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Research Highlights: Working with Families

Examining the culture of a family and implications for school has also been a focus of those seeking a more complete understanding of factors associated with disproportionality. Families are important in all phases of their child's educational program, but their presence is especially important and necessary when children have been identified at risk and referred for evaluation and possible special education placement. Once this identification and referral occur for a particular child, educators must make every effort to acquire knowledge of the family's culture including language, customs, and, most important, their perceptions of a disability.

When schools conceptualize a family involvement model, they must understand that considering and affirming families' participation patterns are critical and necessary components to eliminate disproportionality. It is conceivable that schools and families may have different interpretations of the nature and amount of parental/family involvement. These distinct differences must be identified and dealt with to avoid misperceptions of parents that may be deeply rooted in cultural beliefs and attitudes. Although studies have substantiated the benefits of home-based support, schools that have increased achievement for students from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds are those in which parents participate in many ways, including shared governance.

To successfully foster family involvement, it is important to consider the roles that parents from different cultures expect to play in the school system and the different ways in which they view disability. This is especially important, since cultural and linguistic differences can be roadblocks in family-school communication. Minority families tend not to be highly involved in the special education process, partially because of these barriers (Garcia, Perez & Ortiz, 2000). Other barriers may include a lack of time (parents may work multiple jobs), a lack of resources (parents may not have a means of transportation to the school), or a lack of knowledge about the education system and their expected roles within it. Although individual differences exist within each culture, especially those relating to socioeconomic status or level of formal parent education, an understanding of general research findings can aid educators in understanding the cultural models of disability among different ethnic groups as well as of immigrant parents from these groups.

Educators often complain that minority parents do not care about their children's education. But the lack of participation among culturally and linguistically diverse parents does not necessarily indicate a lack of interest in their children's progress. According to Parkard and Turnbull (2001), Asian, Latino, and Native American cultures value situational cues and established hierarchies in communication. For example, in Cambodian culture, teachers tend to be viewed as authoritarian figures, and parents tend to defer to the teacher's expertise in the education of their children (Barrilleaux & Coulter, 1988). As a result, Cambodian parents have a tendency to not be actively involved in teacher-parent collaboration. Lynch and Stein (1987) found that Latino parents often spoke of the school and its programs in a reverent manner and respected the teacher's educational expertise. With this cultural model in mind, they entrusted the school with decision making related to their child. This trust in the school as the expert dispenser of knowledge minimizes the parents' own roles and does not bode well for a strong family-school partnership.

The family's cultural knowledge, as well as other types of knowledge and support, should be a valuable source of expertise to all educators (Moll, 1992). Only when schools actively use expertise from the home, in addition to offering their own expertise, can a truly reciprocal relationship and collaborative effort begin to develop. The fact that education is highly valued by many minority families, especially immigrant families who often see education as the only means for social mobility in this country, is also a good stepping stone for collaboration.

For collaboration to work over time, minority families, especially those who are new to this country, need access to culturally and linguistically relevant resources. It is important to discover the differing cultural models and expectations that families have for schooling and the way they conceptualize disabilities. For example, education is so highly valued by Filipino parents that educational attainment can bring honor to the family (Yalung, 2000). When a child has a disability, parents use different models in explaining the disability. Some Filipino parents cope by viewing the disability as a gift from God and a retribution for sins, which will bring good luck to the family. Other families remain devastated and need to find different coping mechanisms. Yalung (2000) recommends that culturally appropriate counseling services be provided to Filipino parents, especially because Filipino culture underscores the importance of listening, which leads to the understanding of the child's and family's needs.

Similarly, Cho, Singer and Brenner (2000), found that after the period of initial crisis, 63 percent of the 16 Korean American families they interviewed believed that their child's disability was God's plan, which would benefit the child and family. The researchers believe that this religious model tended to relieve parents of self-blame. However, eighty percent of these Korean parents believed that their child's disability could be attributed to their own mistakes in prenatal care or early parenting. This self-blame was so intense for the mothers in this study that 44 percent of them had contemplated suicide with their disabled child to protect the family from social stigma and to avoid financial hardships related to the child's disability. This study points to within-group differences, the need to increase parental knowledge about the physiological roots of their children's disabilities, and the need for culturally relevant family support groups.

There needs to be better communication between the school and the home in terms of clarifying what a "disability" constitutes, especially in terms of different disability types, such as autism or attention deficit disorder. Chan (1986) points out that with the heterogeneity of Asian languages, there are also diverse ways in which disabilities are conceptualized, and these conceptions are not always the same as those of American educators. This information is also important in informing the family's view of disability, which is often seen as a punishment for past wrongs or a source of damage to the family's pride. In terms of children with severe disabilities, Asian parents tend not to seek help from professionals because of social stigma and family shame. In terms of children with mild disabilities, Asian parents might not recognize that the child has a disability, instead attributing difficulties in academics or behavior to the child's intransigence or to the parents' own mistakes in child-rearing.

The strong sense of Asian family pride can be a roadblock in successful home-school collaborations, as it can be in Latino families. According to Harry (1992), the strong sense of family pride that Latino families tend to have makes the acceptance of a severe disability difficult for family members. Harry (1992) also found that Latino families may not recognize mild disabilities, especially when the child's behavior corresponds with Latino cultural norms.

When Lynch and Stein (1987) compared the parental participation of Latino, African American, and Anglo American students with disabilities, Latino families were less involved than African American families and significantly less involved than Anglo families. Latino parents tended to indicate that they were very satisfied with the services, yet were often unaware of the services being provided. Although while they had information about Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), their lack of participation in the process was attributed to work schedules, language barriers, and general communication problems. The inability of the schools to carefully translate technical jargon and special education terms such as "learning disability,"added to the difficulty in parent involvement.

Educators should keep in mind that families who indicate satisfaction with their child's services may be coming from a completely different vantage point than that of non-minority, non-immigrant, non-disadvantaged U.S. parents who have more knowledge of the education system. Raghavan, Weisner, and Patel (1999) found that the 10 South Asian immigrant parents they interviewed compared the educational services in this country with those in their native country. Since the United States has one of the most advanced systems of special education in the world, especially when compared with those in developing countries where disabled children might not even attend schools, it is no surprise that parent satisfaction may be high. However, this parent satisfaction does not necessarily indicate that schools are always providing quality services. Lynch and Stein (1987) found that 95 percent of the Latino parents interviewed wanted the law to include parent education that covered parental rights, assessment procedures, and discipline skills.

Garcia, Perez, and Ortiz (2000) also found that cultural differences in conceptualizing disability and expected parental roles in relation to school participation influenced service delivery to Latino students with disabilities. The Mexican American mothers in their study had different connotations of what constituted language disability and developmental delay, when compared with the operational definitions for eligibility used by the Early Childhood Intervention centers that were serving their children. The mothers in this study did not believe that their children had communication disorders and were not concerned that their children's language development did not meet the milestones appropriate for their age. The Mexican American parents tended to view nurturing over teaching as their primary responsibility and focused on the nature and content of communication over milestones. The researchers believe that the difference in the conceptions of disabilities held by these mothers and by the intervention centers needed to be reconciled to promote maternal participation in their child's interventions.

An understanding of cultural differences can promote services and partnerships. Garcia, Perez, and Ortiz (2000) found that service providers who understood the mothers' beliefs that Spanish language development was important in maintaining family ties and cultural identity formation choose to use Spanish in the intervention services.

The research described above demonstrates a clear need to recognize the following:

• Understand different cultural models of disability. Whether the family members with whom educators and other service providers are working are from Asian, Latino, African-American, or other cultures, it is important to understand the different cultural models of disability held by each family. Different aspects of culture that can be explored include the family's religious beliefs, attitudes toward disability, and expectations for schooling. Providers can gather this information by speaking informally with the family in a setting that is comfortable to them, speaking with other cultural experts in the school or local community, and researching updated cultural resources from professional journals.
  
  
• Create a working definition of "disability." There is a need to understand how family members define "disability" and, further, to ensure that all parties work from the same definition. It is important to explain complex medical definitions and legal jargon to parents, especially if they have limited English proficiency or are recent immigrants. Translators can be helpful, although service providers should recognize that words may differ in connotation across languages. Further, translators should, at best, be trained in special education issues. Most of the Korean American parents in Cho, Singer & Brenner's (2001) study did not trust the accuracy of the translations provided by their translators because they did not have special education knowledge. Although translators may find that providing concise translations is challenging, their contributions can nevertheless be useful.
  
  
• Recognize different models of schooling. The U. S. model of schooling, including special education and legalized services for children with special needs, may not be the norm in the family's country of origin. Therefore, the family's role both in the child's education and in the special education "system" needs to be carefully explained, and the school should provide the parents with guided assistance along the way. Schools might consider giving new parents an orientation to the school and to special education. As one parent stated in Park and Turnbull's (2001) study, "There were so many things to figure out when we first arrived in the U.S. If I had a chance to get such an orientation, I would have been able to save a lot of time that I spent to understand the system, services, terms, and my rights" (p. 137).
  
  
• Explain to parents the roles expected of them. The special education process in the United States depends heavily on parent participation. However, not all culturally and linguistically diverse parents, especially those who are new to this country, understand how the education system works or what they are supposed to do. Immigrant parents who are unfamiliar with the U. S. education system might rely on their knowledge of the education system in their native country as the model for schooling, and this model can be drastically different from their native country's system. For example, Korean immigrant parents might not feel comfortable asking questions in meetings because questioning authority goes against their culture and contradicts how they were expected to act in their native country's schools (Park & Turnbull, 2001). Allow parents ample time for questions and make it clear that they are expected to ask questions. In many cultures, silence does not always mean consent.

• Recognize the family as a source of knowledge. Both Moll (1992) and Garcia, Perez and Ortiz (2000) demonstrated in their studies that the family can be an invaluable and knowledgeable cultural resource for educators.

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