Parents And Families Of Students With Special Needs

Parents and Families of Students With Special Needs: Collaborating Across the Age Span teaches students the skills they need to effectively collaborate with parents and families to ensure a child's success in the classroom. Authors Vicki A. McGinley and Melina Alexander’s text takes a lifespan approach with a special emphasis on the critical transition points in a child’s life. Information is provided on what can be seen at each stage of an individual with disabilities’ development, and addresses concerns and needs that families may have during these unique phases of growth. Chapters written by professors and professionals who are also parents of students with special needs bring a diverse range of voices into the narrative. The authors provide an in-depth discussion of how parents and families are affected by particular disabilities, family system theory, the laws that affect individuals with disabilities, and assessments for individuals with disabilities.

Move beyond conflict to true collaboration with difficult parents of children with special needs by understanding their perspectives and using appropriate methods to address their concerns!

Parents and Families of Students With Special Needs: Collaborating Across the Age Span teaches students the skills they need to effectively collaborate with parents and families to ensure a child's success in the classroom. Authors Vicki A. McGinley and Melina Alexander’s text takes a lifespan approach with a special emphasis on the critical transition points in a child’s life. Information is provided on what can be seen at each stage of an individual with disabilities’ development, and addresses concerns and needs that families may have during these unique phases of growth. Chapters written by professors and professionals who are also parents of students with special needs bring a diverse range of voices into the narrative. The authors provide an in-depth discussion of how parents and families are affected by particular disabilities, family system theory, the laws that affect individuals with disabilities, and assessments for individuals with disabilities.

Parents and Families of Children with Disabilities: Providing Effective School Based Support Services provides educators and paraprofessionals with the necessary motivation, research-based practices, skills, and resources to collaborate effectively with families to develop family-centered schools. The book challenges educators to rethink the traditional roles and responsibilities of public schools, training teachers and paraprofessionals how to achieve effective stress management, child advocacy, and transition planning, as well as how to provide academic intervention for the families of children with disabilities and the diverse communities that surround them. Highlights of this book include: Communication and Collaboration Tips provide practical suggestions and examples to professionals that help foster partnership and trust A groundbreaking chapter on Providing Supports for Siblings of children with disabilities (Chapter 2) A chapter on providing Educational Support Services to Assist Parents and Families in Designing and Implementing Positive Behavior Interventions (Chapter 9) A realistic focus on the personal stories of the families of students with disabilities through case study Perspectives and a concluding chapter on Family Stories Illustrating School Based Support A wide variety of pedagogical features in every chapter, including: Learning Objectives, chapter opening Vignettes revisited again at the chapter conclusion, Summary Statements, Questions for Discussion, Reflection Activities, and annotated web link Resources

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

Includes CD-Rom `This very timely book...aims to support practitioners to work in partnership with parents, particularly those parents whose children have special or additional needs...It very clearly sets out the principles, legislative framework and processes which are essential knowledge for all SENCOs and managers in early years settings′ - Early Years Update `The book has a positive approach to all aspects of working with parents and children...It′s a book you can easily dip in and out of and is written in plain English...There aren′t many textbooks I can read from cover to cover but this is one - I found it really interesting and enlightening. Score - 10 out of ten′ - National Childminding Association `In short, this book provides almost everything you need in order to work successfully with parents′ - Early Years Educator Are you looking for advice on how to work successfully with parents? Every practitioner knows that it is vitally important to work well with parents and make the relationship a positive and productive one, to ensure the best support for the child with special educational needs. This book offers clear strategies for ways to forge successful and lasting relationships with parents. It includes: - advice on working together with parents to improve the child′s learning - strategies for communicating effectively with parents - help for the pre-school SENCO, showing how they can lead the process - tips for building successful links with other related professionals - activities and case studies - a CD Rom with checklists and useful photocopiable material. This book is ideal for all those working with the 0 to 5 age range, such as pre-school practitioners, nursery managers, advisory teachers, SENCOs, Inclusion Officers and Child Care and Education students and tutors. Chris Dukes and Maggie Smith are both Area SENCOs who work closely with pre-school SENCOs and Managers on a daily basis.

More than 6.5 million children in the US receive special education services; in any given community, approximately one child out of every six will get speech therapy, go to counseling, attend classes exclusively with other children with disabilities, or receive some other service that allows him or her to learn. This new revised edition is a step-by-step guide to serving children and youth with disabilities as well as the family members, caregivers, and other people involved in their lives. The authors show how staff can enable full use of the library’s resources by integrating the methods of educators, medical and psychological therapists, social workers, librarians, parents, and other caregivers. Widening the scope to address the needs of teens as well as preschool and school-age children, this edition also discusses the needs of Spanish-speaking children with disabilities and their families, looking at cultural competency as well as Spanish-language resources. Enhanced with checklists, stories based on real experiences, descriptions of model programs and resources, and an overview of appropriate internet sites and services, this how-to gives thorough consideration to Partnering and collaborating with parents and other professionals Developing special collections and resources Assessing competencies and skills Principles underlying family-centered services and resource-based practices The interrelationship of early intervention, special education, and library service This manual will prove valuable not only to children’s services librarians, outreach librarians, and library administrators, but also early intervention and family support professionals, early childhood and special educators, childcare workers, daycare and after school program providers, and policymakers.

For preservice students taking special education courses as well as inservice educators seeking professional development. An engaging discussion of the legal, ethical, practical, and cultural considerations of working with families of special needs children. With a strong focus on the families of special needs children, this first edition text provides students with both the information to understand the challenges and needs of these families as well as the skills and strategies required of educators working with such families. Containing a thorough discussion of the common legal and ethical concerns surrounding children with special needs and their families, this book also emphasizes the many individual differences among families. With that in mind, the authors focus on diversity in families with special needs children, cultural considerations, age, and communication with special needs families. In addition, a distinctive final chapter called "A Family's Voice," gives students the special opportunity to hear about the unique thoughts and experiences of a large selection of family members of children with special needs.