Effective Strategies For Involving Families in Intervention Efforts

Abstract

As pointed out in a previous review article (Winton , 1986), this approach to parents was in keeping with special education traditions.The role of special educators within the service delivery system has been to promote child progress; involving parents as a means for reaching this end was not unreasonable.The development of programs and materials for training teachers has been another traditional domain for special educators; extending these efforts in the direction of parents was a logical step.Research documented the success of many of these efforts in terms of particular child behaviors and skills (Baker, 1984).But rarely, if ever, did researchers evaluate programs in terms of their success at improving parent outcomes or meeting parents' individual needs.Additionally, in spite of professionals ' efforts to devise exemplary parent involvement programs and to increase parent participation in those programs, evidence showed participation to be low (Rosenberg, Reppucci, & Linney, 1983) and attrition high (Kopper-Roland, 1986).This suggested that the needs of parents were not universally being met.