02/27/2018

Interview Assignment #1: Parent

Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………....……. 2

Purpose of the Interview……………………………………………………………………….. 2

Description of the Interview……………………………………………………………………. 2

Background of Interviewee………………………………………………………...………….. 2

Findings…………………………………………………………………………………………………... 3

Interviewee’s findings and experience……………………………………………………….. 3

Responses…………………………………………………………………………………….… 3

Description……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

Reflections………………………………………………………………………………………. 5

Possible Cause…………………………………………………………………………………. 5

References……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8

Introduction

The purpose of this interview was to get more knowledge of what the Individualized Education

Program (IEP) or 504 Plan services were like from a parent’s perspective. This is to gain deeper

knowledge of how I can be a better inclusive educator and make sure that school is an

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environment that students feel welcomed and encouraged and parents are involved and

supported. Some questions asked throughout the interview were:

● What do you know about inclusive education?

● What is your profession?

● What was it like going to IEP meetings?

● How would Shea be during the meetings?

● Is that how she was at home?

● What was it like working with the other teachers to make sure Shea received a good

education?

● What were some of the goals that Shea was given?

● What were her social interactions like the you or others may have observed?

● What do you really feel was effective for Shea?

The interview that I conducted was with a mother of a child who had a 504 Plan and an IEP for

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This interview took place in their own home

where they felt most relaxed and comfortable and had hand held copies of documents

throughout the child’s school experience. The interview took place at a time later in the day at a

time most convenient for her.

The mother, Laura, is still happily married to her husband of twenty-six years who is also the

father to both of her children. The eldest, Shea, is now long graduated high school and in her

fourth year of college. Laura works in the health field and has a very big thirst for knowledge,

having this knowledge it was not a big surprise to hear that she had read books upon books

about how to parent a child with ADHD.

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 Findings

Laura had stated that she did not start noticing signs that her eldest daughter had any sort of

disorder until her youngest daughter (me) was born. She had brought Shea to a pediatrician and

to social workers when teachers had also noticed something strange in Shea’s behavior. Shea

had been noted to “act more like a boy” with actions such as not sitting still, fidgeting, and not

focusing. Shea was labeled as an impulse child. By the time she was in third grade she was

given medication to help balance out the chemical actions occurring in her brain.

I began the interview with asking Laura about her knowledge of inclusive education and

received a response of uncertainty upon the subject. We had discussed what Shea’s IEP had

covered; time-management, organization, social skills, reading, and writing. Laura noted that

when they were beginning the process of creating the IEP, both her and her husband were

given a separate questionnaire to gain more insight to each perspective as parents. The special

education teachers that worked with Shea then proceeded to create the goals that would catch

her up in her reading and writing levels so that by high school she would be at the same level

with her grade. They would make sure that all these goals were measurable. Laura had

specifically stated every goal began with “Shea will have…”. The goals were always very direct

and specific. They would usually start it out at seventy-five percent for Shea to complete and

then move up at a pace, depending on how well she took on the task, until she reached

one-hundred percent.

The special education teachers would also communicate with Laura to make sure that Shea

was placed with a more understanding teacher. In fifth grade Shea had a teacher that was not

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as understanding, and this was the only time Laura could recall ever battling with a teacher

about Shea’s different learning style. Shea often did not recall information when not paying

attention. This was noted in the IEP and in parent teacher conferences but the teacher

continues to get frustrated and angry with Shea thinking she was deliberately being stubborn

and rude. Laura had worked to make sure that Shea was switched out of that class because

Shea was more disheartened and less motivated causing her to take steps back with her goals.

The teachers she had later on would be picked specifically for her and they would incorporate

activities in their lessons to help Shea work on her social skills. It was not until middle school

that Shea was placed in a daily, not overnight, summer camp for students that had behavioral

disabilities. This was the biggest improvement to her social skill development. She was placed

in an environment where she was not ostracized or seperated. She was reported to even take

on some leadership roles and help encourage and support other students.

From my understanding through the interview, Shea’s social skills had improved tremendously

over the years but it was not really until middle school. It was until high school that she was no

longer taken out of her reading and writing classes to learn the same material but at a different

level and with different goals. Growing up with Shea, I received a first hand understanding of

how she felt ostracized and “weird”. Often times she would stay quiet and reserved which had

some negative impacts on her social life because her peers would think that Shea was ignoring

them. In middle school, Shea was selected to be apart of a math and science mentor program

with some of her other peers that were gifted in the two subjects. Each student was paired with

an adult which would be labeled as the child’s mentor and they would work on specific science

or math things that were more advanced such as building a robot or dissecting an octopus or

making slime. This program required the Shea to leave her class every once and a while to

participate in this program. It was not until high school that Shea was no longer taken out of her

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classes. She had completed a lot of the goals set for her. The only other goals that the faculty

worked on with her was making her an eligible candidate for college by having her pass the

ACT test and other requirements.

Discussion

The first initial question I had asked Laura, about her knowledge of inclusive education, I was

surprised to hear of her lack of knowledge. Laura was a very involved parent for both of her

children with a thirst to learn new things, so the thought would not have occurred to me that she

did not know what it was. After completing the interview I explained what it was and she gave

more insight to her connections with other parents of children who had disabilities.

After being informed of her knowledge, it was not surprising to hear that Shea was taken out of

her classes and felt ostracized. Shea was often quiet; in class, at home, and in meetings. At

home she was only quiet when something was not interesting to her or when she had to listen,

whether she was actually listening was another story. Laura had learned that it was when she

was looking directly at you that Shea was not listening rather than when she was fidgeting with

something. Laura had later shared information shared by other parents whose children had

been diagnosed with a disability. They had said that their child absolutely hated being taken out

of the class. Those children and Shea just wanted to be more normal. As Shea’s sister, I

remember the constant tears and the pleading to be normal. It was absolutely heartbreaking. In

our class readings, we had come across Bloom’s Taxonomy and incorporating that with the

Multiple Intelligences on page one-hundred and eight to one-hundred and twelve of

Differentiating Instruction​ by Thousand, J. S., Villa, R. A., & Nevin, A. I. (2015). It is also noted in

the same text that “when using scaffolding, teachers use their knowledge of learners’ current

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level of understanding to alter the instruction to generate greater competence (Thousand, J. S.,

Villa, R. A., & Nevin, A. I., 2015). Another tool that educators could use so that their student’s

are not taken out of the classroom is Taba’s Knowledge Categories on page eighty-three of

Differentiating Instruction​. There are multiple ways to keep all students in the same classroom

even students’ at different learning levels or of different learning abilities. This is where

co-teaching can come into play in the classroom. There are multiple forms of co-teaching that

can take place. In ​Differentiating Instruction​, it was noted that “when students have more active

roles in communicating their understanding of the academic content, they increase their

retention and achievement” (Thousand, J. S., Villa, R. A., & Nevin, A. I., 2015). If some of this

were to take place in some of Shea’s classes, she could have built peer relationships and built

up her skill level for the content.

During the interview, it came across that the special education teachers came up with the goals

for Shea before the meetings. Neither parent felt bothered by this nor faught any of the goals.

They had felt that the educators had accurately created the goals for Shea. Even Shea did not

contest any of it, she just sat silent and today all she remembers is not caring because she was

just so bored. Both parents had felt that they had a voice in all the meetings and felt as though

their daughters needs were being met. As an educator I would have made a back up goal list

only to suggest if the parents or child had none to offer during the meeting. I feel as though it is

important for everyone to feel as though they have an opinion and a choice in the matter and it

would be more beneficial to start the meetings off by seeing what ideas they have for their child

rather than immediately showing them some suggested goals made without the parents and

child present.

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When Laura was faced with the question of what Shea’s “rap sheet” looked like, she thought

back and noted that teachers’ had describe Shea as “quiet and polite, but is often distracted,

moves around a lot, and lacks motivation”. It was clear Shea did not want to try as hard when

she did not know why the assignment was important. I was expecting some more negative

terms, but I am pleased that they were not as bad as I was anticipated. It was more the

connotations that went along with the words and the struggle that teachers had faced trying to

get Shea to pay attention. Although Laura was not displeased, she would talk to all the teachers

and she felt that they expressed in multiple ways their understanding, support, and love for

Shea.

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 Format and Quality of Writing

References

Thousand, J. S., Villa, R. A., & Nevin, A. I. (2015). ​Differentiating Instruction ​(Second ed.).

Interview Protocol

Turned in hard copy.

Interview Notes

Interview was recorded. All notes turned in hard copy.

Signed Consent Form

Turned in hard copy.