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Parents’ Perspectives of Collaboration with School Professionals: Barriers and Facilitators to Successful Partnerships in Planning for Students with ASD

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Abstract

Both parents and school professionals (e.g. teachers, administrators, related service providers) are stakeholders in the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process. Despite the fact that the inclusion of parents as full members in the process has been mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act since it was originally passed in as PL 94-142 in 1975, parents continue to report encountering barriers to equitable participation. To probe the barriers and facilitators to full team membership, we administered a mixed-methods survey study to parents of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (n = 135) exploring the nature of their perceptions of collaboration. Common barriers to collaboration included opportunities to provide input, communication difficulties with school teams, and negative perceptions of school professionals. School administrator actions identified as facilitators of collaboration included attendance at IEP meetings, quick response to phone calls, and assistance with acquiring resources. Parents reported low levels of perceived disability-specific staff knowledge regarding ASD. Quantitative findings from this survey sample indicate that a large number of parents of children with ASD reported experiencing difficulty and/or were not included in the special education collaborative process. Implications and recommendations for school administrators and teams are discussed.

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Correspondence to Ilene Schwartz.

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Tucker, V., Schwartz, I. Parents’ Perspectives of Collaboration with School Professionals: Barriers and Facilitators to Successful Partnerships in Planning for Students with ASD. School Mental Health 5, 3–14 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-012-9102-0

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