“They Were Saying That I Was a Typical Chinese Mum” : Chinese Parents’ Experiences of Parent-Teacher Partnerships for Their Autistic Children

Smith, Jodie; Rabba, Aspasia Stacey; Cong, Lin; Datta, Poulomee; Dresens, Emma; Hall, Gabrielle; Heyworth, Melanie; Lawson, Wenn; Lee, Patricia; Lilley, Rozanna; Syeda, Najeeba; Ma, Emily; Wang, Julia; Wang, Rena; Yeow, Chong; Pellicano, Elizabeth

doi:10.1007/s10803-022-05748-z

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…It is also possible that Somali parents – for various reasons – may prefer to be less visible or involved at schools. Other CALD parents of autistic and non-autistic children have reported being less engaged in their child’s education citing various reasons for this, including deference towards teachers; discomfort in dealing with teachers; feeling that education is not their responsibility; limited English and a lack of time (Guo, 2005; Jegathessan, 2009; Lai & Ishyama, 2004; Smith et al, 2022). Our interviewees similarly mentioned their time limitations and reluctance to overwhelm teachers as reasons for not engaging as much in their children’s education.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Somali parents feel like they’re on the outer’: Somali mothers’ experiences of parent–teacher relationships for their autistic children

Smith

Rabba

Ali

et al. 2023

Autism

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Effective parent–teacher partnerships can improve outcomes for autistic students. Yet, we know little about what effective partnerships look like for parents of autistic children from diverse backgrounds. Using participatory methods, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 Somali mothers of autistic children attending Australian kindergartens/schools to understand experiences of parent–teacher interactions. We used reflexive thematic analysis to identify key themes. We found that mothers were proud and accepting of their children. They had high expectations, particularly around children’s independence. Mothers wished their children’s differences were understood and supported by other people, including teachers. They were frustrated by low expectations of children, a lack of genuine communication from teachers and limited autism-specific knowledge, skills and experience within schools. They described racist attitudes towards their children and reported that they themselves had experienced stigma. They also had few sources of support to rely upon, although their non-autistic daughters and their faith were important foundations for resilience. Despite all of these challenges, mothers themselves were increasing community awareness and knowledge about autism in the hope that they and their children would be valued by others. Our work has implications for how teachers and schools can foster successful relationships with Somali parents of autistic children. Lay abstract Good relationships between parents and schools can improve autistic children’s school success. There are many reasons why families from different cultural backgrounds find it harder to develop good relationships with schools, such as language barriers, discrimination and unfamiliarity with education systems. We know little about what ‘good relationships’ look like for these families. Here, we worked with a team of autistic and non-autistic researchers as well as an Advisory Group of Somali parents to conduct interviews with 15 Somali mothers of kindergarten and school-age autistic children. We asked mothers about their experiences of their child’s education, communication with teachers and what a good relationship with schools would look like. We also asked how they felt the Somali community understood autism. We looked for common things that mothers said. We found that mothers were very proud of their children. They had high expectations, particularly about what children could do by themselves. Mothers found it frustrating that teachers had low expectations, that schools were not good at communicating with them and that autism-specific skills and experience were uncommon in schools. They also reported racist attitudes towards their children. Mothers experienced stigma and lacked resources, but support was gained from their daughters and their religion. Mothers themselves were proactively increasing community awareness and knowledge about autism in the hope that they and their autistic children would be valued and better supported. Our work has implications for how teachers and schools can work together with Somali parents to forge better futures for autistic children.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Somali parents feel like they’re on the outer’: Somali mothers’ experiences of parent–teacher relationships for their autistic children

Smith

Rabba

Ali

et al. 2023

Autism

Self Cite

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“…The current study sought to address this gap by eliciting community members' experiences of research involvement using a longitudinal design. The community members involved in this study were partners on a 1-year Australian research project exploring Chinese and Vietnamese parents' experiences of home-school partnerships for their autistic children (see Smith et al, 2022Smith et al, , 2023. For that project, we had convened a Chinese parent advisory group and a Vietnamese parent advisory group, who worked together with a team of autistic and non-autistic researchers, and who brought specific experiential expertise to the project of living with, and caring for, autistic children in particular cultural communities.…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

‘It's really important to be collaborating’: Experiences of participatory research for Chinese and Vietnamese parents of autistic children

Smith,

Rabba,

Datta

et al. 2023

Autism & Developmental Language Impairments

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Background and aims Participatory research involves academic partners working together with the community that is affected by research to make decisions about that research. Such approaches often result in research that is more respectful of, and responsive to, community preferences – and is vital in the context of autism research with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Whilst participatory approaches are becoming more commonplace within CALD autism research, no studies have explored the experiences of being involved in autism research from the perspectives of CALD community partners over the course of a study. This paper intended to address this gap by reporting on the experiences of CALD parents of autistic children who were community partners in a 1-year Australian research project exploring home–school partnerships for CALD parents of autistic children. We aimed to: (1) report on how parents’ involvement in the research process shaped the home–school partnerships study over time and (2) understand their experiences of being community partners on the home–school partnerships project. Methods Using key principles of participatory approaches, we established Chinese and Vietnamese parent advisory groups to contribute to a project exploring home–school partnerships for parents of autistic children from CALD backgrounds in Australia. Advisory groups included parents of autistic children from Chinese/Vietnamese backgrounds, as well as interpreters, professionals and researchers. We documented how parents’ participation as community partners shaped the home–school partnerships study over the course of the project. We also elicited parents’ own views and experiences of being community partners through informal, open-ended questions at the beginning and end of the study. Results We found that parents’ input fundamentally shaped the broader home–school partnership study, from meaningful, accurate translation of interview schedules through to making decisions regarding community-specific recommendations and dissemination plans. Parents themselves reported being keen to collaborate and to hear and share opinions for the purpose of the home–school partnership study – although they noted how emotionally difficult sharing their stories could be. While they initially had some concerns about combining being involved as a community partner with their existing responsibilities, ultimately, parents were surprised by the scope of the home–school partnership study and their level of involvement as community partners. Through hearing others’ stories and sharing their own in advisory group meetings, parents reported ancillary benefits of their involvement, including increased self-advocacy and well-being. Conclusions These findings show how research that is conducted in partnership with diverse members of the autism community has the capacity to improve the quality of the research and benefit community partners. Implications This study clearly documents the benefits and potential challenges of participatory approaches with CALD communities. These findings emphasise to researchers and funders the importance of including extra time and money within budgets in order to produce meaningful research that is respectful and responsive to communities.

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“We don’t make trouble”: Vietnamese parents’ experiences of parent-teacher partnerships for their autistic children

Smith

Rabba

Dang

et al. 2023

Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders

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“They Were Saying That I Was a Typical Chinese Mum” : Chinese Parents’ Experiences of Parent-Teacher Partnerships for Their Autistic Children

Cited by 8 publications

References 38 publications

‘Somali parents feel like they’re on the outer’: Somali mothers’ experiences of parent–teacher relationships for their autistic children

‘Somali parents feel like they’re on the outer’: Somali mothers’ experiences of parent–teacher relationships for their autistic children

‘It's really important to be collaborating’: Experiences of participatory research for Chinese and Vietnamese parents of autistic children

“We don’t make trouble”: Vietnamese parents’ experiences of parent-teacher partnerships for their autistic children

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