Parents' Experiences and Perceptions Navigating the Special Education Process across Multiple School Years

Overview & Synopsis

Over seven million children in America receive special education services yearly, meaning millions of families participate in the special education process each school year (National Center for Education Statistics, 2021). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA (2004), required that parents and educators collaborate within the special education process. Given that positive parent-school collaboration correlated with increased student achievement, researchers sought to identify components of a collaborative parent-school partnership in special education: an atmosphere of trust, mutual respect, empathy, cooperation, and a balance of power between the school and special education staff (Hampden-Thompson & Galindo, 2017; Henderson et al., 2020; MacLeod et al., 2017). Even with the collective understanding in the field of education regarding the characteristics of positive parent-school partnerships in special education and the benefits for student achievement, a disconnect between special education staff and parents persists (Fenton et al., 2017). Given the impact of parent-school collaboration on student achievement, the purpose of this basic interpretative study was to explore how parents of children who qualified for special education and have participated for two or more years in the public-school special education process described their experiences in the special education parent-school partnership. Using in-depth interviews with six families representing different disabilities, researchers collected the stories the families shared of their experiences navigating a combined 59 years of special education with their children. The following themes emerged: The difference one educator can make; inequality in knowledge; parent to parent support; inequality in access; balancing and navigating the professionals; and the depth of a parents' unwavering love. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]