Parents&#146; views of and participation in the special education process are important in light of parents&#146; expanded membership in all decision making groups, specifically those that make eligibility and placement decisions guaranteed by The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (IDEA &#146;97). The purpose of this study was to understand how parents view the special education process and their participation from their child&#146;s referral to eligibility determination. Furthermore, this study sought to determine how parents&#146; understanding and participation in the special education process could be enhanced.</P> Nine parents&#146; journeys through the special education referral and evaluation process were chronicled through pre-and post-eligibility parent interviews and observations of eligibility meetings. This data was contexualized through educator post-eligibility interviews to determine representativeness of parents&#146; participation and meeting characteristics. Individual and cross case analyses were used to analyze data. Findings indicate that little has changed in the past 25 years in the day-to-day implementation of the special education evaluation process. That is, parents know little of the process and participate minimally. Furthermore, parents express feelings about their child and the process that indicate that they care deeply and feel a vested interest in outcomes. However, parents express a need for greater understanding and participation in the process. A model for the effective implementation of the special education process is offered. / Ph. D.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act emphasized the importance of parents’ participation in all educational decisions concerning their children with disabilities. However, parents’ ability to actively participate in, and contribute to, their children’s special education process is influenced by a variety of parent and school related factors. For immigrant Latino parents, these factors may include additional issues related to cultural and linguistic diversity not experienced by most parents. This study examined the experiences of immigrant Latino parents when navigating the special education system as well as the impact that such experiences had on parents’ participation in the special education process of their children with disabilities. A researcher-developed survey (Special Education Parent Participation Survey, SPED-PPS) was used to collect the data. Findings indicated that, although about half of the participants were unable to communicate in English with educators, parents still communicated and collaborated often with school personnel. In addition, most immigrant Latino parents trusted professionals working with their children and had a positive perception of school personnel. A minority of parents believed that teachers knew best about their children’s needs, believed that teachers thought that parents interfered too much in their work, and/or felt uncomfortable with having many professionals in the Individual Educational Plan meetings. Immigrant Latino parents’ participation in their children’s special education process appeared to be influenced by the child’s disability as well as parents’ knowledge of the American education system, perception of school personnel, English language communication skills, and ability to confront school personnel about the child’s needs.

Pastaruoju metu Lietuvoje atlikta nemažai tyrimų, kuriuose gilinamasi į specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių mokinių ugdymosi veiksmingumą, mokytojų gebėjimą ugdyti specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių mokinius, atkreiptas dėmesys į specialiųjų pedagogų darbo kokybę. Tačiau išsamiau specialiojo pedagogo darbas kol kas nenagrinėtas. Iškelta hipotezė, kad bendrojo lavinimo mokyklos mokytojai, SUP mokinių tėvai ir patys specialieji pedagogai ne visada palankiai žiūri į specialiojo pedagogo darbą, kartais išsako kritinį požiūrį; specialiojo pedagogo darbas dar ne visiškai tenkina mokytojų ir tėvų lūkesčius. Anketinės apklausos metodu buvo atliktas tyrimas, kurio tikslas - atskleisti, kaip specialiojo pedagogo darbą vertina individualizuoto ugdymo proceso dalyviai (mokytojai, tėvai, specialieji pedagogai). Antriniai (gretutiniai tikslai) - įvertinti specialiojo pedagogo teikiamą pagalbą kiekybiniu aspektu, nustatyti silpniausias specialiosios pedagoginės pagalbos sritis ir būdus specialiojo pedagogo pagalbos efektyvumui didinti. Tyrimo duomenys analizuojami statistiniais metodais (aprašomoji statistika, faktorinė analizė). Tyrime dalyvavo 60 Šiaulių ir 40 Rokiškio rajonų bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų mokytojų, 100 Šiaulių rajono bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų SP mokinių tėvų, 30 Šiaulių ir 20 Rokiškio rajonų bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų specialiųjų pedagogų Svarbiausios empirinio tyrimo išvados: 1. Specialiųjų pedagogų veiklos turinys bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje labai įvairus. Ypač svarbi veiklos sritis... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Teachers, where cultivate students of the special needs education, their parents and special teachers value special teacher’s work. Three groups of respondents answered the questions of the forms. Masters’ work author raised the hypothesis, that special teacher work at the general education school stimulant teachers’ work efficiency, parents’- activity to participate in the special education process. But special teacher’ work doesn’t always satisfy meet the teachers and parents requirements. Teachers valued special teachers’ assistance to make individual programs, to consult about students special needs education. Parents valued special teacher’s assistance for their children in the individual lessons and special teachers’ consults. Special teachers’ valued their own abilities to work as special teachers, their assistance and consults for teachers, students with special needs education and their parents. The essential work sphere and consulting parents, who have children with special needs and teachers, who work with this children. Teachers value special teachers’ work well (consultations, communication, estimation of students special needs). And not sufficient well – help to adaptation content, application methods. Students’ with special needs parents only give information for teachers, but often they don’t undestand information about special education process. Facts of the farms showed, parents value special teachers’ work well, special teachers’ value their own... [to full text]