Five Ways to Collaborate With Families of Students with Disabilities

From the Marshall Memo #435

“Families’ involvement in their children’s education stands out as one of the greatest predictors of growth and well-being for students with disabilities,” say Caitlin Edwards (Nashville Public Schools) and Alexandra Da Fonte (Vanderbilt University) in this Teaching Exceptional Children article. “Not surprisingly, when teachers strive to build working partnerships with families of students with disabilities, home-school collaboration, and, in turn, student achievement increase.” Here is their five-point strategy:

• Be positive, proactive, and solution-oriented. “When working with students with disabilities,” say Edwards and Da Fonte, “remember that despite the challenges presented, raising children with a disability is no less rewarding or fulfilling than raising children without disabilities.” Their suggestions:

• Send home a concise, easy-to-read description of your classroom expectations at the beginning of the year, along with consequences for meeting and not meeting them.
• Call families in the first week of school to share at least one positive thing their child has done.
• Ask families about children’s strengths and areas of need.
• Share three positive comments about each student for each critical comment.
• Share a regular homework schedule with parents.
• Ask parents to return a signed cover sheet for all important items sent home.
• Include clear directions with homework assignments.
• Do research on the specific disabilities of children in your class.
• When discussing problems that have arisen, always present ideas for solutions.

Strong bonds with families really matter, all aimed at supporting each child.

• Respect families’ roles and cultural backgrounds in their children’s lives. Families know their children best, and tapping into that knowledge and families’ unique backgrounds is vital.

• Ask families for information on their children – likes and dislikes, accomplishments, struggles, strategies that have worked in the past.
• Ask about any disability-specific information.
• Ask about accommodations they make for their child at home.
• Discuss students’ total needs – social, academic, behavioral, health-related.
• Make sure families know they can have an interpreter at meetings.
• Attend a community event or activity in which the family participates.
• Ask families if there is anything more they can tell you to better serve their child.

The keys here are outreach and respect.

• Communicate consistently, listen to families’ concerns, and work together. Families want teachers to be in touch:

• Send families information on the child’s performance.
• Let families know about delays in testing and the implementation of new services.
• Whenever possible, talk about the student without referring to the disability.
• Give families a schedule of when you are available by phone and your standards for responding to messages (e.g., 36 hours for phone calls and e-mails, one school day for notes).
• Ask families if they would like to set up a regular phone call each week.
• Contact families promptly about concerns.
• Stay in constant contact with students’ general-education teachers.
• Talk to families about home-school connections, for example, a home-school folder, a teacher web page, or regular reports to parents.

The bottom line: parents feel in touch and on top of their child’s progress.

• Consider simple, natural supports that meet each child’s individual needs. Some ideas:

• Ask families what supports they use at home and how the child responds.
• Discuss accommodations and modifications you are considering.
• Communicate with families about behavior management strategies you’re considering.
• Be flexible in changing accommodations, modifications, and strategies.
• Avoid using generalizations, for example, “I have boys, I know what they’re like.”
• Ask families if they need supports at home.
• If families need information, put them in touch with helpful resources.

Families appreciate when educators take their ideas and suggestions seriously, and generally welcome expert advice.

• Empower families with knowledge and opportunities for involvement in the context of students’ global needs. “One of the most commonly reported challenges in rearing children with disabilities is a feeling of a loss of control,” say Edwards and Da Fonte. Their advice:

• Create a packet of information on local services for people with disabilities, along with costs.
• Provide information on local support groups for families of students with disabilities.
• Frequently give families opportunities to make choices about their children’s education – for example, subject areas to focus on in homework, types of homework that work best, individualized reinforcers.
• Ask families to share the types of information about their children they find most valuable.
• Offer parent training and education nights to address specific concerns – for example, managing behavior at home, summer activities, vacation activities.
• Encourage school and community organizations to involve and support children with disabilities.

“The 5-Point Plan Fostering Successful Partnerships with Families of Students with Disabilities” by Caitlin Edwards and Alexandra Da Fonte in Teaching Exceptional Children, January/February 2012 (Vol. 44, #3, p. 6-13),

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2553965401.html ; Da Fonte can be reached at dafonte@vanderbilt.edu.