Course : Foundations of Special and Inclusive Education

Session Topic 4 : The Family: The roles and rights of parents

Duration : 3 hours
Resources Needed:

• Teaching Guide
• Learning Materials
• Computer/laptop/cellphone for Zoom and Google class/Edmodo
(note: students which have no direct access to the internet can access the
said learning materials through Google classroom
• Module
Objectives :
In this learning session, the students should be able to:
1. discuss the important roles of parents towards the education of their child;
2. cite some of the rights of parents;
3. state the importance of the collaboration between the parents and the
educators and administrators.

Overview/Introduction
The success of the inclusive education does not only rely on the teachers and the school
were the children with special needs, it also depends on how the parents work or collaborate
with the educators.
Parent’s role in the inclusive process for special needs of their children in regular schools
is very essential. Their role is irreplaceable. It is a strong contributory factor in the success of
the inclusive education. As quoted by Balli in her research, Gerber & Popp’s research (1999),
noticed that the collaboration of parents with their teacher has a positive impact at the children
who frequent regularly school. They notice significant improvements such as satisfaction, self-
esteem and their children abilities to learn better. Parents play a major role in challenging of the
dynamic inclusion process that starts with the parents’ decision to place their child in a mainstream
setting.
The parents participation in drafting of the individualized plan for their children can help
them the understand their role and responsibilities to the achievement of the goal. Hoover-
Dempsey and Sandler (1995, 1997) believe that the role and responsibilities that parents define
for them is central in terms of parents’ involvement. Only parents, who believe in their role to be
active, are inclined to become involved in education and school matters.
Session Proper

Activity 1
Inside the box, write your belief on the roles of the parents as involved in the education
of their child with special needs.

Role
1
2
3
4
5

Activity 2
Inside the box, write your belief on the rights of the parents as involved in the education
of their child with special needs.

Rights
1
2
3
4
5

Analysis
1. Which of the following was easy to write?
2. Why do think these are their roles? their right?
3. If you were a parent, how will you work with the teacher and the school
authorities?
4. If you were a teacher, how will you work with the parents?

Abstraction :

Another component of an inclusive and special education is parent involvement. It has

long been established that parent involvement in education, planning, and management of
children with disabilities and additional needs is essential as they are the primary caregivers and
have direct influence on their children. This is anchored on Bronfenbrenner’s Human Ecological
Theory, namely the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem, which states that
there are five environmental systems that comprise a child’s social context. It is in the
microsystem where the child and his/her family belong, along with peers, school and immediate
community (i.e. neighborhood). Within these microsystems, a child has direct interactions with
parents, teachers, peers, and others; while the mesosystem refers to the linkages or relationships
between microsystems such as the connections between family experiences and school
experiences and between family and peers (Santrock 2011)
The Division of Early Childhood of the Council of Exceptional Children(DEC) espoused the use
of family-centered practices in the assessment and instruction of young children. Turnbull and
Turnbull ((2002 cited in Kirk et al. 2015) provided the principles of a family-centered model: 1.)
honors the family choice by changing the power relationship between professional and families,
2.) abandons a pathology orientation and adopts a strengths orientation, and where the entire
family becomes the unit of support and not just the child with a disability and the child’s mother.
In this way, the whole family is provided support, capitalizing on the child and family members’
strengths and resource, not on their deficits and needs. Teachers an administrators may also be
guide by these principles when communicating and collaborating with parents and families and
students with disabilities.
Parent involvement has been found to be directly related to academic achievement and
improvements in the school performance of children. Educational support and collaboration with
teachers have been found to promote child success in school ((Reschly & Christenson 2009).
Moreover, programs for children with disabilities become more effective and successful when
children and families are involves (Newman 2004 cited in Heward 2013).
Home-School Communication
Having established the critical role of parents in a student’s developmental and academic
progress and achievement, it is essential that there is a close home and school collaboration and
communication. To establish Partnerships, problem-solving, two-way communication, and shared
decision making are some of the practices needed. Communicating with parents may be done
in several ways.
1. Parent-Teacher Conferences
Parent-teacher conferences are face-to-face meetings held between parents and
teachers. Conducting sch meetings is necessary so parents of students with
disabilities and additional needs will be able to share about their child’s background,
strengths and abilities, history of difficulties, and practices they have been
implementing at home as well as interventions done with other specialists. Together
with teachers, they can coordinate their efforts and services to support their child both
in school and at home.

Schools differ when it coms to the frequency pf parent teacher conferences. One best
practice is to hold a meeting with parents at the beginning of a school year as part of
goal setting for the student with a disability. In this way, both parents and teachers
can set expectations for the year and agree on goals and objectives for the child. This
is also a good opportunity for teachers to establish rapport with parents. Conferences
are also help after every grading period so that progress, changes, and results can be
communicated and discussed with parents agree on necessary action plants.
2. Written Communication
Home-School communication may also be conducted through written messages, such
as the use of a home-school communication notebook, where teachers and parents
write homework assignments, the student’s behavior in the classroom, as well as
progress on program goals. A written communication may be time consuming, but
some parents prefer this form of collaboration as the messages are documented and
they can provide a copy to a developmental specialist when needed.

3. Digital communication
With the influx of mobile devices, many parents and families are more able to
communicate through electronic and digital means such s email, text messages, and
social network messaging systems. A study found that parents and teachers perceive
technology as an effective tool to promote parent involvement and thus value its use
for communication (Olmstead 2013). Because it is instant and real-time, parents and
teachers are immediately able to receive messages and updates about the student.
However, drawbacks can also occur such as when both parties are not mindful of
parameters in communication; hence, it is necessary that parties agree on certain
boundaries in order to be respectful of everyone’s tie and personal space.

4. Home-School contracts
A home-school contract contains an agreement between teachers and parent
regarding behavioral and/or academic goals for a student with disability. Just like any
formal contract, this is a written agreement between teachers, parents, and students
(when appropriate) on specific objectives and corresponding reinforcements or
rewards when they are met.

One example of a home-school contract is a Daily Report Card, an individualized

intervention used in schools that is anchored on the behavioral principles of operant
condition. The card indicates specific behaviors targeted for a child with disability that
are framed as positive statements and targets for improvements. The use of a daily
report card has been found to be beneficial in helping a child with attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder in school and in promoting daily collaboration between teachers
and parents (Moore et al. 2016;Mautone et al. 2012).

Other Ways to involve Parents

Parents also have strengths, abilities, intuitive knowledge, and the commitment o help
their own child. They become advocates of their own children. To maximize their
involvement, schools provide other opportunities such as parent education training,
workshops, and parent support groups.
a. Parent education may take the form of providing seminars and
workshops to parents to equip them with a better understanding of their
child’s disabilities and accompanying strengths, uniqueness, as well as
specific techniques and strategies that they can practice at home.
b. Parent support groups are also helpful as parents are able to ask other
parents about tips and techniques to work with their children. Parents
 should be empowered so that they can participate in planning and
organizing parent support groups. Through such groups, parents can
draw support from one another during meetings as they share
techniques and strategies, even frustrations and successes about their
children.
Moreover, parents are equal participants in the process and must give permission for the
evaluation, participate in the development of the IEP, and agree to any changes in the program
or placement.
Strong partnerships and regular communication is also vital since it will support the
learners, build appreciation and support each other’s roles, help to develop consistency
between the home and school and help keep everyone informed and up to date.
The rights of the parents include:
1. Right to request testing
2. Right to give approval for testing
3. Right to bring information to the evaluation and IEP teams for consideration
4. Right to request an independent educational evaluation (IEE)
5. Right to have IEE results considered
6. Right to request an evaluation in a native or preferred language
7. Right to be interviewed as a part of the assessment
8. Right to be informed of their rights
9. Right to be a team member for the evaluation
10. Right to be part of the IEP team
11. Right to brings others
12. Right to incur the cost
13. Right to access due process/mediation
14. Right to file complaints with the state
15. Right to receive notifications in writing
16. Right to receive regular reports
17. Right to access records
18. Right to request explanation of information
19. Right to obtain copies.

Educators must bear in mind that the 90% of the child’s life is spend outside the classroom
and that it is the responsibility of the parents to make sure their children are safe and provided
with what they need. It is the parents that needs to find help for their children.
There are instances that there are parents who are hard to work with and they regard the
professionals as enemies which causes more problems to the child’s education , as professionals,
the teachers must possess more patience, understanding and commitment to their job and to the
welfare of the children with special needs.
To answer that parents have knowledge and skills and to help them to work together the
following can be done: Provide learning opportunities for educators to meet their basic obligations,
ensure systematic two-way communication, provide learning opportunities for educators and
families to work together, provide educators and families with skills to access community and
support services, prepare educators and families with strategies and techniques for connecting
learning at school.
Assessment
A. Answer the following questions:
1. How would you handle if you meet a reactive parent?
2. How important is an open communication between you as educator and the parents
of the children with special needs?
3. Do you think it is helpful for parents of children with disabilities to have a support
group or organize themselves? Why?
4. Explain the Bronfenbrenner’s Human Ecological Theory. How does it apply to
students with disability?
5. Choose at least 3 rights of the parents and discuss it concisely.

Application
1. Make a sample of your daily log that shows the way you communicate daily with the
parents of your student with special needs.
2. Make a case study of a child with disability and take the following into consideration:
a. The cause of the disability.
b. How the disability has affected the child or the person?
c. Does the child able to attend school?
d. How’s the parent’s relationship with the school and the teacher?
e. How does the family handle her/his disability?
f. What’s the impact of the disability to the family?
g. Was there any support from the government?
h. Was there a support group organized in the locality?

3. Please go to this page and answer module 2 . on Disability Awareness and

Presuming Competence with this link
https://www.scaffolds.org/learn/specialeducator- training-modules/.
a. Answer this module and write your own reflection or realization
b. Have a selfie with the result or certificate.

References:

Bateman, D. and Cline, J.(2016). A Teacher’s Guide to Special Education. ASCD.

www.ascd.org. pp 20-23

Halal, Cristina A., et al.(2020). Foundations of Special and Inclusive Education, 1st
Ed. Manila: Rex Book Store
 https://www.academia.edu/23707527/Importance_of_Parental_Involvement_to_Meet_th
e_Special_Needs_of_their_Children_with_Disabilities_in_Regular_Schools
No Limits: Teachers including learners with disabilities in regular classrooms. DEPED in
partnership with AusAID. https://www.slideshare.net/knowellton/module-24-no-limits