Transcript EDSP 5240 - Loyola University Chicago

EDU 442
Teaming, Collaborating, and
Communicating:
Building Relationships Between
Professionals, Families of Young
Children with Special Needs, and
Community Agencies
Chapter One
Historical and Current Roles of
Families and Parents
Parents as the Source of Their
Child’s Disabilities
• Eugenics Movement (1880-1930)
• Parents as source or cause
• Autism – refrigerator moms to “no known
factors in the psychological environment of
a child have been shown as cause”
• Exceptions: HIV, FAS, cystic fibrosis
• Avoid blaming parents…..
Parents as Organizational
Members
• United Cerebral Palsy Assoc (UCPA) founded in
1949
• Assoc for Children with Learning Disabilities
founded in 1964
• ARC (formally called National Assoc for
Retarded Children, Inc.)
• Many parent organizations tend to consist of
white, middle-income families
• Non-categorical services in schools while most
parent organizations are based on disability areas
Parents as Service Developers
• During the 1950s and 1960s developed
services for children at all ages
• Parents should be supported to be parents
first
Parents as Recipients of
Professionals’ Decisions
• During the 1960s and 1970s a teacher
knows best attitude existed
• Some educators still believe they know
what is best for a student, particularly in
evaluation, IEP, and placement
• Parents may feel intimidated and angry
• Cultural and diverse backgrounds
• Equal partner with trust
Parents as Teachers
• Family environment can influence children’s
intelligence (Hunt, 1972)
• Head Start
• Ecological linked family involvement to human
development
• Parent – literature in the 1970s refers to mother
and not father
• Direct teaching methods could be a challenge
• Topics of interest – homework, advocacy, future
planning, information exchanges
Parents as Political Advocates
• ARC, CEC
• P.L. 94-142 and five major amendments
since then (IDEA)
• Additional case law
– In Illinois:
• Marie O case
http://laws.findlaw.com/7th/963609.html
• Corey H case
http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/7th/012707.html
Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)
Legislation providing services for young children
with disabilities (1968: model demonstration
grants)
• 1975: Public Law 94-142 “Education for all
Handicapped Children Act” Provided 5-21 FAPE
• 1986: P.L. 99-457 passed as an amendment to 94142 (Reauthorized in 1997 as Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
– Assured 3-5 FAPE
• Program (Part H) for infants and toddlers 0-3
(now Part C of IDEA)
– Includes children identified with developmental
delays in one or more areas and those at-risk for
developmental delays
– Family-focused intervention
Families as Collaborators
• Paradigm shift from “Parent Involvement” to
include all family members
• Collaboration – the dynamic process of families
and professionals equally sharing their resources
in order to make decisions jointly.
• Families will be equal partners with the schools
• Students are also key collaborators
• Self-determination --choosing how to live one’s
life consistent with one’s own values, preferences,
strengths and needs
Chapter Two
Schools as Systems: The Context for
Family-Professional Collaboration
Systems Theory
• Examination of the organization of complex
phenomena
• Investigation of the principles common to
complex entities
– Posits models which can be used to describe
them
Systems Approach
• Recognizes the complex nature of social ecology
• Emphasizes the interactions and connectedness of
different components of a system
• Regards each component of a system as integral to
the optimum functioning of that system selfregulating systems which we might call
"cybernetic".
Social Systems Impacting Human
Development
(Bronfenbrenner)
In the ecology of the child, important systems
include family and school
• Micro-system
• Meso-system
• Exo-system
• Macro-system
Micro-System
Child and Family: Interpersonal interactions. The level within
which a child experiences immediate interactions with
other people. At the beginning, the micro-system is the
home, involving interactions with only one or two people
in the family ("dyadic" or "triadic" interaction). As the
child ages, the micro-system is more complex, involving
more people, such as in a child-care center or school.
Bronfenbrenner noted that when increased numbers in a
child's micro-system result in more enduring reciprocal
relationships, then increasing the size of the system will
enhance child development.
Meso-Systems
The interrelationships among settings such as home,
child care center & school. The stronger and more
diverse the links among settings, the more
powerful an influence the resulting systems will
be on the child's development. In these
interrelationships, the initiatives of the child, and
the parents' involvement in linking the home and
the school, play roles in determining the quality of
the child's meso-system.
Exo-Systems
The quality of interrelationships among
settings is influenced by forces in which the
child does not participate, but which have a
direct bearing on parents and other adults
who interact with the child. These may
include the parental workplace, school
boards, social service agencies, and
planning commissions.
Macro-System
• Macro-systems represent society at-large. They are
the interlocking social forces overarching the
world of the child and those interrelationships
indirectly influence the shaping of human
development. They provide the broad ideological
and organizational patterns within which the
meso- and exo-systems operate. Macro-systems
are not static, but might change through evolution
and revolution. For example, war, economic
recession, and technological changes may produce
such changes.
IDEA 1997
• Emphasizes family involvement/parent
partnerships to a greater degree than it did
before
General Education Reform
Movement
• Enhancing the Curriculum and Student
Outcomes
– A Nation at Risk (1983)
– Standards-based education
• Restructuring School Governance
– Bottom up approach
– Concern that compliance is the goal….
• Reshaping Service Delivery
Overlapping Spheres of Influence of Family,
School, and Community on Children’s
Learning (Epstein, 1994)
• Family
• School
• Community
Model for Partnerships
(Epstein, 1994)
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Parenting
Communicating
Volunteering
Extending Learning in Home
Decision Making
Collaborating with Community
Phases of Special Education
Reform
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Reshaping FAPE
Zero reject
Nondiscriminatory evaluation
LRE
Due process
Parent participation
LRE: Restructuring Placement
Decision-Making
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Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
Continuum of Placements
Mainstreaming
Regular Education Initiative (REI)
Inclusion
– As stated in IDEA, the student is to be educated with
nondisabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate
– To ensure that this principle is applied in making
placement decisions, IDEA begins with the premise that
the general education classroom is where all children
belong
Continuum of Placements
(From Least to Most Restrictive Environment)
I – General education classroom with no supports
II – Gen ed class + consultant
III – Gen ed class + spec. ed resource room
IV – Spec ed class + some general education
V – Special education classroom 100%
VI – Separate school for students with special needs
VII – Residential School or Homebound/ Hospital
instruction program
Determining the Least Restrictive
Environment
 Education placement is decided only after
educators and parents agree on the
IFSP/IEP
 Two important questions:
 What is the appropriate placement for
the student, given his or her annual goals
(IEP)
 Which of the placement alternatives is
consistent with the principle of LRE?
Types of Power
(Zipperlen & O’Brien, 1994)
• Power-over
• Power-with
• Power-from-within
Activity
1. Working alone:
•
Describe your experiences with family involvement
in education and their possible influences on
academic outcomes.
2. Working with a partner or in groups, and using
your texts as reference material:
A. Identify some key issues that were previously
unknown to you, in regard to the historical, legal, &
philosophical basis for family participation in
education and family-centered services
B. Describe how your understanding, attitude and/or
behavior might be altered by this information.