School Psychology student needs input from parents

[schoolpsych]

Hello,



I am currently working on my Masters in School Psychology and a certification in Applied Behavior Analysis, and I need to interview a parent of a student with a learning disability. I thought it would best to do this assignment anonymously in order to receive honest answers and reactions. The questions are posted below. If any parent, or a few parents would be able to take a few minutes to answer them, I would be very grateful. Thank you in advance for your time. This will be a very helpful for me to learn more about students with learning disabilities from another perspective.



1. What is your child’s classification?



2. What is your relation the to the child?



3. At what age was the child when the classification was made?



4. How old is the child now?



5. Were there any early childhood traits that indicated the need for classification?



6. Does family history indicate anyone with the same classification as your child?



7. How was it brought to your attention that your child may needed/may need to be classified?



8. Do you feel that the matter was handled sensitively by those involved?



9. What types of programs/classes is your child enrolled in at their school?



10. Are you satisfied with the available programs at this school?



11. Are there any services that are not available at their school due to a lack of money?



12. How did the classification of your child affect you and your family?



13. Do you feel that your child has endured positive changes since being classified?



14. Do you think that the educational assistance being provided to your child is effective?



15. If you could, what would you change about the educational assistance that is being provided?



16. Do you feel your child may outgrow the current behaviors as they enter adulthood?



17. What is the most important piece of advice that you would pass on to other parents and family members of a newly or soon to be classified child?



18. Looking back, would you have done anything differently in relation to the child’s classification and schooling? (i.e.: a different school? different IEP provisions)



19. Has the child been socially affected by their classification?"

[healthy11]

Dear Schoolpsych,
First, let me welcome you to our forum. Several other student teachers and school personnel have posed similar questions to parents over the years, but I suspect it's going to be difficult to get responses from parents of younger students, because they're often too busy/overwhelmed with trying to get through each day, and still trying to figure out what their child's needs are and how the school might accommodate/address them. Not only that, needs and expectations keep changing (ie, 'til 3 or 4th grade, students are learning to read and after that, they are expected to read to learn, so a child with delays is going to need different instruction and assistance as they move through the education system. )
Although my son is older now, you might still find his story to be of interest. I think I've answered most of your questions in it. You can read my summary at
www.millermom.proboards.com/thread/13329/future-teacher-parent-interview
and please DO SHARE resources about "2e" students with your professors and peers!
If you have additional questions afterwards, I'll be happy to try and address them.

[schoolpsych]

Healthy11,
Thank you so much for sharing your son's story with me. It was just what I needed for my paper and more. Your family's story was very informative and I'm sure that my fellow classmate will feel the same and will get as much out of it as me.

[healthy11]

You're most welcome! Please keep our website bookmarked for future resources and references, and feel free to chime in with answers if you can. (Psychology perspectives are especially helpful when parents have questions about evaluation results!)

P.S. A few things to keep in mind are that even if parents sense that their student is struggling, some may not appreciate any suggestion that their child could have learning disabilities or that their child is "abnormal.". (In general conversation, I prefer using "Learning differences" because it sounds less like someone is defective.) Additionally, certain types of learning issues have a tendency to "run in families" and the parent(s) may feel like they "were the same way in school, but grew up and turned out okay," so they don't think it's a real problem.

I don't have LDs myself, and was able to recognize differences between my son's school experiences and that of "more typical" children. (Note that I didn't use the word "normal," either, because there is no such person!) Dealing with the day-to-day issues of having young children can be stressful enough for ordinary parents, but if parents have their own learning and executive functioning weaknesses, it can be even harder. Have patience! (For some good information about Executive functioning, see www.nldline.com/executive_functioning.htm )

[healthy11]

I was looking for a past conversation about another subject, and came across this prior interview questionnaire, which might also interest you: millermom.proboards.com/thread/8612/iep-interview-grad-school-assignment