The Relationship Among Parent Knowledge of Special Education, Assertiveness, and Participation in Planning Their Handicapped Child’s Educational Program

摘要

This study addressed the relationship among parent assertiveness, parent knowledge of special education and the handicapping condition of their child, and parent participation in the annual meeting of the School-Based Admissions and Release Committee (SBARC). Fifty-one (51) parents of learning disabled and mentally handicapped children in a suburban area of Kentucky participated in the study. The effects of the child’s handicapping condition and the number of years the child’s handicapping condition and the number of years the child had received special education on parent assertiveness, knowledge, and participation were also analyzed. Parents were given the Special Education Knowledge Survey, and experimenter developed measure of knowledge of special education and various handicapping conditions, and the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule. These parents’ interactions were observed during the annual SBARC meeting for their child and the amount of participation and topics of their contributions were recorded by an observer. It was found that the degree of parent assertiveness was significantly predictive of total parent participation in planning the handicapped child’s education, while parent knowledge (knowledge of special education and knowledge of the child’s handicapping condition) did not predict the total amount of participation by the parent. Parent knowledge and the actual number of years the child had received special education were predictive of parent participation in the discussion of some topics regarding the child. The child’s identified handicapping condition was also found to affect total parent participation in the SBARC meeting. The child’s handicapping condition and the number of years the child had received special education were found to have an interactive effect on parent assertiveness and parent discussion of the child’s past educational history. Parents of mentally handicapped children classified for two years or less and parents of learning disabled children classified for more than two years were more assertive than parents of mentally handicapped children classified for more than two years and parents of learning disabled children classified for more than two years were more assertive than parents of mentally handicapped children classified form more than two years and parents of learning disabled children classified for two years or less. The findings specified above were discussed as well as 1) topics in which parents were observed to participate most; 2) the relationship between parent participation and the request of information by professionals, the length of the conference, and the number of people present at the SBARC meeting; 3) the correlation between knowledge and assertiveness; and 4) suggestions for further research.