The interaction betWeen parents of children With ASD and education professionals is a critical issue, due to increasing prevalence rates, increasing litigation, and legal mandates of the 1997 amendments to the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, Which require parental involvement in the education of children With disabilities. The purpose of this study Was to investigate the perceptions of parents of young children With autism spectrum disorder regarding their experiences, roles, and relationships With education professionals. Purposive sampling Was used to identify participants. Data Were collected through multiple intervieWs, observations, and documentation. A cross-case analysis method Was used to analyze the data. Findings Were confirmed using methods of triangulation, respondent validation, and member checking. The findings indicated that the interaction betWeen parents and education professionals is a dynamic and complex process. Three major themes emerged: (a) the important influences on parent perceptions, (b) common experiences that either reduced or enhanced parental trust, and (c) parental roles that Were exhibited during parent interaction With education professionals. This article specifically focuses on the first tWo themes because they are of prime importance to the development of parent-friendly strategies.
A BSTR AC T U sing a`social interest' approach, this paper details the advocacy strategies of parents of children with disabilities in the Federal Republic of G ermany during the 1980s. Parents developed grass-roots organizations beginn ing in the 1970s in the former W est G ermany in response to the stigma and isolation of the well-developed system of Sonderschulen (special schools). Parent groups described here include both those with children already in the Sonderschulen working to ensure its promise of special help for their children and those working to bypass the Sonderschule system by establishing m odel integration programs in the general schools. The collective actions that led to local successes for both these parent advocate approaches are documented, but so, too, are the obstacles the parents encountered in the broader political arena. Politicians continue to cite limited education budgets, especially following the uni® cation of the two Germanys, and they also raise concerns which some parents share: that signi® cant expansion of special educational support into the general schools could underm ine the viability of the Sonderschulen. Thus, one political response to the integration m ovement has been to ® nd places for some children with disabilities in the general schools, but accompanied by only m inim al special education support.
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