Abstract
“Supporting Parents’ Confidence to Pull Up a Chair at the Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education Table” provides insights on how to build respectful and productive relationships with families. Authors Deborah A. Bruns and Diana J. LaRocco offer evidence-based strategies for using family-centered practices and promoting family empowerment and leadership. Here are some additional ideas for ways to extend the use of this article.
Do You Work Directly With Young Children and Families?
Build your repertoire of open-ended questions—One key to implementing the strategies mentioned by Bruns and LaRocco is the ability to ask thoughtful, open-ended questions. A good refresher on how to do this is Asking the Right Questions in the Right Ways by Carol Westby, Angela Burda, and Zarin Mehta (https://leader.pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/leader.FTR3.08082003.4).
Use the DEC Family Recommended Practices checklists—Checklists for examining the components of the practices are available online (http://ectacenter.org/decrp/type-checklists.asp). Consider using the list of family-centered practices, family decision-making practices, family engagement practices, or family capacity-building practices as a tool for self-assessment and continuous quality improvement.
Do You Provide Professional Development as an Instructor or Faculty Member?
Pair the article with video observations—After reading the article, ask participants to observe videos that show family–teacher interactions. Using the chart of DEC Family Recommended Practices on page 2, ask participants to watch for examples of how those practices are being implemented in the videos. One source for videos is CONNECT Module 4: Family-Professional Partnerships. Videos 4.5-4.7 and 4.8-4.10 show conversations between a mother and a teacher (http://community.fpg.unc.edu/connect-modules/learners/module-4).
Use the DEC RP modules—New modules are now available online for learning about and implementing the DEC Recommended Practices (https://rpm.fpg.unc.edu). Each module includes free interactive, multimedia content, and lessons focused on a specific area of practice. The website also has a searchable resource library of audio clips, handouts, and activities related to DEC recommended practices, as well as an instructor section with learning guides, tutorials, and more.
Consider families of diverse cultures, languages, and circumstances—Prompt participants to consider how the practices described in the article might be different for different families. For example, what, if anything, might change if the family spoke a language other than English and interactions included an interpreter. How might the interaction change in a family with a cultural priority for ceding decision-making authority to the “experts”? And how might the approach differ for families of different life circumstances (e.g., homeless)? One way to organize consideration of these differences would be to create brief vignettes describing a particular child/family. Participants could then be asked to find and share additional evidence-based practices for supporting interactions with that family (e.g., what additional practices would it be important to know about when supporting families who are experiencing homelessness?).
“Consider families of diverse cultures, languages, and circumstances—Prompt participants to consider how the practices described in the article might be different for different families.”
Do You Support Early Childhood Quality as an Administrator, Coach, Mentor, Supervisor, or Technical Assistance Provider?
DEC Recommended Practices for Teaming and Collaboration—In addition to the DEC Recommended Family Practices highlighted by the author, the content of this article also aligns strongly with the DEC Recommended Practices for Teaming and Collaboration. Consider using a tool like the Communication for Teaming and Collaboration Checklist (http://ectacenter.org/~pdfs/decrp/TC-2_Communication_Teaming_Collaboration_2018.pdf) to observe an interaction between an early childhood professional and a family and then to guide feedback to the professional about both strengths and opportunities for improvement.