DNE: Lecture 15*

• What would you do if you suspect a child may have special needs in your class?

  1. What do you do first?

  2. How would you inform the family?

  3. What does early intervention mean?
• "…and its not just a sentence, every word is important because you are hanging on to everything they say and you will remember every word that they say, it sticks in your mind. They need to really plan their sentences and their words because this is going to stay with you for the rest of your life.": 'Understanding parents'
• Possible response of parents

  • Shock – " Why me"
  • Anxiety and confusion
  • Stress and Depression
  • Anger and resentment
  • Denial and defense mechanism – "Not us!"
  • Child is rejected – disappointed and bewildered
  • Ambivalence
  • Guilt
• Other emotional overtones at this point

  • helplessness, self-punishment, hopelessness
  • frustrated, injured, agitated, miserable
• Possible response of parents

  • Overprotection and overindulgence
  • Parents seek genuine help
• Guiding principles of informing families of their child's disability

  • Family Centered Disclosure
  • Respect for Child and Family
  • Sensitive and Empathetic Communication
  • Appropriate, Accurate Information
  • Positive, Realistic Message and Hope
  • Team Approach and Planning
  • Focused and Supported Implementation of Best Practice
• Involving parents

  1. Should child care personnel try to involve parents in collaborative screening effort?

  2. How can you involve parents in the screening progress?

  3. What do you think is the minimum parent participation this process requires?

  4. What do you think would be ideal parental involvement?
• Four basic tasks

  • Organizing
  • Scheduling
  • Executing
  • Following Through
• Discussion with parents

  1. Schedule a specific time to discuss results and concerns with parents

  2. When talking to the parents explain that the screening identified some concerns about the child's development and further assessment is in order

  3. Show the parents where the child did well on the questionnaire

  4. Explain the scores to parents and ask for confirmation of your observations

  5. Use understandable terminology; be prepared to explain jargons

  6. Be prepared to make referrals

  7. Answer all the questions you can, but do not make promises to the parents that are beyond your control

  8. Request permission to contact a service provider or local agency
• Tips of handling complex conditions with parents

  • Handling challenging parents
  • Handling angry parents
  • Responding to unreasonable requests from parents
  • You are being accused
  • disagreement with parents
  • View as personal grows
  • Keep respectful manner and take notes
  • Seek help e.g. special education teacher / administrator
  • Not to defend yourself immediately
  • Avoid making unilateral statements
  • Let parents know that you will take their opinion into account and get back to them soon
  • Seek additional information, assistance and opinions for resolving the matters concerned
• Enhancing communication between parents and schools

  • During Conversation
  • Usual practices
• Involving parents of language minority

  • Use parent liaisons/advisors
  • Home visits
  • Make use of community resources e.g. interpreters, organizations, clubs etc.
  • Be aware of what the student learns from his or her culture and linguistic differences
  • Offer training classes for family members (e.g. language classes etc.)
• Planning home-school collaboration activities

  1. Establish communication channels

  2. Parent education activities

  3. Parent volunteers

  4. Keep parents informed

  5. Encourage and support parents to establish communication channels among each other