ABSTRACT
In an attempt to best prepare educators to promote collaborative partnerships with families, this chapter presents information about barriers to family involvement. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations and procedures seem to have been written and enacted with the assumption that all parents would have the knowledge and advocacy skills required to engage as active members of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) team. Of the more prominent barriers, parents report a lack of knowledge about special education, including feeling powerless and excluded during IEP meetings. Although these barriers are not exhaustive, they represent the most prominent challenges to parent involvement and satisfaction, particularly when considering parent–school conflict. In response to the need for strategies that are available to strengthen the role of family partnerships, many effective recommended practices have been researched and developed for school professionals, including: providing parent education, conducting pre-IEP meetings, creating opportunities for parent involvement, and providing parent support.
