Abstract
Despite a growing literature on the value of family involvement for students with disabilities, there are ongoing misunderstandings about the reasons why culturally and linguistically diverse families of students with disabilities might be less involved with their child at school than other families. This article describes a project conducted with Latino families and with school personnel at schools serving predominantly Latino children that addresses why Latino families may become less involved. The authors describe school-level factors that may affect the initiative of Latino families to become involved at school, and suggest strategies school personnel can use to increase the involvement of Latino families.
Nadia: When you say being a team member, the one thing I noticed . . . was they asked me, “Where do you see [name of student] going? What are your goals for her? What do you want for her? Ok, then this is what we are going to do.” I had an IEP meeting last week. I walked in there and it totally changed everything. Because I was there and expressed my needs as a parent for my daughter and advocated for her and we got what we needed for her . . . they told me they were not going to do it [the IEP] until I walked in because I showed the need as a parent. Maria: Absolutely not. They don’t [listen to you]. Even when I try to talk, they have to run to the bathroom.
These two quotes from parents of children with disabilities reflect contrasting views of their children’s schools (see Note 1). The first suggests a setting in which school personnel actively solicit and value the parents’ input. The second describes a meeting in which the parents’ views are less important than a bathroom visit.
An effective special education teacher possesses a diverse and flexible skill set. Good teachers must have outstanding planning, communication, and interpersonal skills. They work under extreme time pressure in highly bureaucratic systems that often provide little support. Special education teachers face the added challenge of teaching children that have a wide variety of disabilities that affect their ability to learn. The students they teach may come from diverse ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, adding to the challenge of tailoring instruction to meet each student’s individual needs. Often, they teach children with a wide range of abilities in the same classroom or must adapt instruction for a number of different general education teachers in a variety of inclusive coteaching settings. Yet, on top of these various demands, special education teachers are expected to effectively manage relationships with the families of the students they teach.
Special educators are asked to establish and maintain effective relationships with families for three reasons. For one, there is considerable evidence that increased parent involvement is associated with positive student outcomes (Cox, 2005; Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003; Fan & Chen, 2001; Fishel & Ramirez, 2005; Guli, 2005; Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Hoard & Shepard, 2005; Jeynes, 2005, 2007; Zellman & Waterman, 1998). Second, there is a social justice argument that engaging families is the right thing to do (Auerbach, 2012; Riehl, 2012; Theoharis, 2012). Third, parent involvement is written into law (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 2004; No Child Left Behind Act, 2002).
This article provides teachers with a number of strategies that can facilitate involvement for families from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. It is particularly important to implement these strategies with CLD families because there is evidence from existing literature, as well as the study on which these recommendations are based (Rodriguez, Blatz, & Elbaum, in press), that CLD families in general, and Latino families in particular, may demonstrate different involvement patterns than families of White children. For a number of reasons, Latino families may be less likely to demonstrate initiative to become involved with their child in school in the same way as families of White children. This may be particularly true under conditions in which these families believe that school personnel are not receptive to their initial efforts to become involved. To effectively involve Latino families, it is important to understand some of the factors that may affect their initiative to become involved.
Factors Associated With Family Involvement in School
In addition to CLD families’ culturally based beliefs that could lead to a reduced role in school, there are other factors that may limit the involvement of CLD families in school to support their child’s academic progress. For example, Walker, Ice, Hoover-Dempsey, and Sandler (2011) found that families of Latino students tended to be more involved with their child at home than in school. Other research has shown that language barriers among families of CLD students are an obstacle to their involvement in school (Barrera & Liu, 2006; Blanchett, Klingner, & Harry, 2009). There is also evidence that CLD families may have a different definition of what it means to have a child with a disability, and that this culturally influenced definition can affect the extent to which families get involved in school (Harry, 1992). For example, some Latino families view their child’s disability as a spiritual phenomenon involving divine intervention, as opposed to a deficit in the child’s ability to function effectively in school. Accordingly, families with this view might be less likely to be involved in school since they do not view their child as having a deficit (Harry, 1992, 2002).
Other research points to cultural differences in the ways CLD families view the teacher (Harry, 2008). Families from some cultures adopt a deferential stance toward school teachers and administrators. They view teachers as the professionals who are best suited to assist the child to attain successful educational outcomes. There is an implicit trust in the teacher’s competence and professionalism. One theory of parental involvement, proposed by Hoover-Dempsey and her colleagues (2005), viewed parents’ role construction and sense of self-efficacy as key determinants of their involvement. According to this model, families that don’t think it is their role to be involved in school, or who are less confident in their abilities, will tend to become less involved. To the extent that Latino families are less familiar with information related to legal issues of special education, or consider it primarily the teacher’s role to educate their child, these parents may be less likely to take the initiative to become involved. With this in mind, it is even more critical that school personnel extend clear messages to Latino families that their input is valued in the education of their child.
CLD families may also lack the social, cultural, and economic capital necessary to effectively advocate on their children’s behalf. Bourdieu (1986) defined these terms to explain ways in which resources may be accessed to obtain material wealth, status, and power within society. Economic capital refers to material wealth. Social capital refers to resources that may be accessed through a person’s social network. Cultural capital refers to the process of gaining access to information associated with prestige, such as academic credentials. CLD families may be less inclined to become involved in support of their child’s education (Ong-Dean, 2009; Trainor, 2008). These families, who may lack the resources needed to advocate effectively for their child, may not know what to do when they disagree with a school’s decision concerning their child, or whom to turn to for support when schools do not provide the services or supports they perceive their child may need (Ong-Dean, 2009; Trainor, 2008, 2010).
To the extent that lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with CLD status, and that lower SES is associated with lack of social and cultural capital, CLD families may tend to be less involved in school. For example, many low SES CLD parents work in lower-paying jobs that provide little flexibility for them to attend individualized education program (IEP) meetings or other school events. In rural areas where the families live a distance from the school, simply getting to the school may be a problem for many families. These families may also lack access to computers, which are necessary to communicate with school personnel via email, or to have access to electronic grade portals.
School personnel who hold critical attitudes in response to what they perceive as a lack of involvement of CLD families will have difficulty working effectively with those families. The perception that CLD families are less involved may evoke negative cultural stereotypes. School personnel may attribute families’ failures to become involved to a lack of concern about their child, living in a broken home, or alcohol or substance abuse. Assumptions such as these may lead to self-fulfilling prophecies. For example, teachers or administrators who believe that CLD families are lazy or disinterested are less likely to extend invitations to these families to become involved, so those families may become even less involved, inadvertently reinforcing the initial negative stereotypes.
When Schools Fail to Involve Families
In a series of focus group and individual interviews with 96 parents of students with disabilities, parents’ comments suggested that when schools failed to involve families, Latino families of students with disabilities responded differently than White families. Transcripts of the interviews were analyzed and coded by multiple researchers, who obtained consensus on the codes that best captured the essential ideas conveyed in the families’ responses to the questions (for a detailed description of the method used to collect and analyze the data, see Rodriguez et al., in press). One of the most frequently occurring ideas derived from these interviews involved the extent to which families should take the initiative and responsibility to be involved in their child’s education. Responses from Latino families and White families were compared and grouped based on whether their survey responses indicated that schools met or did not meet the standard for facilitating involvement set by the state (for a full description of the methodology used in the development and scoring of the survey, see Elbaum, Fisher, & Coulter, 2011).
Table 1 shows that Latino and White families differed in the extent to which they took initiative depending on whether their child was enrolled in a school they considered as effective or not effective at facilitating their involvement.
Percentage of Families That Made Statements Associated With Parent Initiative in Schools Perceived as High or Low in Facilitating Involvement.
The results underscore the importance of targeting school involvement strategies to Latino parents of students with disabilities. First, Latino families frequently reported that they felt a primary responsibility to be involved in their child’s education, regardless of schools’ efforts to involve them. Even though Latino and White families reported similar levels of initiative when their children were enrolled in schools that were doing a good job of involving them, their reported levels of initiative changed considerably when schools were less involving. White families seemed to respond to the lack of school involvement efforts by taking even more initiative to obtain services; Latino families responded by becoming less involved.
However, Latino families did not indicate any less sense of responsibility to become involved than their White counterparts. On the contrary, a higher percentage of Latino families than White families indicated they felt it was their responsibility to become involved, regardless of schools’ efforts to involve them.
In addition to the factors raised in the literature discussed previously, there are several other reasons why Latino families, in contrast to White families, may take less initiative in response to schools’ failures to involve them. One factor is language. When schools are doing a good job of facilitating parent involvement, it is more likely that they are also doing a better job of translating materials into the parent’s native language and ensuring translations are conducted during meetings. Latino families may simply be less able to communicate effectively with the school when the school does not facilitate those communications. As a result, Latino families may be less informed of options available to them when they are met with resistance from schools and, because of this, may lack the social and cultural capital to know what next steps to take when schools are unreceptive to their efforts. Latino families may also perceive that when schools are not receptive to their efforts to become involved, they are being sent a message to stay away. Given the deferential position taken by some families from CLD backgrounds toward school personnel reported in the literature (Goldenberg, Gallimore, Reese, & Garnier, 2002; Harry, 1992), it is even more important for schools to reach out to these families to encourage their involvement. In addition, although the literature reports that Latino parents hold positive aspirations for their children, believe that supporting their children in school is important, and hold high expectations for their children, their forms of involvement may be different from those of families from other backgrounds (Araujo, 2009; Gillanders & Jimenez, 2004; Scribner, Young, & Pedroza, 1999; Valdes, 1996).
Schools need to be sensitive to the possibility that Latino families may take less initiative to be involved when they find the school uninviting. If Latino families rely more heavily on schools’ invitations to become involved at school (Walker et al., 2011), schools need to make a concerted effort to actively involve these families, as the absence of these efforts may have the effect of alienating them even further.
Effective School-Based Practices to Involve Latino Families
The input provided by families and school personnel during the interviews can be summarized with four strategies that can facilitate parent involvement for Latino families of students with disabilities: (a) methods for encouraging input from family members in decision making, (b) strategies to empower families, (c) methods for facilitating child transitions, and (d) strategies for communicating effectively with families.
Encouraging Parent Participation in Decision Making
Families that felt school personnel involved them in decision making made comments such as these:
They ask my opinion on everything.
Yes. They ask your input and explain how you can help. They explain his [the child’s] goals and ask about how we can help him reach them by working with him at home.
A school official offered the following to explain how they involved families in making decisions: The actual IEP document has a nice section where we ask the parent, you know, can you tell us what you think your child’s weaknesses and strengths are, and in that way, if we kind of get a feel for what they know about their child, and then in every e-mail we discuss the IEP. I always ask, you know, “Are you in agreement, or are you not?” so there’s a respect for the parent’s opinion. We can’t always accommodate for what they want, but we definitely respect what they have to say.
At schools where families reported that schools did a good job of involving them, school personnel believed strongly in the importance of family input in the education of their child. Accordingly, teachers can send families the message that their input is valued in a variety of ways.
Communicate to family members that their presence at the IEP meeting is an important event and that their attendance is essential.
Conduct a pre-IEP phone call or conference with parents to get their input prior to the IEP meeting. This will minimize the likelihood of them being surprised or intimidated. Let them know that it is only a draft, and the IEP will only become finalized once their final input is obtained during the meeting.
When possible, demonstrate that you value family members by sitting next to, rather than across from them at meetings.
Document what parents say during the IEP meeting on the IEP document, as they are speaking, and show them where their comments are reflected in the document.
Inform family members of the strategies you use in the classroom and ask them for their ideas on methods that might work best with their child.
A sample pre-IEP questionnaire that may be used to solicit parent input prior to the IEP meeting is presented as Figure 1.
Sample pre-IEP parent interview questionnaire.
Empowering and Educating Families
Schools that facilitated family involvement often invited agencies to conduct training sessions with families at their school. As one parent mentioned (translated from Spanish), Yes, the school hosted a training program for families conducted by In the Family (a local service provider dedicated to working with Latino families). It was a seminar that helped me a great deal. The seminar was so that you can better help your children. (Graciela)
According to one school official, We provide trainings and we try to educate them, but I think if they [parents] really understood how that [IEP] meeting is and being a part of those meetings, and how it’s going to really drive their child’s education, they would show up; they would take a little more time to try to understand the progress reports that you send home, and the status of things that you send home, and that enough would, you know, spark that initiation to get involved.
Many Latino families, especially recent immigrants, not only lack important information about the laws that govern special education, but also do not know where to obtain it. Therefore, they rely on the school to provide that information. These families, who may lack advanced formal education, can be empowered through education and training. This can be accomplished in several ways:
In schools that implement response to intervention (RTI) models, parents can be provided with specific information on the RTI process. Parents need to understand that their child’s failure to demonstrate expected academic progress will result in more intensive interventions. However, if the child continues to fail to demonstrate progress, even more intensive interventions may need to be provided in a different setting, which could improve the likelihood of the child making academic progress. Furthermore, explain that these changes could lead to referral for eligibility for special education and could involve smaller student–teacher ratios, more individualized instruction, and instruction delivered by teachers well-trained in differentiated methods.
Go a step beyond describing the procedural safeguards to give parents examples of how they could apply to the family. Explain the document’s key points, particularly what parents can do if they disagree with a school decision. This action alone could empower families with the idea that they can disagree. An open discussion of the safeguards is likely to build trust between the family and the school.
Where applicable, such as in cases where the child has a developmental disability or special health care needs, provide parents with information on community agencies that can assist their child with medical expenses and other supports. For example, each state has an agency responsible for providing access to social security income and the medical waiver for students with disabilities who may qualify. Typically, there are years-long waiting lists to obtain these services, so it is important to refer families to these agencies when their child is still in the early grades. Similarly, every state has agencies, such as the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, that can assist a student with a disability in obtaining job-related training and employment upon graduation. Families should not only be informed of these services but also be supported in the application process.
Involve families in professional development activities with teachers. Successful schools invited parents to participate during teacher professional development days in activities including how to select high interest books appropriate for the child’s reading level, how to read to the child, and how to structure the child’s home environment to facilitate doing homework.
Involving Latino Families in Their Child’s Transitions
If families are made aware of impending transitions, they can help their child prepare for and cope with changes that may affect their child’s progress. These families appreciated schools’ efforts to involve them when their child was about to become involved in a transition. As described in one paraphrased comment from a school official, Parents know their child better than anyone, so teachers and parents learn from each other. At the end of the year, parents are invited in to plan the transition to the next school.
Depending on grade level, there are several actions teachers may take to help families respond successfully to these transitions. This is particularly important for Latino parents who may have recently emigrated from a country that has a different way of organizing grade levels and schools, and where special education services may not even be provided.
Communicate possible changes in the school’s expectations for the child as he or she moves through critical grade-level changes. For example, the change from early intervention programs, where the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) focuses on services for the family, is different from the IEP the child will have in prekindergarten and beyond, which tends to focus more on the child and less on the family.
Let families know in advance about impending changes in setting or teachers even when the child is not changing schools. Many children with disabilities have particular difficulty adapting to changes, and the families can assist in helping the child adjust to those changes.
Changes from elementary school to middle school can be particularly difficult. Although there is a tendency for children who are in middle school to be considered more independent, it is important to be sensitive to cultural norms that many Latino families hold that may involve more cohesive family relationships (Valdes, 1996). It is particularly important to communicate to these parents that their involvement will continue to be expected and valued.
The shift from middle school to high school may have important implications for what the child will be able to do after graduation. As the child leaves middle school, families need to be deeply involved in the decision-making process regarding the type of curriculum the child will pursue in high school, and families should understand the implications of these different curricula for the types of employment options their child will be eligible for after graduation.
School personnel can demonstrate cultural sensitivity by getting families’ input on long-term transition goals that are important to them. For example, whereas many majority White families may be comfortable with transition goals that encourage their child to get into the best college they can even if it means moving away from home, many Latino families may prefer that their child stay at home and work to assist with family expenses or enter a local college while they can continue to live at home.
Frequent and Varied Communications With Families
Effective communications allow Latino parents to communicate in their native language and also afford families a variety of communication methods. As one parent mentioned (translated from Spanish), They always call me, and it is usually an automated machine. They are always giving all of the information about school activities. Make sure the school has your correct number. That is very important. (Juana, to another parent)
A school official added, Communication is key. Everything that we do is communicated to the parents; service providers share information with teachers and parents so that everyone is aware of what’s happening. No task is too small—such as providing the child’s feeding time with a particular bowl. Individual planning happens. Daily notes may be sent home to child’s parents tailoring home-assignments for individual children. PT/OT service providers and speech and language visit classroom, rather than pull-out the students to be able to piggy-back what’s happening in the classroom. (paraphrased)
Because of potential language barriers, it is even more important to communicate openly with Latino families and provide alternative methods of communication.
Effective schools contact families not just when there is a problem with the child. At least as often, they contact parents to report that the child is making progress.
Knowing that there was a specific person whom they could contact for questions about their child is important for these families. One effective strategy is to assign a teacher who serves as a “mentor” for that child, prepares IEPs for the child, and is the contact person for the family.
Whenever possible, documents should be translated into the families’ native language (Spanish in this case) and the primary contact person should be able to communicate with families in their native language.
Conclusion
The strategies described in this article emphasize the importance of reaching out to Latino families, seeking their input, empowering them, keeping them informed, and facilitating their child’s transitions. Although Latino parents will vary in the extent to which they take initiative to become involved, it is important to understand that, for cultural reasons, Latino families, as well as other CLD families, may need clearer signs that schools are interested in involving them in the education of their child. These strategies convey an assurance to families that they are valued and trusted participants in their child’s education.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) declared receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The research that led to this article was sponsored by a grant from the Florida Department of Education, Exceptional Student Education Parent Survey Project, Florida Department of Education under IDEA, Part B, Section 611, CFDA #84.027, 874-2622A-2CD01.