Challenges in Collaboration Between Educators and Parents of Students with Cystic Fibrosis PDF Download

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Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges or barriers that are present in the collaboration between educators and parents of students with special needs. After completing a project and a questionnaire, the researcher interviewed both parents and teachers of students with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). The researcher was looking for the perceptions of both the parents and the teachers of the same student and if there was any variance in those perceptions. The researcher was also looking for areas in collaboration that had barriers or challenges. Findings of the case study were particular to a group of parents from a social media support group on Facebook called "CF Mamas," who had children that had the genetic disease Cystic Fibrosis and that same child's teacher; this group may serve as a model or provide insights for other CF parents and their teachers. The researcher focused on four specific sub-questions to assess the barriers or challenges in collaboration between parents of children with CF and their teachers. What were the parents of CF students perceived issues in the collaborative process in schools; what did teachers perceive were the problems in the collaborative process between schools and parents of students with CF; what did parents believe schools could do better in the collaborative process; and what did teachers believe parents could do better in the collaborative process. The data collected by the researcher pointed to a conclusion that collaboration between the parents and teachers of the student with CF is a perceived necessary aspect of the partnership in the education of a child with Cystic Fibrosis from the perspective of the parents. Key findings from the research indicated that the child's needs specific to his or her disease were being met at school; that the teachers believed they understood the child's disease with more confidence than that of the parents being surveyed; that both the parents and teachers surveyed perceived that the agreed upon accommodations were being met at school; bot the parents and the teachers agreed that the child with CF could access his or her medication when needed and in a timely manner at school; the majority of the parents and teachers believed their role in the collaborative process was clearly defined; parents and teachers both responded in a timely manner to each other's communications; the results from the parent responses about proactive communication indicated that it was their expectation that proactive communication fell on the role of the teacher; and that both parents and teachers provided convenient times to meet when needed. The researcher asserted that collaboration was successful and perceived from the perspective of the teachers while the parents did not experience the same collaboration to the same positive degree, or have yet to have this experience. The majority of responses from both surveys were that the teachers (100%) and parents (95.2%) believed they were in a partnership when it came to the child's educational and medical accommodations in the classroom. The researcher maintains that collaboration is not only vital in the education of a child with special needs, specifically CF, but in this case of the sample population, the collaboration was perceived to be occurring. Key words: Cystic Fibrosis, collaboration, special education, special needs, parent, teacher