these parents.
I know very little about the demands of a special education teacher. I could only imagine the difficulties you must face. It seems to me that these parents would want to help their children become independent and make progress at home and at school. How can they expect the teachers and school system to teach their children all day, every day and then when that child comes home each night undo everything they've learned that day/week/month? As a parent, I can also understand becoming defensive of a teacher telling me what is best for my child (not that you do that but I'm sure some teachers do). It is sometimes hard to accept what other people are telling you even if it would benefit your child.
ReplyDeleteSince I am new to the teaching world, I did not know that the majority of parents do not show up for open house and school functions of that nature when it comes to special education classes until I heard about it in class. I believe that to be very sad. Parents should come to support their children in their education regardless if it is in special education or general education. Parents and teachers should work together to do what in the best interest of the child's scholastic future.
ReplyDeleteWe have tried everything. Free Food always seems to be a motivator. Also another way to encourage parent support, is making it available to them with child care on the evening of the event.
ReplyDeleteWith a high percentage hispanic population and always have many interpreters available for parent events. They are more likely to get involved if someone really is "speaking their language."
I was thinking about the cheat sheet you commented about on my blog, and I think this is a good idea for a lot of reasons. I know it wouldn't get a lot or maybe even many parents involved, but I think there are some parents who don't know how to get involved because they don't know what we're talking about. It's difficult to know what's best, even for your own child, if you don't know the terms other people who care for them are using. Maybe this would be a way to help parents while also showing them that we care enough to include them in the things we know. Does that make sense?
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