Educational Material

iram · Loyal Member Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 336

PARENT-TEACHER COMMUNICATION

Regular two way communication with parents is the foundation of an effective parent-teacher partnership. The three most used metnods of communication between parents and teachers conferences, written messages, and the telephone.

PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES

Parents and teachers are learning to talk with one another in more productive ways.
In a face to face meeting, parents and teachers can exchange information and coordinate their efforts to assist the exceptional child at both home and school. Conferences should not just be limited to the beginning and end of the school year, but regularly scheduled to maintain a meaningful parent-teacher partnership. More and more educators are viewing the parent-teacher conference as a method for planning and evaluating joint parent-teacher-initiated teaching programs.
Preparation is the key to effective parent-teacher conferences, recommend establishing specific objectives for the conference, reviewing the student’s cumulative progress, preparing some examples of the student’s work along with a graph or chart showing specific performance, and preparing an agenda for the meeting.

CONDUCTING THE CONFERENCE

Bennett suggest that teachers should hold parent teacher conferences in their classroom because
(1) The teacher feels comfortable in famillar surroundings.
(2) The teacher has ready access to student files and instructional materials.
(3) The classroom itself serves as a reminder to the teacher of things the child has done.
(4) The class room, with its desk, chairs, and teaching materials, the teacher and parents that the purpose of the conference is their mutual concern for improving the child’s education.

CONFERENCE OUTLINE

Date________________ Time________________
Student’s Name __________________________________________
Parent’s Name(s) __________________________________________
Teacher’s Name __________________________________________
Other Staff Present __________________________________________

Objectives for Conference:
Student’s Strengths:
Area(s) Where Improvement is Needed:
Questions to Ask Parents:
Parent’s Responses/Comments:
Examples of Student’s Work/ Interactions:
Current Programs and Strategies Used by Teacher:
Suggestions for Parents:
Suggestions from Parents:
Follow-up Activities Parents:
Teacher:
Date Called for Follow-up and Outcome:
_________________

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iram · Loyal Member Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 336

CONFERENCE OUTLINE

WRITTEN MESSAGES
Some teachers use frequent written messages to communicate with parents. Although the report card that most schools send parents every grading period is a written message, its infrequency and standard format limit its usefulness as a means of communication.
A two-way parent-teacher communication system can be built around a reporting form carried between home and school by the child. The form should be simple to use and read, with space to circle, check, or write short notes. Such an interactive reporting system can be used on either a daily or weekly basis, depending on the behaviors involved. Several studies have shown that these two- way communication programs can improve both school and home performance.

THE TELEPHONE
A brief, pleasant telephone conversation is one of the best ways to maintain communication with parents.
Axel rod found that simply telephoning parents and telling them how their child did on a daily word-recognition test resulted in increase the daily word list and improved scores. Teachers should set time on a regular basis so that each child’s parent receives a call once every 2 or 3 weeks.

PARENTING THE EXCEPTIONAL CHILD

Special education usually interact with parents of exceptional children for two primary reasons”
(1) To collect information and suggestions that can help the teacher do a better job in the classroom, and
(2) To provide information and assistance to parents for working with their children outside the classroom. The teacher who wants to fill the roles of both seeker and provider of assistance must be able communicate effectively with parents. Effective communication requires an understanding and respect for the responsibilities and challenges faced by parents of exceptional children.

PARENTAL REACTIONS TO A HANDICAPPED CHILD

A great deal has been written about parents reactions to the birth of a handicapped child or to the discovery that their child has a learning problem or physical disability. Parents are often said to pass through “stages of adjustment” that might include shock, denial, guilt, depression, anger, defensiveness, shame, rejection of the child, chronic sorrow, over protectiveness, and so on, until finally, in the last stage, parents accept their disabled child.

There is no question that the birth of a handicapped child or the discovery that a child has a disability is an intense and traumatic event. Parents can react in widely different ways, and most do go through an adjustment process trying to work their way through. But we see two problems with promoting the idea of stages of adjustment. Forts it is easy to assume that all parents must pass through a similar sequence of stages and that time is the most important variable in adjustment. In fact, parents react to the arrival of a handicapped child in many different ways. For some parents, years may pass and they are still are not comfortable with their child others report that having a handicapped child has actually strengthened their life or marriage. The sequence time needed for adjustment is different for every parent. One common thread is that almost all parents can be helped during their adjustment by sensitive and supporting friends and professionals.
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iram · Loyal Member Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 336

BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE PARENT-TEACHER INTERACTION

Let’s face it, parents and teachers do not always cooperate; they may sometimes even seem to be on two widely different “sides” doing battle over what is “best for the child.” The handicapped child unfortunately can never win that battle. He needs the people responsible for the two places where spends most of his life home and school to work together to make those environments consistent. Both home and school must be supportive of the job of learning. Some parents and teachers have made assumptions and held attitudes toward one another that have been counterproductive. Parents have complained that professionals are negative, unavailable, or patronizing. Teachers have complained that parents are uninterested, uncooperative, or hostile.
Roos(1980) a special educator who is the father of a mentally retarded child blames much of the negative attitudes and hostility shown by parents on what the calls professional mishandling. “Many professionals hold negative steer ectypes and false assumptions of what parents of handicapped children face and what they need. These attitudes have often led to poor relationships between among parents and professionals.”
Sonnenschein(1981) has also described some behaviors of professionals that detract from productive relationships. She examined several assumptions or approaches that, when exhibited by professionals, create roadblocks to effective partnerships:
Professional distanc, most professionals in the human services fields develop some degree of “professional distance” as a means of not getting too involved, with a client--- supposedly to maintain objectivity and credibility But aloofness or coldness in the name of professionalism has hindered and terminated many a parent teacher relationship. Parents must believe the professional really cares about them.
The parent as patient some professionals have the faulty assumption that having a handicapped child renders the parent in need of therapy. Roos writes “I had suddenly been demoted from the role of a professional to that of the parent as patient, the assumption by some professionals that parents of a retarded child are rotationally maladjustment and are prime candidates for counseling, psychotherapy or tranquilizers.”
The parent as response able for the child’s condition. Some parents do feel responsible for their child’s disabilities, and with a little encouragement from a professional, can be made to feel completely quality. A productive parent professional relationship focuses on remediation of problems, not on a place to lay blame.
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iram · Loyal Member Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 336

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE PARENT-TEACHER INTERACTION

Negative interactions between parents and teachers, as we have seen, can be related to a lack awareness and understanding by both groups to the others roles and responsibilities. During the last decade, a number of forces have come together to focus national attention on the importance of a parent-teacher partnership based on mutual respect and participation in decision making. While many things have contributed to increased involvement of parents in the education of their exceptional children, we can view those factors as actions on the part of three groups of people--- parents, educators, and legislators. The dictionary defines an advocate as someone who speak for or pleads the case of another. Parents of exceptional children have played the role of advocated for their children for many years, but in recent history they have done so with impressive effectiveness.

EDUCATORS: STRIVING FOR GREATER IMPACT

Educators have recognized the necessity of expanding the traditional role of the classroom teacher in order to meet the special needs of handicapped children. This expanded role demands that we view teaching as more than delivering the three R’s. Special educators now realize that daily living, social, vocational, and leisure skills are critical to the handicapped students successful functioning. We now attach a high priority to developing and maintaining the functional skills that will enable the handicapped child or adult to be successful in school, home, work, and community settings.

LEGISLATORS: MANDATES FOR INVOLVEMENT

State laws mandate parent involvement in the education of handicapped children. The federal law providers statutory guidelines for parent-professional interaction in terms of the provision of a free, appropriate education, referral, testing, placement, and program planning.
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raanaa

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