Conducting Effective Conferences with Parents of Children with Disabilities

Book excerpt: Successful collaboration between teachers and parents can greatly enhance children's educational growth and development. This clearly written book provides teachers with the knowledge and skills needed to conduct effective conferences with parents of children with disabilities. Readers gain a solid understanding of the challenges that families face as a consequence of childhood disability; how family dynamics and roles are affected; and issues that are likely to arise in meetings with school professionals. Reviewing the basic elements of parent-teacher conferencing, Seligman highlights ways to establish rapport with families, develop strong listening and responding skills, and engage parents who may feel anxious, frustrated, or angry. Also addressed are the specific requirements of the legally mandated Individualized Educational Program conference. Enhancing the book's utility are numerous concrete examples and sample parent-teacher dialogues, as well as role-play scenarios and exercises to build conferencing skills. The Appendix describes a range of disability-related referral sources and publications suitable for recommendation to parents.