Historical and Current Roles of Families and Parents Essay

Historical and Current Roles of Families and Parents Essay

Historical and Current Roles of Families and Parents



The central theme of this essay is empowerment and the roles that parents, schools and professionals take on in the quest for the best educational decisions for those children with disabilities and those children that are gifted and talented. It is important to understand the historical development of family–professional relationships to fully comprehend the significance how far we've come and how far we still need to go. In Chapter One, the authors discuss the eight major roles that families and parents have experienced over time. These roles range from the eugenics movement (1880–1930) which pointed to the parents as the sole cause of a child's disability to today's ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...These educational decisions will be much more likely to be successful when everyone works together for a common goal– that of providing the best educational environment for a particular child.



Chapter 2

SCHOOLS AS SYSTEMS: THE CONTEXT FOR FAMILY–PROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION



Chapter two describes the general education reform movement that has resulted in enhanced curriculum for all students. There has been a separate reform movement in special education that has also resulted in restructuring student placement and service delivery systems for these students. Most recently, the two reform movements are beginning to converge. The general education reform was started when a national commission report, A Nation at Risk, recommended educational improvements because U.S. students did not compare favorably in testing results with their counterparts in Japan and Germany. This has resulted in local school districts taking more direct responsibility for decision–making that would affect all students and has included a stronger parent role in advocating for change. Along with this type of school reform, there has been a focus on schools providing comprehensive services for students and families that face multiple hurdles so that families can have their needs met for social, mental and public health services and coordinated in a single point of entry– the school. The special education reform movement established a free,

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