The Importance Of Family Engagement Help

The Importance Of Family Engagement Help

Page 1: The Importance of Family Engagement
In the social and academic development of children, both educators and families play integral and overlapping roles. When families and schools work together to help children grow in these areas, they are more likely to be successful. Family engagement is a practice in which families* and school personnel collaborate to support and improve the learning and development of children. Sometimes, this practice is referred to as parent engagement, parent involvement, or family-school partnership.

But family engagement means more than simply informing parents about their child’s progress or challenges, where communication is primarily one-way—that is, from the teacher to the parent. Rather, family engagement happens when educators actively encourage families to participate in meaningful ways, and families support their children at home as well as at school. This establishes a mutually beneficial relationship, one in which educators are committed to listening and collaborating with families and families are committed to prioritizing their children’s education. This relationship between schools and families is:

· Centered around student development and learning

· Reciprocal, in that both schools and families benefit from it

· Developed through trust and respect

· Ongoing, in that it carries on throughout a child’s entire time in school

*Families are defined in a number of ways and may include stepparents, grandparents, adoptive parents, foster parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and cousins. For some, the extended family may also comprise neighbors, clergy, community leaders, or anyone actively involved in caring for the child.

Effective family engagement doesn’t happen overnight. It requires thoughtful planning and takes time and effort to develop and maintain. Further, the practices associated with family engagement may be unique to different schools or families. That said, in order to engage families, educators generally must:

· Get to know families. This includes their family composition, challenges, and experiences.

· Build positive relationships. This entails establishing trust and mutual respect.

· Meaningfully involve families. This means actively creating opportunities for parents to collaborate with educators.

Page 2: Emotional Reactions to Disability
To begin the process of getting to know families, educators must first recognize that families can experience many emotions related to having a child with a disability, and that these emotions are not fixed. They usually change over time. For example, though it is not uncommon for parents initially to experience grief or despair, these feelings often change to ones of joy and strength. Let’s look more closely at these emotional reactions and how they might fluctuate over time.

Range of Emotions
Some parents of children with disabilities might be dealing with the loss of their original hopes and dreams for their child. Similar to families who have had to deal with the loss of a loved one, the families of children with disabilities may go through the emotional states described in the table below. These states do not necessarily occur in an orderly sequence, and they can repeat themselves when a family’s child experiences—or should be experiencing—key milestones or transitions. Such parents often describe their lives as emotional roller coasters as they face the ups and downs of raising a child with a disability. Educators can help by being sensitive and by making themselves aware of how grief might play a part in the family’s experiences.

Emotion

Examples of how the parent might display the emotion

Denial

Parent denies his or her child has a disability.

Anxiety

Parent goes through dramatic change that might affect his or her attitudes, values, beliefs, and routines.

Fear

Parent may feel concerned about letting his or her child with a disability do certain things (protective).

Depression

Parent may experience uncontrollable tears, sadness, and feelings of hopelessness.

Guilt

Parent may feel he or she is somehow to blame for the disability or the situation.

Anger

Parent may act out his or her anger or direct it toward another person.

(Adapted from Childhood Disability: A Parent’s Struggle, by K. Moses, 1987, and You Are Not Alone: For Parents When They Learn Their Child has a Disability, by P. McGill Smith, 2010.)

Just as the families of children with disabilities might experience anxiety or grief, so too might they experience and express feelings of strength, hope, joy, love, and pride. In fact, many families find that their child with a disability has positively impacted their lives by:

· Increasing their ability to love and to accept differences

· Strengthening their family ties

· Giving them a greater sense of pride in their child’s accomplishments

· Leading them to learn more about disabilities and advocacy roles

· Making them more patient, understanding, and tolerant

· Teaching them to enjoy the little things in life

Supporting Families
It is important for educators to understand that families of children with disabilities are likely to experience a wide range of sometimes contradictory emotions, and that one of their most important roles is to be supportive. They can do this by:

· Accepting families

· Understanding that each family is unique in how they deal with their child’s disability

· Building on the strengths of the family

Page 3: Additional Roles of Families
Another consideration educators should keep in mind is that the families of children with disabilities often assume roles and responsibilities that extend beyond those typically associated with more conventional parental roles. These additional roles may:

· Create considerable time demands

· Require more specialized knowledge and skills

· Require more effort and attention

he roles and responsibilities described by Luz Hernandez were centered around her child’s medical condition. However, the roles parents assume will vary, depending on the needs of their own children. The table below describes some of the additional roles that the parents of a child with a disability might assume.

Role

Description

Case Manager

Overseeing all educational, health, and related services for the purpose of communicating and coordinating the care of the child

Medical/Insurance Expert

Understanding the medical issues surrounding the child and his or her disability or medical condition and communicating to others involved in the child’s care as well as navigating insurance coverage, denials, and appeals

Advocate

Speaking out in the best interest of the child

Inclusion Specialist

Ensuring that the child is included in typical classroom activities and routines as much as possible

Transition Specialist

Creating continuity by easing the transition between teachers, grades, schools, and post-school environments (e.g., college, vocational school, employment)

Personal Future Planner

Assisting in planning for the child’s future (e.g., college, employment, financial arrangements) by exploring all areas of interest, aptitude, strengths, and needs

upporting Families
In some circumstances, the additional roles adopted by families will last only a little while; in others, and depending on the complexity of the child’s disability, those roles may last a lifetime. For many families, these new responsibilities can be both time-consuming and overwhelming. These time demands can result in less time for the parents to commit to school activities. To support these families, educators can:

· Accommodate their schedules

· Listen and respond to their concerns

· Help them learn to navigate the education and social service systems

· Assist them with finding support networks

Page 4: Stressors of Daily Living
In addition to coping with emotional issues and additional roles, the families of children with disabilities may experience significant stressors related to daily life. Although these stressors may sometimes interfere with families’ ability to participate in school-related events and activities, teachers should take care not to assume that these families are not interested in or supportive of their child’s education. Let’s examine a few of the more common challenges these parents experience.

Families who have children with disabilities may need assistance in areas such as emotional support, financial assistance, respite care, childcare for children with and without disabilities, and transportation. Despite these needs, many report that they receive little support from their extended families due to a lack of understanding, limited availability, and numerous other factors.

In general, the costs associated with raising a child with a disability are much greater than those of raising a child without one. These might include tutoring, accommodations like wheelchair ramps, assistive technology, or private therapies (e.g., speech therapy, occupational therapy, counseling). And such struggles are only compounded by employment-related concerns. It is common for the families of children with disabilities to lose income because a parent finds it necessary to work fewer hours per week (e.g., due to a lack of after-school programs for children with disabilities) or else quits his or her job to assume full-time care for the child. Others find it difficult to secure employment or to remain employed because of the time they are obligated to be away from work (e.g., to accompany a child to medical appointments).

Access to health insurance and navigating the healthcare system are also significant stressors for many families of children with disabilities. As do all families, they often face unanticipated changes to healthcare benefits, co-payment requirements, or deductibles, all of which contribute to continued stress and hardship. Moreover, some experience difficulty obtaining insurance or face high premiums due to the number of healthcare services required by the child. Others who have insurance through an employer are hesitant to change jobs or careers in fear of losing their coverage. In extreme cases, such healthcare costs might even cause some to file for bankruptcy.

Supporting Families
The families of children with disabilities may experience significant stressors related to meeting everyday living needs, which can often be vast and difficult to manage. Although education is important to these families, at times their day-to-day needs may take precedence over everything else. Educators can provide support by:

· Listening to families and acknowledging their stressors

· Understanding each family’s individual circumstances

· Making available a list of community resources

Page 5: Build Positive Relationships
Recall that to successfully achieve family engagement, educators must get to know, build positive relationships with, and meaningfully involve families. Establishing positive relationships creates an atmosphere conducive to family involvement. This is vital in improving outcomes for students, families, and the school, as well as in the greater community. Let’s look at a number of actions educators can take to accomplish this.

Creating an accepting and supportive environment is the first step in welcoming families. When families enter a school building, they should feel valued and included. This is especially true for the families of children with disabilities, who may already be grappling with a number of stressors. But a welcoming school environment is more than just a friendly front office staff. The interactions of everyone in the school—administrators, teachers, support staff, students, and visitors—should be caring and supportive. Educators can welcome families by creating opportunities for parents to make positive connections within the school. They can do this by:

· Scheduling events at times convenient for parents

· Hosting special events that foster connections (e.g., Meet the Teacher Night, Coffee and Conversations with the Principal, School Tours, Family Fun Night)

· Hosting parent nights that address parent concerns (e.g., Internet Safety for Children, Free Adult English Classes, Your Rights as a Parent of a Child with a Disability)

· Offering volunteer opportunities for parents (e.g., read to a class, guest speaker, car rider line volunteer)

· Holding a multicultural night to celebrate the different cultures represented in the school

· Providing a translator when necessary and making information available in families’ home language

Often parents of children with disabilities are struck by how differently their children are described during conversations and conferences with educators. When educators talk about a child who doesn’t have a disability or an identified need, they often focus on that child’s abilities, talents, and progress. Conversely, when they speak of a child with a disability, educators tend to focus on deficits, challenges, or areas that need to be addressed. It is important for educators to recognize that the child has strengths and to communicate that to the families.

In addition to emphasizing the child’s strengths, educators should acknowledge the strengths that families possess (e.g., knowledge about the child’s disability, experience using successful strategies with the child at home). Doing so will establish the basis for a more meaningful partnership between schools and families.

Some families might feel hesitant to visit the school because they do not trust educators. This is often the result of families not feeling respected by educators or of past experiences with schools. To begin building respectful and trusting relationships, educators should:

· Be available and responsive — This can be accomplished by simple acts, such as sharing contact information and actively listening to parental concerns. Additionally, educators returning phone or email messages in a timely manner, and following through with what they say they will do also helps to build trust.

· Maintain confidentiality — Educators must be mindful to not share any personal or sensitive information about the family with others except on a need-to-know basis and even then only with the family’s express permission.

· Recognize that families may have different perspectives — These perspectives may be influenced by such factors as background experiences, culture, and educational levels. For example, some people view disability negatively as a condition to “fix,” while others adopt a more positive perspective and think of disability as a characteristic of a person and a natural part of life. Parents will also have different perspectives on school involvement. Some parents will wish to take on the role of active partners with the school, whereas other parents might tend to view educators or schools as experts and assume a more hands-off approach.

Generally speaking, parents are the one constant influence and presence in their child’s life. For many children with disabilities, parents are actively involved in their lives well into adulthood, whereas teachers influence their lives for only one or two school years. When educators recognize parents as the ultimate decision-makers on behalf of their child and view learning as a shared responsibility with families, the child’s educational needs are more likely to be met.

To respect parents as ultimate-decision makers, educators need to recognize them as advocates for their child (at least until the child reaches the age of majority). For example, when parents are equal and valued members of the individualized education program (IEP) team, they can:

· Offer valuable insight about their children’s skills and abilities, information that educators can use to identify students’ strengths and areas of need and provide them with quality services

· Promote the continuity of services, interventions, and practices

· Between home and school — Parents often serve as the bridge between the school and the community because students with disabilities often require assistance in areas other than academics (e.g., healthcare needs, behavioral therapy, or transitioning from secondary school to employment).

· From year to year — Parents are often the only people (other than the students themselves) who remain part of their child’s IEP team throughout the school years.

Educators can forge increasingly positive relationships by remembering to focus on what they and the parents have in common—a desire to see the child succeed in school. Each encounter with a parent is an opportunity to build the relationship. On occasion, a teacher may not understand or agree with a parent’s decision about how to best address the needs of the child. It might be that the parent’s decision is based on factors, such as past experiences, of which the teacher is unaware. Or it might be that the family doesn’t understand the processes related to the provision of special education services and supports. In such instances, communication is key.

Page 7: Involving Families During Distance Learning
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, educators everywhere have faced the question of how to meet the needs of their students through distance learning. For some, this is achieved using virtual instruction (either synchronous, asynchronous, or a combination of the two) while for others it means providing packets of learning activities. In many cases, the shift to distance instruction has proved to be a challenge, but this is especially the case for many teachers and related service providers of students with disabilities as they determine how to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) and address their students’ IEP goals.

During a time of distance learning, family engagement is critical for ensuring that the needs of students—particularly those with disabilities—are being met. Educators can continue to facilitate meaningful family engagement through the actions discussed on the previous pages of this module (e.g., building positive relationships, communicating, and making shared decisions). However, the focus of each might be slightly different as the educational environments and types of instructional delivery have changed. To learn more about how to facilitate engagement during distance learning, click on each topic below.

To encourage and maintain family engagement during school closures and distance learning, educators must keep the lines of communication open. By doing so, they can inform families of education-related changes in a timely manner and assess families’ current situations and needs. Likewise, parents can notify educators when they have a concern or require information or instructional support. Following are a number of actions educators can take to facilitate two-way communication with parents.

· Prioritize frequent contact (e.g., weekly) with each family and child.

· Offer options for communication (e.g., email, phone, school-based communication apps, school-related social media accounts, video conferences).

· Identify and communicate through the families preferred mode of communication and language.

· Schedule “office hours” devoted to communicating with parents or students about their needs or concerns. Be sure to offer these hours on different days and at different times to better accommodate the needs of all families.

· Create a communication plan in collaboration with each family to more effectively discuss the child’s education (e.g., assigned learning activities, educational goals). Make sure the plan includes preferred means and times for communication.

Once educators have contacted the families, they should have a better understanding of the families’ situations during this time of school closures and distance learning. Families may be experiencing additional challenges, such as:

· Temporary or permanent loss of a job (by one or more caregivers)

· Inability to access basic needs, such as food

· Juggling the demands of working from home while supervising their child’s at-home learning

· Monitoring the learning of not only their child with a disability but also that of one or more siblings

· Lack of access to electronic devices or Internet access required to participate in online learning

With an understanding of the families’ needs and challenges, educators can more effectively respond to their concerns or provide support. Being responsive to the families’ needs will also help to build a positive relationship. The amount and type of support each family needs will vary. As noted below, educators should consider nonacademic as well as academic supports.

Did You Know?
The IRIS Center developed a module that offers parents tips to support their child’s learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

· Parents: Supporting Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Nonacademic supports: Some families may be struggling to access basic needs such as food. Before discussing virtual instruction or educational goals, educators may need to connect the family to community resources that can address their needs (e.g., meals provided by the school district, community food drives).

Academic supports: Families who are ready to engage in distance instruction will also need varying levels of support. The level of support will depend on a number of factors, such as the child’s disability, age, grade level, and learning needs; the resources that are available in the home; and cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic factors. By keeping in mind each families’ strengths and needs, culture, and language, educators can more effectively consider how best to support them. Following are a few areas in which families may need support, as well as examples of how to address those needs.

Area of Need

Examples of Support

Lack of resources needed to support a child’s academic needs

· Provide a laptop or tablet

· Inform the family of school-provided Wi-Fi hotspots

· Provide packets of educational materials if laptops and Wi-Fi are not available

Inability to provide sufficient support to the child for instructional activities

· Some families may not have time to assist with instructional activities (especially within a narrow time frame) due to factors such work schedules or caring for other family members.

· Others may not understand the skills and concepts being presented.

Lack of availability

· Consider families’ work schedules and availability

· Allow flexibility for the completion of assignments

· Offer options for participation that allow the family to take part in a way that is manageable

Lack of knowledge

· Provide support and guidance to students and families (e.g., one-on-one instructional support for the student)

· Direct parents or students to district supports (e.g., homework hotlines) or online supports (e.g., Khan Academy)

Difficulty understanding written or verbal communication or instructions provided in English

· Provide written and verbal information in the family’s native language

Difficulty using apps or programs required by the school or keeping up with multiple apps (e.g., used by the school, by one teacher, or across service providers)

· Give quick overviews of the key features of the apps with easy-to-follow written instructions, links to how-to videos from the developers, or a virtual walkthrough

· Coordinate program and app use across classes, providers, and grades

Difficulty addressing the students’ learning barriers or instructional needs

· Offer guidance on how to implement the child’s accommodations at home

· Provide instructional interventions virtually

When transitioning from learning at school to learning at home, a student might require new services or accommodations to meet his or her educational needs. If this is the case, the student’s IEP will need to be changed to reflect these changes to his or her specialized instruction. These changes can be made by convening a virtual IEP team meeting and redrafting the IEP. Alternately, the child’s parents and school can agree not to have an IEP meeting but instead to develop an amendment—a written document that modifies and is attached to the student’s current IEP. In either case, the parents should be a part of the decision-making process. This means discussing with the parent whether proposed changes are necessary and appropriate.

As these changes are implemented, the parents and the educator(s) who oversee the services should communicate frequently to assess the effectiveness of the changes and to make adjustments as needed. In the case of distance learning, the parent may have valuable insight into their child’s responsiveness to the changes and outside factors that may be impacting his or her progress.

To promote share decision-making, educators should:

· Establish and maintain open lines of communication.

· Frequently inform the parents of their child’s progress toward meeting her IEP goals and objectives.

· Involve parents in any changes to their child’s IEP.

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