Partnering with Families

Module 7 artifact. Responses to the IRIS Center module assessment on collaborating with families.

1. Describe the range of emotions associated with being the parent of a child with a disability.

Parents of children with disabilities can experience a wide and shifting range of emotions. Early on, many describe shock, denial, grief, and a sense of loss tied to the expectations they had for their child. These can be accompanied by guilt (“did I cause this?”), anger or resentment, fear and anxiety about the future, and feelings of isolation or being overwhelmed by systems and paperwork. It is important to understand that these emotions are not a fixed sequence of stages; they can recur and resurface at transition points such as a new diagnosis, the start of school, or adolescence. Over time, many parents also experience acceptance, hope, pride, deep advocacy, and resilience. For teachers, the key takeaway is that a parent is looking for someone who has empathy for this experience. It can be from personal experience or education, but it’s important that parents in these situations feel seen and not judged for their emotional expressions.

Sometimes parents describe their lives as “emotional roller coasters”. A teacher can go get on a roller coaster at Six Flags to remember what it’s like to go up and down and side to side very quickly.

2. Identify and describe three additional roles that a parent of a child with a disability might undertake.

Beyond the everyday role of parenting, families of children with disabilities often take on additional roles.

First, the advocate: parents learn special education law and their child's rights and speak up to ensure appropriate services, often across years and multiple meetings.

Second, the case manager: parents schedule and track medical appointments, therapies, evaluations, and services, acting as the hub of information among providers who may not communicate with one another.

Third, the teacher: parents reinforce skills at home, carry over therapy goals, and provide instruction or practice that supplements school.

Parents may also be physical therapists, insurance experts, inclusion specialists, personal future planners, and transition specialists. They may perform these roles daily with a variety of support structures. It’s important to be sensitive to the hat a parent may be wearing on a particular day.

3. In your own words, briefly describe the six categories of parent involvement.

Here are the six categories:

1---Parenting: all of the work that goes into helping a student succeed at home including feeding, clothing, shelter, emotional support, etc. Teachers can help by visiting the parents at home or in the neighborhood.

2---Communicating: parents relay information from the school to other relevant persons in medicine, therapy or family life. Parents are the primary point of contact for their student whenever there is a victory or setback at school. Teachers can help by creating predictable and frequent moments for communication.

3---Volunteering: some parents volunteer at PTO or other school events. Teachers can help by issuing invitations or accommodations to volunteering events.

4---Learning at home: parents are involved in educating the students at home. This can include doing homework and preparing for tests. Teachers can help by giving families ideas and information to support learning activities at home, including homework and IEP goals. Worksheets, checklists, and information on important dates can help parents.

5---Decision-making: parents need to be involved in the IEP decisions and other school wide decisions that affect students. Teachers can help in the same way as they do for volunteering.

6---Collaborating with the community: parents require support from the whole community. Teachers can help by identifying relevant community services or businesses that can provide resources to the family.

4. Reese case study.

a. Two stressors Reese's mom might be experiencing:

First, housing and relocation instability — the family has temporarily moved into the upstairs of the grandparents' home, which signals disruption and possibly financial strain. There may be some initial delay in getting “back to normal” as everyone settles into a new routine and a new set of relationships.

Second, the demands of solo parenting three children, including a child with cerebral palsy who uses a manual wheelchair, while also managing a mid-year school transfer and likely transportation and accessibility concerns. Additionally, we do not know why they are moving in with grandparents. It could be because the grandparents are providing new support to the family which may actually reduce stress or it could be because the grandparents are ageing and need support from the younger members of the family.

b. How each might affect her time and involvement: Housing instability consumes time, energy, and attention, leaving less bandwidth for school communication, returning forms, or attending meetings — and may make her hard to reach. This is a time consumer as boxes get unpacked, and toys and supplies get lost and found. If the grandparents are healthy they may help Reese’s mom increase her time for involvement with the school.

The caregiving and logistical load of managing three children and Reese's mobility needs means her involvement may look inconsistent from the school's side, but it would misread what’s going on at home. Flexibility and accommodations can help Reese’s family connect with the school.

5. As Reese's new teacher.

a. Three ideas for building a positive relationship with the family:

1---Make a warm, proactive first contact that is not about a problem — introduce yourself, share something positive about Reese, and ask the family what they want you to know about him. Express interest in meeting the grandparents and siblings. The grandparents age and health status can significantly affect the resources an informed teacher can offer the family. The siblings may be resentful or envious of the attention Reese receives so they should also be supported to help the family integrate in their new home.

2---Ask about Reese's strengths, interests, and what has worked before, treating the family as the expert on their child. These are all valuable data points for an IEP team that also help include the family as collaborative partners in a “natural” way.

3---Offer flexible, low-burden ways to communicate and meet (varied times, phone or messaging, brief regular updates) given the family's current stressors.

b. How I would make the family feel welcome:

I would communicate in the family's preferred language and format, acknowledge the unique family circumstances, and prioritize convenient communication. At this moment, it is important that the family experiences school as a supportive place rather than a source of pressure. People who just moved typically need help unpacking boxes and keeping up with daily chores like cooking, laundry, shopping so offering a day to help the family with any of those tasks could go a long way in building trust in the relationship.

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A note on how this was drafted

Workflow disclosure:

I used Claude to draft the initial response set to these questions by:

I prompted Claude to create a draft for all the responses that I could compare against my own.

Then, I personally read the IRIS module and took notes on Claude's responses as I went. I filled in any additional information I thought was missing, removed sentences I thought were unnecessary and edited the text for readability.

The IRIS Center. (n.d.). Family engagement: Collaborating with families of students with disabilities [Online module]. Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/fam/