Meaning of Family—Professional Partnerships: Japanese Mothers' Perspectives

Abstract

TMs study inquired into the meaning of family-professional partnerships from the perspective offapanese families of children with disabilities. Data were collected from 30 mothers who participated in focus groups and/or interviews infapan. Qualitative data analysis guided identification of four themes. The study's contributions are discussed in relation to not only fapanese soci-ety, but also to the global community including the United States. The study's implications for developing partnerships with culturally diverse families also are discussed.

Secondary school experiences of individuals with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder: perspectives of parents and their children

“…Moreover, parent advocacy is a part of the partnership between home and school, a relationship that is related to student success in school (Epstein, 1992;Dauber & Epstein, 1993;Kalyanpur et al, 2000). Although it has been shown that family-professional relationships have no distinctive pattern Secondary school experiences of individuals with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder 589 (Kasahara & Turnbull, 2005), many parents reported that relations with the public schools were anything but satisfactory. Nevertheless, the findings of this study show that strong advocacy is related to high school graduation among those with FASD.…”

Preparing educators to partner with families

“…Candidates might be asked to conduct home visits, participate in family-school-community-linked projects, engage in conjoint consultation, or work along-side a community liaison (Harry, 2008;Ridgley & O'Kelly, 2008;Sanders, 2008;Sheridan, 1997;Turney & Kao, 2009). They also could be required to engage in "courageous conversations" and "collaborative dialogues" with families to identify family and community strengths and to learn about challenges that hinder their school engagement and their child's educational success (Berrera & Liu, 2006;Kasahara & Turnbull, 2005;Montgomery, 2005). Requiring such pre-service placement rotations would expose new professionals to jointly supervised, reflective practice experiences and to critical agencies and institutions serving culturally, linguistically, and socially diverse families.…”

“…This type of a-typical experiential learning has been found to foster transformational understanding that leads to sustained changes in professional practice (Scoffham & Barnes, 2009;Stow, Dismore, & Powell, 2009). Several recent studies of school-linked, community-based programs where educators are involved in serving families of children with disabilities or economically deprived neighborhoods provide support that such pre-service work can build collaboration skills that lead to many positive family and student outcomes (Kasahara & Turnbull, 2005;Lawson & Alameda-Lawson, 2012). These experiences shed light on the myriad of social, safety, health, and economic hurdles that can threaten school progress and life success, especially in economically depressed communities where families have limited access to the combined resources readily available in more affluent neighborhoods (Douglas-Hall & Chau, 2008).…”

A powerful glimpse from across the table: reflections on a virtual parenting exercise

“…School-based collaboration is founded on the premise that optimal educational outcomes are achieved when there is shared ownership of the planning and implementation of educational programmes. Because each member of a collaborative team, whether parent or professional, is regarded as possessing knowledge essential to effective programme planning, collaborative partnerships require equity, respect and mutual understanding (Kasahara and Turnbull 2005;Valle and Aponte 2002).…”

“…While parents of children with disabilities are strong supporters of school-based collaboration, many continue to report negative interactions with educators that have adversely affected the collaborative processes (Anderson, Meyer, and Somers 2006;Bernheimer and Weisner 2007;Kasahara and Turnbull 2005;Starr et al 2006;Wilgosh and Scorgie 2006).…”