In this dissertation, I explore, through qualitative means, the perceptions of parents related to discourse (what is said and not said) within formalized and required processes of special education. These processes are federal requirements that parents of children with disabilities or suspected disabilities encounter as their children progress through the school system. The processes purportedly protect the rights of children with disabilities. The goal of the process is to help children with disabilities make academic gains by providing scaffolds that meet their individual needs. During this process, parents of children with disabilities become empowered or disempowered by discourses focused on eligibility for special education services and Individualized Education Plans. These discourses may serve to privilege, empower, disempower, alienate and marginalize, or unite and value. I critically examine instances of this discourse to support and empower parents concerning instances of negatively framed discourse and to assist administrators, professionals, and teachers. My goal is to help these individuals understand how parents perceive the discourse within this framework. I aim to lessen instances of alienation, marginalization, and power inequities that parents repeatedly encounter through education. This study involves 15 survey participants and 14 remaining case-study participants who have or have had children with disabilities go through the special education process from five separate school systems within the Western U.S. I utilize a survey covering perceptions and attitudes about formalized special education processes along with open-ended, semi-structured interviews for case-study analysis. Participants discussed inequities and inequalities such as a perceived lack of power and voice. They referred to lost dignity for themselves and their children with disabilities and high levels of frustration due to poor communication and follow-through. Participants perceived successful interactions from persistent effort, advocacy, and self-education on special education law, procedure, and the disabilities of their children. I provide participant summary perceptions and desires regarding the special education process. I present two models of special education discourse derived from grounded theory and discuss my results regarding models of disability, a school-equity-improvement model, an ethical framework, and I argue for a call to action to begin the groundwork for positive, lasting change.

Having the same parents repeatedly complete questionnaires over time, the current community based study investigated beliefs relevant to supervision, drowning risk, and water safety for children aged two through five enrolled in swim lessons. Results revealed that many parents value swimming lessons for young children and view supervision as an important prevention approach. Water safety beliefs and accuracy in judging children’s swim abilities improved over lessons, but time in lessons was related to endorsing poorer supervision of children near water. Having experienced a “close call” for drowning was found to make parents more aware of drowning risk and the importance of close supervision. Results highlight the need for parent education that targets beliefs about water safety and supervision during lessons, and also suggest that a close call for drowning may act as a “teachable moment” for parents and be an appropriate time to implement such interventions.

The problem of this study was that parental perceptions of the roles and needs related to their children's reading development had not been successfully investigated. The primary purpose of this investigation was to determine parental perceptions of their roles, influence, and skills most needed to assist them relating to their children's reading development; the information sources on which parental beliefs about their role are founded; factors foreseen by parents that might hinder their involvement in that role; parents' preferred mode of receiving desired information relative to their assistance in their children's reading development; and existing variations in parental perceptions.

No description available.

Although numerous studies examining variables related to child abuse have been done in recent years, little is known about how abusing parents perceive their abused children's attitudes and behaviors. The present study attempted to examine parental perceptions of personality characteristics of children as a function of whether the parent abused the child. The Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) was utilized to obtain parental perceptions of their children's attitudes and behaviors. Twenty parents consisting of 10 abusers and 10 nonabusers were contacted through social agencies. Parents and children were matched for age, sex, and race. Of the 16 personality variables studied, only one significantly differentiated the two groups. Abused children were perceived as significantly more withdrawn than the nonabused matched sample. Results of this study suggest that various personality types are involved in the abusive cycle. Further research is needed to explore this promising area.

No description available.

In 2014, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the incidence of autism had reached a prevalence rate of 1 out of every 68 children. This increase means that more families have experienced the difficult Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnostic process. Although research on parental perspectives of the ASD diagnostic process is almost 2 decades old, to date, there have been no studies conducted in Canada comparing parental experiences between the private and government-funded assessment routes. Research in general has shown that parents are generally dissatisfied with the ASD diagnosis process. The theoretical foundation for this study is Hochbaum's health belief model that states that variations in a family's health-related decisions are based upon their perceptions of acceptance of the diagnosis, impact of the disorder, benefits and barriers of treatment, and their self-efficacy. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine critically the relationship between parental satisfaction prior to, during, and after the assessment with the type of diagnostic process (government funded or private) that parents chose, as measured by the Parent Perceptions Survey. The study sample consisted of 63 British Columbia parents with children under the age of 6 who were diagnosed with autism. The results of this study indicated that the 3 hypotheses were not supported. The only factor that mattered regarding parental satisfaction of an ASD assessment was the wait time. The implications for social change include practitioner and policy-level recommendations to provide parents a more positive experience when receiving a diagnosis of ASD and to decrease the lengthy ASD assessment waitlists to improve equal access for all families.

Hispanic Americans experience a disparate burden of human papillomavirus vaccination (HPV)-related cancers. Despite vaccine availability, HPV vaccine uptake amid Hispanic American adolescent males in the United States is under the national goal. Furthermore, childhood vaccination compliance is driven by the parents; yet, there is little research on parents' perceptions of HPV vaccination of male children. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the attitudes, beliefs, concerns, and decision- making factors of Hispanic American parents of male children aged 11- to 13- years-old surrounding HPV vaccination. The health belief model provided the framework for the study. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 12 participants in a rural county in Colorado in which Hispanic Americans had a higher rate of reportable sexually transmitted infections than non-Hispanics. Data analysis included descriptive coding to summarize and synthesize the interview results. The results showed Hispanic parents had a positive attitude toward HPV vaccination, and parents believed that the vaccination would protect their child. Most of the parents were aware of the HPV vaccine. The parents believed in healthcare providers and would accept the vaccine if it was recommended by them. Despite several parents having concerns about HPV vaccinations, they still claimed they would vaccinate their child. The findings from the study can be used to inform educational offerings regarding HPV vaccination for Hispanic American boys.

The aim of the study is to investigate parents&rsquo / perceptions on emergent literacy. More specifically, the present study examined the perceptions of parents on emergent literacy and the frequency rates of the home literacy activities that parent engage in spending with their children at home to encourage emergent literacy through a questionnaire, which was developed by Nebrig (2007). Translation and reliability checks and a pilot study were implemented before the actual study was conducted. Parents were asked to complete the &ldquo / Home Literacy Activities&rdquo / questionnaire which consisted of 45 home literacy activities that parents can engage in or provide for their children to encourage emergent literacy. Participants of the study were 677 parents who had children between zero to seven years old were reached through home visits and schools. And who were living in Ankara. Results of this study revealed that the majority of participants believed that home literacy activities were important for emergent literacy development of their children. It was reported that parents gave more importance to the structured activities, such as using new and interesting words in conversations with the child more than unstructured activities that can be arranged during daily routines such as pointing out different types of printed materials around the house and in the community. Parents did not prefer spending time in rhyming and phonological awareness related activities as much as the other types of home literacy activities.

During the 2010-11 school year, KFL&A Public Health partnered with Lancaster Drive Public School (LDPS) to develop and implement a Walking School Bus Program (WSBP). This study was designed as a pre-test post-test study to explore parental concerns and attitudes towards their children’s use of active transportation and the WSBP, perceptions of the social and built environment, and how these may be associated with parental willingness to allow their children to participate in the WSBP. However, a low response rate did not allow comparisons of pre- and post-test results. Therefore, this thesis uses the pre-test data as a pilot study to evaluate the methods, tools, and feasibility of a future, multi-school pre-and post-test study. As part of the pilot study, a questionnaire was developed and administered to 298 households. Parental willingness was assessed using one item rated on a 10-point scale. Concerns and attitudes were assessed from similar scales developed for this study. Social environment perceptions were measured using a neighbourhood collective efficacy scale and a name generator/interpreter social network instrument. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the association of parental willingness with the aforementioned variables. Fifty parents participated, which may have contributed to low power to detect associations. However, even with low power, attitudes of parents whose children had already used active transportation to school were found to be significantly associated with willingness when contrasting high and low levels (OR: 1.61, 95%CI: 1.02-2.54). This association did not appear in parents of children who used inactive transportation. Significant correlations were seen between parental willingness and compositional aspects of parental social network ties, i.e., having ties to individuals of diverse ages (τ=0.271) and having ties to individuals with children of the same age as their own (τ=0.267). Qualitative analyses of concerns revealed sub-themes related to the traffic, the need to cross a street, and the need for a suitable place to walk and bicycle, as well as concerns about the WSBP. KFL&A Public Health, LDPS, and Kingston’s City Traffic Engineers can use these results to address barriers to the WSBP and to advocate for improvements in the community infrastructure. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-07-20 17:17:15.828