Understanding Inclusive Practices for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder Through the Individualized Education Plan Process

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often display atypical behaviors which general education teachers may not know how to handle. As a result, students with ASD may not get the opportunity to be educated alongside typical peers in the least restrictive environment. Segregated settings often become the most recommended setting for students with ASD. The way to change this practice is if the child's parent is willing to speak up and request an inclusive, less restrictive setting. Working together with the school site, as an equal partner, parents can collaboratively prepare the student for an inclusive setting. Inclusive environments can be overwhelming to a student with ASD, if they come from a smaller classroom environment. Preparing the student and teacher for the transition can help to eliminate potential barriers in the inclusion process. Barriers can be identified through the individualized education plan (IEP), and solutions can be devised within that process.

Mothers' Perceptions of Satisfaction, Trust, and Power in the Individualized Education Program Process

Parent involvement in the development of an individualized education program (IEP) is a foundational tenet of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Unfortunately, mothers, the parent most likely to attend the IEP meeting, often report negative perceptions and even feelings of disillusion with the IEP process. Including mothers as equal members of the IEP team is crucial to student success, especially for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). To determine the extent of mothers' satisfaction, trust, and perception of the power of the IEP process, we surveyed 929 mothers of students with disabilities. Survey results indicate mothers are neither overly satisfied nor dissatisfied with the process, but almost always perceive an imbalance of power between IEP team members. A high percentage of mothers reported experiences with bullying, coercion, and shame. The findings suggest that more efforts are needed to empower mothers during the IEP process and improve parent-school partnerships.

Culturally Responsive Individualized Education Programs: Building Transition Bridges Between Families and Schools

Students with disabilities from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds often experience barriers and inequities in transition supports and services due to the cultural mismatch of beliefs, values, and expectations between their families and their schools. Though transition planning was designed for students and families to provide input, there is often a lack of space for the family to share their voice and long-term goals in the decision-making process. Through culturally responsive transition individualized education programs, in combination with a person-centered framework, bridging partnerships between the student, family, communities, and schools can be accomplished and built for sustainability. In urban settings and communities, these boundary-crossing collaborations for students with disabilities and their families could be more complex, as additional factors in urban schools are presented. This article presents a practical tool that could guide educators and families from cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds into depth and breadth in transition individualized education program (IEP) development.

Examining the Likelihood of Parents’ Homework Involvement With Elementary-Aged Students With Individualized Education Plans

Elementary-aged students with individualized education programs (IEPs) tend to experience more challenges and demonstrate lower homework completion as compared with peers without IEPs. Parent involvement in homework can significantly improve a child’s homework achievement, but little research has examined the factors associated with higher levels of homework involvement for parents of children with IEPs. Using the 2016 Parent and Family Involvement survey, weighted hierarchical ordinal logistic regression analysis was implemented to determine how a child’s IEP status, parents’ demographic characteristics, school-level variables, and parents’ expectations predicted parents’ odds of helping their child with homework. Results indicated parents’ race and income, along with school communication, parent satisfaction, and the interaction between a child’s IEP status with parents’ expectations predicted parents’ likelihood of involvement in their child’s homework. The implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.