Working with Families of Children with Special Needs

Successfully working with children with special needs is a unique challenge but so is effectively working with their parents, siblings, and other family members. This helpful and engaging first edition text helps the reader understand every aspect of collaborating with and communicating with families of children with disabilities, from offering skills and strategies for success, to outlining the legal and ethical implications of educators work with special needs families.

Timely and thorough, Working With Families Of Children With Special Needs takes a close look at the individual needs of different families, including families struggling with aging special needs students, families with diverse backgrounds, and families with differing perspectives on special needs education. In addition, the text provides the reader with an array of helpful learning tools and aids.

Special features:

        An emphasis on special needs education legislation makes certain that readers understand the most current legal aspects of the topic, including NCLB and its impact on children with special needs and their families, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and FERPA, (the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.)

        Two chapters on the historical background of families and special education give students a context in which to better understand the families of special needs students today.

        Extensive material on diversity, cultural competence, and special needs education gives students the tools they need to help children and families that come from a multitude of backgrounds and experiences.

        An entire chapter devoted to ethics and ethical practices as they relate to communicating and working with the families of special needs students teach readers how to abide by accepted ethical codes and standards.

        Real-world scenarios and examples of how different strategies and skills can be applied when working with families of children with special needs help students reflect on how practices in the text translate to the real-life classrooms and situations.

        Resources for engendering family-educator involvement provides readers with an array of current online information and hard copy sources that will help them further explore the topic of families and special needs children.

        Links to the CEC and Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) professional practice standards