Role of Parents and Students in Special Education Systems

IDEA LAW IEP Special Education
Abstract
Since the majority of parents of disabled students struggle with navigating special education systems, advocacy training provides a means of helping parents secure the right educational service for their disabled child. In this paper, parents' need for advocates for asserting special education rights as well as advocate training in the areas of special education advocacy and legislation will be addressed. Additionally, the impacts of advocacy training for disability-linked special education will be discussed.
Overview
Parental engagement in child education is a raging topic these last twenty-five years. Before the 80s, school-family partnerships were not the norm but an exception. But ever since, a growing research pool indicates that parental engagement positively influences both child learning and academic performance. The subject of parental engagement is accorded, even greater focus when it comes to special education. Before the 80s, several parents depended on professionals to receive emotional aid and training. But on account of recent federal law reforms like NCLB (No Child Left Behind) and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), parents are being regarded as equal partners, in children's education, with school faculty (Sapungan & Sapungan 42).
Parental engagement leads to positive academic outcomes for the disabled/special needs student population; this includes sustained treatment gains, improved generalization, increased parental satisfaction, better issue resolution approaches, and improved continuity in interventions. Several special needs children's parents don't wholly take part in the education planning process of their child. Prior research works indicate that though parents did attend the IEP (Individual Education Program) meetings of their child, they failed to wholeheartedly engage in planning goals, programs, and assessments (Dameh 31).
Under IDEA, an IEP has been considered the key mechanism to undertake decisions for special education pupils. It is mandatory by law that teachers include children as well as their parents in all IEP meetings, which must be conducted no less than once, annually, though it may be conducted more frequently should the teacher or parent so desire. By 16 years of age, meaningful services and objectives are compulsory for transitioning from the high school level to subsequent levels or life after high school (Rehm et al. 7).
How to Approach IEP issue in Classrooms
Classroom educators are, at times, made members of IEP design teams. At other times, they simply receive an IEP student in their class. Either way, a key point to bear in mind is that educators belong to the team that is in charge of plan implementation. Using collaboration, a well-timed, polished-up approach to the integration of specific evaluation and instructional strategies may be accomplished within everyday classroom practice. IEP students, akin to their son-IEP counterparts, can be found in all educational settings. Though there are numerous differences between pupils, including differences in learning, an educator must perceive his/her classroom students as belonging to a diverse population. In some instances, a few pupils will require particular accommodations, which will, besides IEPs, be put in place for several reasons (The University of Kansas para 3).
Educators consider IEP results and objectives while planning activities for their class and performing assessments. They also need to take into account the IEP when ascertaining how to obtain and assess students' academic progress. Evaluation aids in gauging whether or not teaching approaches adopted are proving effective, and in modifying or tweaking approaches if needed. A wholly-collaborative, thoroughly-researched IEP will aid disabled learners in developing their capabilities and succeeding academically while benefiting the overall classroom through modeling and cultivation of a more differentiated, rich, and holistic learning experience for every child (The University of Kansas para 4).
IEP requisites outlined by IDEA Part B stress the significance of the following key aspects: the engagement and success of all disabled children within the mainstream curriculum, including dealing with unique disability-related demands; child and parental participation with special and mainstream educational faculty in individual decision-making for supporting individual pupils' academic success, and preparation of disabled learners for post-school life, including employment. Parents form the main safeguard for all special needs children; consequently, the former are written into almost all special education system facets (Thatcher 4).
Confidence in and a grasp of special education procedures and legislation (cultural capital) doesn't form the sole factor impacting parental engagement. Social capital level, or the capacity of forging professional bonds for accomplishing positive academic outcomes, is also impacted by societal, economic, and racial/ethnic factors. Teachers solicit and apply parents' knowledge as parents alone best understand and know their children. Unfortunately, in several instances, parents lack confidence in procedural and legal knowledge for asserting their participation in special education (Thatcher 10).
Issues relating to teacher, parent, and social concerns
Parents of special needs children might receive training and support for advocating for their child if they take part in preschool or early intervention initiatives financed by Parts B & C of IDEA. Proofs of programs accomplishing this goal include parents establishing that they are aware of their rights, child service alternatives, and what steps to take should they feel their child isn't being delivered the necessary services (Wright & Taylor 97).
Parental support organizations and groups, personally and through the web, form a major source of parental advocacy support. Parents can access information about disabilities and special education techniques for facilitating more strategic child advocacy. They can forge social bonds with parents of other disabled children for reducing social isolation of offering mutual support. Furthermore, parent groups may offer specialized training as well as an avenue for taking collective action with other children's parents (Wright & Taylor 98).
Several parents believe they must be involved as well as advocate for disabled children through challenging authority with trying questions. Several also encounter logistical problems like finding child care or transport for attending IEP meetings. Working parents might find it difficult to turn up for IEP meetings that are often held in work/school hours. Limited advocacy might be associated with stakeholder attitudes as well: power difference between a single parent and a big school, perceiving parents to be inadequate and not possessing a specialist's legitimacy, and parents feeling overwhelmed with the school system (Burke 226).
Parents feeling inadequate is a key barrier to school-parent partnerships. School institutional structures play a part in such a power differential. Traditionally, schools have placed parents on the sidelines and perceived their involvement as a hindrance. Parents typically feel they aren't welcome and that their role is minimized, particularly when teachers describe children using jargon. For surmounting the above power differential, disabled children's parents might require more assertive advocacy (Burke 227).
Parents might not be up to expressing their dissatisfaction with the educational services provided during IEP meetings. Parents might be dissatisfied even during the pre-referral phases. The feeling of insufficiency might cause parents to struggle with voicing their demands and queries during meetings. Power differential and parental dissatisfaction together decrease parental ability to forge successful partnerships with teachers and the school (Burke 227).
One issue for a few disabled children's parents is: they are frequently afforded no support, particularly during their child's early childhood. Research reveals that such parents, particularly parents of autistic children, often suffer more stress as compared to normally-developing preschool children's parents. The former often feel profoundly overwhelmed and suffer isolation, not understanding where to seek the necessary support. Without social support, such parents might retreat from the community at large, owing to negative characteristics linked to disability that can worsen their stress (Arnini 4).
Parental beliefs crucial to their participation in child education are parental views on both child intelligence and how their child learns and develops capabilities. Parents who perceive children's intelligence to be unchanging, and academic success largely owing to children being blessed with high ability, fail to see any point in involving themselves in their child's education. They consider it a waste of their time to urge children to complete homework or be present at a parent-teacher meeting, believing children's intrinsic ability limits their academic achievement (Hornby & Lafaele 43).
Conclusion
A basic principle of IDEA is parents' right to engage in their disabled child's academic decision making. The rule is highly specific on how school systems ought to ensure parental participation should they desire it. Parental participation rights may be summed up in the following way: Parents are eligible to attend meetings associated with their children's educational placement, assessment, and identification. They are entitled to take part in meetings linked to FAPE (free appropriate public education) provision to their children (Statewide Parent Advocacy Network para 3).
It is parents' right to acquire membership in a group that determines whether or not a given child is disabled and eligible for services like special education. Parents are qualified to take part in a team developing, reviewing, and amending their children's IEP. If neither of the child's parents can show up for an IEP meeting, other techniques must be adopted by the school for ensuring their participation, such as a conference or individual calls. Parents have a right to be part of a group responsible for placement-related decision-making for their disabled child.  If neither the child's father nor the mother can be present at this placement meeting, other options must be resorted to by the school for guaranteeing their participation, such as video conferencing or conference or individual phone calls (Statewide Parent Advocacy Network para 3).
Works Cited
Arnini, Sarah, \"Parents as Partners: An Analysis of the Barriers to Parental Involvement in Special Education\" (2007). Social Work Theses. 12. http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/socialwrk_students/12
Burke, Meghan M. \"Improving parental involvement: Training special education advocates.\" Journal of Disability Policy Studies 23.4 (2013): 225-234. DOI: 10.1177/1044207311424910
Dameh, Bilal A., \"The Impact of Parent Involvement Practices in Special Education Programs\" (2015). Culminating Projects in Education Administration and Leadership. 11. https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/edad_etds/11
Hornby, Garry, and Rayleen Lafaele. \"Barriers to parental involvement in education: An explanatory model.\" Educational review 63.1 (2011): 37-52.
Rehm, Roberta S et al. \"Parental advocacy styles for special education students during the transition to adulthood.\" Qualitative health research vol. 23,10 (2013): 1377-87. DOI:10.1177/1049732313505915
Sapungan, Gina Madrigal, and Ronel Mondragon Sapungan. \"Parental involvement in child's education: Importance, barriers, and benefits.\" Asian Journal of Management Sciences & Education 3.2 (2014): 23-43.
Statewide Parent Advocacy Network. \"Questions and Answers about IDEA: Parent Participation.\" Center for Parent Information and Resources, 3 Jan. 2019, www.parentcenterhub.org/qa2/.
Thatcher, Steven Brown, \"Increasing Parental Involvement of Special Education Students: The Creation of Smartphone-Friendly, Web-Based Legal and Procedural Resources\" (2012). All Graduate Plan B and other Reports. 147. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/gradreports/147
The University of Kansas. \"Advice for Classroom Teachers: Your Students with IEPs.\" Online Teaching Degrees from the University of Kansas, 2019, educationonline.ku.edu/community/advice-for-classroom-teachers.
Wright, Amy Conley, and Sarah Taylor. \"Advocacy by parents of young children with special needs: Activities, processes, and perceived effectiveness.\" Journal of Social Service Research 40.5 (2014): 591-605.