Multicultural Aspects of Parent Involvement in Transition Planning

Abstract

This study surveyed 308 African-American, Hispanic-American, Native-American and European-American parents to assess their level of participation in various transition planning activities and how important each activity was to them. In addition, 52 school professionals completed a parallel survey of their perceptions toward parent participation. Analyses indicate that culturally and linguistically diverse parents are active in the transition process and, in some instances, their level of reported participation surpassed that of European-American parents. In contrast, professionals described culturally and linguistically diverse parents as less involved than European-American parents in the majority of transition activities. The results are discussed in terms of how the participation of culturally and linguistically diverse parents can be better supported and the importance of transition planning extending beyond school to include other life domains.

Transition to adult life for students who are Black and have disabilities: What do we know and what do we need to know?

“…Of the six articles, two used quantitative methods (Geenen, Powers, & Lopez-Vasquez, 2001; Hasnain & Balcazar, 2009), one used qualitative (Goff, Martin, & Thomas, 2007), and the other three used mixed methods (Geenen et al, 2003;Landmark, Zhang, & Montoya, 2007;Leake, Burgstahler, & Izzo, 2011). None of the six articles involved the investigation of a specific intervention designed to improve transition outcomes; rather, they were focused on describing or defining current practice.…”

“…None of the six articles involved the investigation of a specific intervention designed to improve transition outcomes; rather, they were focused on describing or defining current practice. Two studies included youth with disabilities as participants, seeking their perspectives about factors that impact their transition goals and outcomes (Goff et al, 2007;Leake et al, 2011), while three studies included parents and/or special educators as participants (Geenen et al, 2001(Geenen et al, , 2003Landmark et al, 2007). The sixth study was a secondary analysis of data collected from the NHIS-D longitudinal study to determine predictors of community-based versus facility-based employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities (Hasnain & Balcazar, 2009).…”

“…Thus, it is not surprising that parent involvement in transition planning would receive attention in research studies. Geenen et al (2001) conducted surveys of parents and school personnel to gain an understanding of the multicultural aspects of parent involvement in transition planning. They surveyed 308 parents of African American, Hispanic American, Native American, and European American descent and 52 school personnel.…”

“…This was particularly clear from the studies that examined strategies designed to increase parent transition planning involvement, as there was a discrepancy between the roles parents of youth who were Black assumed during the process and those school personnel wanted them to assume (Geenen et al, 2001(Geenen et al, , 2003Landmark et al, 2008). Many of these parents reported that they wanted their sons and daughters to be more self-sufficient, learn to take care of themselves, be employed, and go to college (Geenen et al, 2001(Geenen et al, , 2003Landmark, et al, 2008). However, school personnel more likely considered parent involvement relative to IEP meeting attendance, while parents of youth who were Black faced a number of barriers to attending these meetings and more likely valued things they did at home or in the community to support transition outcomes (Landmark, et al, 2008).…”

The Experience of Transitioning Two Adolescents With Asperger Syndrome in Academically Focused High Schools

“…In fact, Ivey (2004) claimed that home and school misunderstandings were commonly reported by parents of children with AS, and Hay and Winn (2003) emphasised communication and collaboration difficulties as exacerbating these misunderstandings. Geenen, Powers, and Lopez-Vasquez (2001) identified that parents' stress levels were exacerbated by adversarial relationships with professionals. Ivey (2004) also argued that parent and student perceptions were often missing from the literature.…”