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If parental involvement in a child’s education is generally viewed in positive terms, then it is important to understand what sorts of barriers might hinder it. This article reviews literature on culturally and linguistically diverse parental in-volvement in special education in the United States and Canada. In analyzing 20 articles published in eight prominent journals between 2000 and 2010, the author considers what research has to say about what influences culturally and linguisti-cally diverse parental involvement. Applying the lens of social-cultural capital led the author to examine three core themes in the literature, namely perceptions, people, and systems. Because these three themes interlock so tightly, the author devised the overarching metaphor of critical entanglement, which is vital to the process of recognizing and addressing barriers that culturally and linguistically diverse parents potentially face. Implications for research are discussed in the recommendation and conclusion segments of this article.

In reviewing literature on culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) parental inclusion and disproportionality, Cam Cobb, assistant professor at the University of Windsor, Ontario, illustrates how CLD giftedness – and especially CLD giftedness in Canadian settings – represents an area in need of further research. In part, this article begins to address that need. Drawing from a larger critical qualitative inquiry, he details the stories of two CLD Canadian mothers as they sought to become involved in gifted identification and decision‐making processes. Knowledge and language arose in the data as two core themes of robust parental inclusion. These core themes, along with associated recommendations for policy, practice and research, are outlined in a discussion of the findings. While this article focuses on the gifted domain of special education in Ontario, the findings have wider implications for robust CLD parental inclusion in special education in general.

Drawing from a critical qualitative inquiry, this case study tells the story of Hana, a Korean-Canadian mother, and identifies barriers that can be encountered in seeking to interact with school professionals in the special education milieu. The case study presents a conceptual model, called the three-legged stool of parental inclusion, which is designed to enhance the way in which parental inclusion is understood and fostered in special education. It is suggested that Hana needed to utilise this model, of knowledge awareness, gathering, and use, in order to take part in her daughter's education in a more meaningful way. This article, by Cam Cobb of the University of Windsor, Canada, adds to the international literature related to cultural and linguistic diversity by sharing a Canadian parent's experience of special education decision-making from this perspective.

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