Involving Parents of Students With Special Needs : 25 Ready-to-Use Strategies

'This book makes a great contribution to education. Teachers across specialties would find these strategies helpful for facilitating communication with parents and caregivers.'—Erin Jones, Special Education TeacherTea Area Elementary School, SD'Involving parents on a positive level is essential to educating all students, especially students with special needs. This book helps readers with real-world situations—something that most college courses cannot prepare you for. Easy and user-friendly, this book provides strategies and tools to aid in communicating with parents.'—Laura Peterson, Special Education TeacherCenter School, Stow, MABridge the communication gap with parents of children with special needs!Research has shown that establishing strong communication links with parents and promoting family involvement can have positive and tangible effects on a student′s success in school. In this teacher-friendly resource, Jill C. Dardig provides 25 ready-to-use techniques for involving parents in the education of their children. Both general and special education teachers in Grades PreK–12 can use these strategies to reach the parents of students with a wide range of learning needs, including cognitive, emotional/behavioral, social, sensory, and physical disabilities, as well as the parents of typically developing students. Involving Parents of Students With Special Needs anticipates the challenges to parent involvement and provides step-by-step directions, sample materials, and tips forUsing letters, telephone, email, newsletters, and progress reports to communicate with parentsConducting successful parent conferences and in-person meetingsConnecting parents with needed resourcesHelping parents teach their children at homeDealing with home/school conflict situationsPreparing a parent involvement action planThis practical guide helps teachers and parents work together to give students with special needs the necessary support to succeed in school. Contents ......Page 6 List of Figures......Page 8 Preface ......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 15 About the Author......Page 16 Introduction ......Page 18 Getting Started ......Page 28 Designing Your Classroom to Educate Parents ......Page 50 Group Written Communication and Interaction ......Page 56 Personalized Written Communication and Interaction ......Page 74 Telephone Communication ......Page 118 In-Person Meetings ......Page 126 Helping Parents Teach Their Children at Home ......Page 139 Challenges to Parent Involvement ......Page 170 Staying Organized and Planning for Next Year ......Page 179 References ......Page 185 Index ......Page 187 Bridge the communication gap with parents of children with special needs! The author provides 25 ready-to-use techniques for involving parents in the education of their children. General and special education teachers in Grades PreK-12 can use these strategies to reach the parents of students with a wide range of learning needs. This teacher-friendly resource provides sample materials and tips for: Using letters, telephone, email, newsletters, and progress reports to communicate with parents Conducting parent conferences and in-person meetings Connecting parents with resources H The author provides general and special education teachers with ready-to-use techniques, sample completed forms, and tips for increasing the involvement of parents of students with special needs.