Working with Parents of Special Education Students

January 5th, 2009 By: Suzanne Zentner, Ph.D., William Smith, Ed.D. in Articles, School Turnaround, Teachers' Corner

Editor’s Note: Dr. Zentner is Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning for the Isaac School District in Arizona and a member of Inside the School’s Editorial Board. Dr. Smith is Director of Special Education with the Isaac School District.

Special Education law is increasingly layered with details, caveats and other complications that often result in schools and parents, neither being legal council, being caught in interpretation. Yet despite its cumbersome details, school districts and parents are after the same goal; to educate all children, regardless of disability.

And thus, the federal mandate (Public Law 102-119), known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was born. This mandate states that all disabled children will receive a free appropriate public education by the school district and the district must provide all related services at no cost to the child or his/her parents.

It is our opinion that in order to best work with parents of special education children, it is best to understand them first.

For the sake of organization, we categorized them into groups. By doing so, perhaps you can more easily think about how to work with them, as educating their child is a team effort. It is important to note that we are in no case saying that any of these parents are not good parents. As we would do for our child?

1. Denial – These parents are those who are in disbelief that their child may have a disability. Disabilities come in many shapes and sizes and often are not detected immediately. Autism, as an example, is a disability that greatly varies in severity and may not be visible until the child is well into their school years.
2. Chip On Shoulder – These parents are in many ways bitter about the disability and come from a perspective of the school / district owing them something. They are commonly dissatisfied with services and the performance of their child.
3. Advocates – These parents are very well versed in the laws and work hard to continue to move the field forward. They see themselves as part of the solution and feel part of their life mission is to advocate for rights and changes.
4. Savvy – These parents, typically from wealthy school districts, who hire personal advocates or attorneys to push issues to their extreme. They often threaten districts to go to court over Due Process rights or the like, are willing to contact the media if their demands are not met and in many cases receive unprecedented services (i.e. out-of-state placement, extra equipment, extra aid support, etc.). These parents will often arrive at an IEP with a personal attorney.
5. Equality Not Equity – These parents advocate for their child to be fully mainstreamed into the regular education classroom, despite level of disability. It is common for parents of children with disabilities to want ‘normal’ activities for their children and to experience the day as ‘normal’ children do.

Districts must be aware that engaging in any legal battles require substantial resources of time and monies, the risk of negative publicity (i.e. not advocates for all students).

It should be noted that in the case where districts lose court battles, they may be ordered by the court to pay for the legal fees incurred by both the district as well as the plaintiff (i.e. parent(s)/guardian(s) for the student).

Although rights, laws and policies are intended to provide support for an individual or group of individuals, we would be remiss to complete this article without mentioning the concern of over-labeling children. It has been the observation of both authors that there is a disproportionate number of minority and second language learners that are often referred for special education services.

For a myriad of reasons, it is imperative that districts have very clear and concise parameters for all special education referrals and evaluations as the long term implications for students, should they be improperly classified are daunting.

Please take great deliberation, gather a variety of data, seek the input of a variety of staff and parents invest thoughtfulness and sensitivity on everyone’s part.

Tags: parents, special education