2019 TASH Conference

Families are faced with many challenges on a daily basis but frequently the ones that have the most negative impacts on the family system are dealing with challenging behavior at home, school and out in the community. Are we able to get out the door, on time, without a meltdown? Could siblings please just play quietly while I make dinner? Time to clean up or get homework done? How about a trip to the grocery store or an unexpected change in the family routine? Not to mention bedtime! This workshop will be co-presented by Melisa Ruiz, a parent of children with special needs and also the Parent Representative on the Board of the Association of Positive Behavior Support and Kiki McGough, retired educator and mother of three and grandmother of a highly spirited preschooler. She is also the Parent Consultant at the Association of Positive Behavior Support. Using personal examples and the components of effective positive behavior support, participants will work together to analyze routines, identify appropriate strategies and approaches to prevent and respond to challenging behavior within the typical family routines at home and in the community. They will gain a variety of resources to support their children and partner with schools for success.

Parent to Parent (P2P) is a peer support program that trains parents of children with disabilities to provide informational and emotional support to other parents who are seeking support through a one-to-one match. The benefits of a Parent to Parent match include not only meeting the specific need that originally prompted their contact with Parent to Parent, but improved their perception of their ability to cope with their child and family situation, and imparted a more positive appraisal of their life circumstances. What is unknown is whether these benefits are experienced by parents of very young children, when a diagnosis may be new and successful interventions and services may not yet be established. Additionally, it is unclear whether P2P support provides benefits that extend to the child and other members of the family. Qualitative thematic data derived from interviews with parents who received a P2P match will be presented to explicate the perceived benefits of early P2P support, along with participant quotes. Implications for policy and practice will be discussed as well as future directions.

The family is a place in which children learn to interpret reality and parents serve as role models to inform children about the world - including the world of work. One consistent finding in the literature suggests that the aspirations of young adults are influenced by their parents' aspirations or expectations for them (Banks, Maitre and McCoy, 2016). By nature, parents want their children to be successful and hope to see them in satisfying careers one day. The thought of seeing their adult child in dead-end jobs is often disheartening for parents of young adults with disabilities. This presentation will discuss the findings from a pilot study consisting of focus groups of parents of young adults with disabilities who were transitioning from school to work and parents of young adults who had already transitioned into the world of work.

Many families of youth with significant disabilities struggle with envisioning their young person working in competitive employment in a community setting. Educators and other professionals have an important role to play in proactively supporting the family's ability to be meaningfully engaged and effectively advocating for their young person to reach their potential as self-determined adults who work and live full and inclusive lives in the community. This session, presented from the parent point of view, will increase both parents' and professionals' understanding of the factors influencing a family's willingness and ability to actively participate in inclusive career development activities. It will provide examples of tested strategies for inviting and engaging families of teens and young adults with significant disabilities, including those from diverse cultures. Participants will discuss ways to effectively implement strategies in light of family concerns as well as current realities and resources.

Parent engagement in school is important for all students and has been found to lead to successful postsecondary education outcomes (Henderson, 2009). Henderson and Mapp (2002) concluded that there is a positive relationship between family engagement and improved academic achievement. This is true across socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and educational background for students of all ages (Mapp, 2004). Research continues to demonstrate that parent involvement increases the likelihood of positive postschool outcomes for students with disabilities (Harry, 2008; Test et al., 2009). In light of this evidence, laws have been established to protect parental rights. One law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) emphasizes the importance of parent involvement and engagement particularly in their Individual Education Program (IEP). For example, Bateman (2017) stated that “the most basic IEP requirement is that a student’s parents be full, equal, and meaningful participants in the development of their child’s IEP, along with school district personnel.” (p. 87). Recent court cases emphasized the important role of parents in the development of their child’s IEP and ensuring the provision of a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). For example, at the federal level, Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District (2017) the court’s decision highlighted the important role of parents in the development of special education programming. The decision indicated school personnel and parents must work collaboratively on the development of the IEP. At the district court level, another case L.H. v. Hamilton County Department of Education (2018) provided insight into several issues including FAPE, Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), parental rights, school culture, and tuition reimbursement. In this session, we will provide information about these key court cases and assist participants in understanding their rights under the law, as well as implications from these court decisions for educational programming for students with disabilities. It is imperative for families, parents, students, practitioners, and advocates to be aware of the implications of these rulings. Additionally, across court cases in special education, parent involvement has been a key component since almost all cases that make it past due process hearings, are because to parents who know their rights and understand the implications of the law are willing to continue to appeal decisions in order to advocate for quality educational opportunities for their child. This session will provide information from key court cases and assist parents in thinking about how to apply these rulings when advocating for their child, as well as assist them in gaining knowledge to be an informed and engaged member of the IEP team.

How effective is systematic training when teaching parents of children with a disability? The presenters completed an exhaustive systematic review and meta-analysis and found 17 research studies that have evaluated the effects of training on parents of children with disabilities. This presentation will describe the methods of the systematic review and results of the meta-analysis that show BST is an effective parent training strategy. We will discuss practical considerations when implementing BST with parents in their homes and the community. We will also discuss future directions for research.

The literature has acknowledged family involvement to be critical when developing appropriate transition goals and transition activities for students with significant disabilities. When families are actively involved in the transition planning, better integrated and competitive employment-related outcomes are achieved. Families can serve as valuable consultants, continuous advocates, informants and play critical roles in supporting students with disabilities. Therefore, building relationships and information sharing between families and professionals should be of particular focus within a school's transition program. The presentation will highlight the outcomes of a study that examined the current service delivery of the family engagement practices from the Taxonomy for Transition Programming 2.0 (Kohler, Gothberg, Fowler, & Coyle, 2016). According to the Taxonomy, family engagement involved three areas; family involvement, family empowerment, and family preparation. A survey was disseminated to special educators to determine secondary special educators' perceived importance, degree of implementation, and barriers to implementation of family involvement, family empowerment, and family preparation within a school's transition program. Results and recommendations for practice and further research will also be discussed.

Quality and collaborative transition plans for students with significant support needs has emerged as an area requiring continued improvement. This qualitative research study sought to understand how the current process of transition planning was implemented for students with significant support needs from the perspectives of current stakeholders working through the transition process. This presentation shares our findings, provides recommendations for use of best practices, and includes recommendations and resources to assist in creating meaningful plans for youths with significant support needs as they seek to transition to greater inclusive communities.