Allen Chapter 9

Allen and Cowdery The Exceptional Child: Inclusion in Early Childhood Education, Ninth Edition. © 2022 Cengage. All
Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Partnership with Families
Chapter 9

Chapter Objectives (1 of 2)
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
9-1 Provide a historical perspective on family involvement.
9-2 Define the concept of family uniqueness and explain how this concept
affects teachers’ practices in early childhood education.
9-3 List the components of family-centered practice.

Chapter Objectives (2 of 2)
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
9-4 Describe the various ways parents and families participate in their
child’s program.
9-5 List five or more ways for teachers to communicate with parents.

Historical Perspectives
• Role of family in planning, implementing and evaluating early childhood
special education programs has changed dramatically
• Early intervention services have moved from child-centered to family-
centered
• Legislative support for family support

What is a Family?
Families are big, small, extended, nuclear, multi-generational, with one parent,
two parents, and grandparents, or with no one blood-related. We live under
one roof or many. A family can be as temporary as a few weeks, or permanent.
We become part of a family by birth, adoption, marriage, or from a desire for
mutual support…A family is a culture unto itself with different values and
unique ways of realizing its dreams. Together, our families become the source
of our rich cultural heritage and spiritual diversity. Our families create
neighborhoods, communities, states, and nations. (Bissell, n.d.)

Discussion Activity 1
1. Break into small groups
2. Prepare a brief profile on three different family structures found among
your friends or extended family.
3. Be specific about the caregiving arrangement for the infants and young
children.

Discussion Activity 1 Debrief
1. Which family structures did your group create profiles for?
2. What specifics did your group include on caregiving arrangements for
infants and young children?

Family Uniqueness
• Families with whom we work may come from different cultures, speak
different languages, or live in different social environments.
• These families may have different attitudes and beliefs about child-rearing
practices and early education.

Becoming Culturally Competent (1 of 2)
Learn more about the families in the community you serve.
• Work with cultural mediators or guides from the family’s culture to learn more about the
culture, including interaction styles, child-rearing practices, and cultural beliefs about
disability.
• Learn words and forms of greeting in the family’s language.
• Allow additional time to work with interpreters and be sure to find appropriate interpreters.
• Older school-age siblings are not appropriate interpreters for IEP meetings

Becoming Culturally Competent (2 of 2)
Learn more about the families in the community you serve.
• Use modes of communication that are acceptable and meaningful to the family. Families
may want to communicate via e-mail, voice-mail messages, or text messages.
• Use as few written forms as possible for families who are ELL. When forms are used, be
sure they are available in the family’s language.
• Recognize that the collaboration assumed in family-centered early intervention programs
may not be comfortable for families from different cultures.

Families of Children With Disabilities
• Some families say they become closer as they learn to adapt to a child’s
disability and that the child’s disability has enhanced the existing strengths
of their family. Other are less able to cope and pulled apart.
• Vast majority of research surrounding people who gave birth to children with
disabilities
• Family dynamics must include attention extended to siblings, grandparents,
and in-laws as well

Family Adjustment
• Grief is typically the first emotion—the family grieves the alteration of the
future they had envisioned for their child.
• Decisions need to be made, causing stress.
• Families need to work together for the benefit of the child and the family
stability.

Family-centered Practice (1 of 2)
Three key elements
1. An emphasis on strengths, not deficits
2. Promoting family choice and control over desired resources
3. Development of a collaborative relationship between parents and professionals
DEC Categories of Recommended Practices
1. Family-centered practices
2. Family capacity-building practices
3. Family and professional collaboration

NAEYC’s Principles and Guidelines
Principle 1—Programs invite families to participate in decision making and goal
setting for their child.
Principle 2—Teachers and programs engage families in two-way communication.
Principle 3—Programs and teachers engage families in ways that are truly
reciprocal.
Principle 4—Programs provide learning activities for the home and in the
community.
Principle 5—Programs invite families to participate in program-level decisions
and wider advocacy efforts
Principle 6—Programs implement a comprehensive program-level system of
family engagement

Family-centered Practice (2 of 2)
Enabling and Empowering Families
• Enabling is creating opportunities for family members to become more competent and self-
sustaining with respect to their abilities to mobilize their social networks to get needs met
and attain goals.
• Empowering is carrying out interventions in a manner in which family members acquire a
sense of control over their own developmental course as a result of their own efforts to
meet needs.

Knowledge Check Activity 1
How does the category of sharing responsibility and collaboration facilitate
enhanced therapeutic practice?
a. Provides individualized intervention
b. Provides resources to prevent disruption
c. Develops appropriate family outcomes and shares information so family can make
decisions
d. Moves beyond strength and assets

Knowledge Check Activity 1: Answer
How does the category of sharing responsibility and collaboration facilitate
enhanced therapeutic practice?
Answer: c. Develops appropriate family outcomes and shares information so family can
make decisions

Rationale for Parent Participation (1 of 2)
1. Parents are the major socializing agents for their child, the primary
transmitters of cultural values, beliefs, and traditions.
2. Children with disabilities acquire developmental skills more quickly when
parents participate in home teaching.
3. Involvement in the early intervention program offers parents access to
support from other parents and a better perspective on their own child’s
strengths and needs.

Rationale for Parent Participation (2 of 2)
4. Consistency of adult expectations can be maintained. Young children
become anxious when important adults do not agree on expectations.
Confusion—even resistance—may result if, for example, teachers expect a
child to put on his or her own coat while parents always do it for the child.
5. Parents know their child better than teachers or clinicians; thus, parents
are a source of unique information.
6. Family members can help the child transfer learning from school to home
and neighborhood.
7. Only a few hours a day are spent in school; many more hours are spent at
home.

Degree of Parent Participation
The extent to which parents can be actively involved in their child’s services
depends on a number of factors
• Work schedule and job constraints
• Additional young children at home who need care
• Availability of transportation
• Parental health (both physical and psychological)
• Parental maturity and understanding of the child’s needs
• Attitudes toward school, teachers, and authority figures
• Cultural and linguistic match with the program

Epstein’s Framework of Parent Involvement (1 of 2)
Parenting—Help all families establish home environments to support children
as students
Communicating—Design effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-
school communications about school programs and children’s progress.
Volunteering—Recruit and organize parent help and support
Learning at home—Provide information and ideas to families about how to
help students at home with homework and other curriculum-related activities,
decisions, and planning.

Epstein’s Framework of Parent Involvement (2 of 2)
Decision making—Include parents in school decisions, developing parent
leaders and representatives.
Collaborating with the community—Identify and integrate resources and
services from the community to strengthen school programs, family practices,
and student learning and development.

Communicating with Parents
• Informal exchanges
• Telephone calls
• Written notes, including emails
• Texts
• Photos and Videos
• Class websites and e-mail updates
• Newsletters
• Parent and teacher meetings
• Parent support groups
• Parent feedback
• Home visits

Case Study
Sofia and her mother just moved into the area and enrolled in your preschool
class. Sofia’s mom is a single parent who works two jobs to make ends meet.
She drops off Sofia one to two times a week, but on most days Sofia is
transported back and forth by a babysitter. Sofia’s mom speaks primarily
Spanish and some English.
a. What are some things that you, as the teacher, can implement in order to develop a
trusting relationship with Sofia’s mom?

Summary (1 of 2)
Now that the lesson has ended, you should have learned how to:
• Provide a historical perspective on family involvement.
• Define the concept of family uniqueness and explain how this concept affects teachers’
practices in early childhood education.
• List the components of family-centered practice.

Summary (2 of 2)
Now that the lesson has ended, you should have learned how to:
• Describe the various ways parents and families participate in their child’s program.
• List five or more ways for teachers to communicate with parents.

Allen Chapter 9

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Allen Chapter 9