From Compliance to Engagement: Staff Perceptions of Working with Spanish-Speaking Families in the IEP Process
Earlier studies have suggested that Latine families are often not authentically engaged in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process; interactions tend to be fraught with miscommunication, misunderstanding, and lack of genuine consent. To date, only a handful of studies considering teacher perceptions of parent involvement have examined how school personnel view Latine family involvement. This qualitative study utilized interaction theory to explore how school personnel prepare and perceive Spanish-speaking families within the IEP process in a midsize district East of Los Angeles. These findings suggest that team members had a distinct perception of family participation, which was rooted in their level of involvement with the IEP process.ABSTRACT
Contributor Notes
Author Bio
Rosalinda J. Larios, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education at California State University, Fullerton. As a bilingual and bicultural former special educator, her research aims to address the gap between best practice and actual practice for Latine-speaking families and students in schools as they navigate the IEP process. Through an intersectional lens that promotes equity, she seeks to advance the understanding and implementation of asset-based approaches that consider the whole child and are inclusive of all students.
Brande M. Otis is a PhD student in Urban Schooling at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her research explores and is interested in the power of dreaming as a tool for social transformation within Black communities. She practiced school psychology in the Long Beach Unified School District, where she advocated with and for students with disabilities and she is the recipient of the Scholarship for the Study of Black Lives.
