BUILDING BLOCKS: PARENT ENGAGEMENT IN THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Buendia, Floramaye B. Fulledo, Brijit M. Gatuz, Jasper Meih P. Abstract This study focus on the ways parents engaged themselves in the education of their children with special needs. Many studies on parent engagement prove that when parents become more engage their childs academic achievement increases and a successful school setting occurs. The study, therefore, focuses on the ways on how parents engage themselves in the education of their child and examined the level of self-efficacy of parents. The study also includes the how often parents engage themselves in the education of their children with special needs. The research sampled approximately 40 parents of children with special needs around Public Elementary Schools in Metro Manila. The respondents were picked through convenience sampling. The study used a descriptive questionnaire utilizing a five-point Likert Scale based on the raise statement of the problem included in the study. The data were collected and analyzed using a descriptive tables and content analysis. In summary, over 85% were engaged in their childs education through attending IEP/PTA meeting having the largest number of percentage and reviewing his/her childs lesson having the lowest percentage of 40%. Parents always makes sure that their childs attends school and parents frequently assists their child in doing their homework, monitor their childs grades and attends IEP/PTA meeting. Parents are capable of influencing their childs schoolrelated performance, school system and activities by their child outside the school. Parents are now encourage to sustain and improve their engagement in their childs education especially children with special needs to help their child attain academic success and develop his/her capabilities to the maximum extent possible. Introduction Many educators believe that parent engagement in their childs education is the most effective and powerful weapon in order to attain academic success. The concept of parent engagement involves the commitment and participation, such as doing something that is observable according to LaBahn (1995) as cited in the research of Pushor (2008). It is important that parents feel that they are involved in their childs education and actively participate in school activities, parent assembly, parent-teacher conference and decision making. In this way parents can gain knowledge and fully understand school policy, aims, administration and work for a common goal which is to improve their childs abilities and increase academic achievement.

Parent engagement is really beneficial, however, it could be a problematic issue for some reasons, parents feel that they are not welcome at school, some lack knowledge and education, and may not feel that education is essential in their childs development. One of the many reasons is the lack of understanding about the innovations and changes happening in the school system nowadays, parents believe that these changes and innovations are not important in developing their childs abilities, they were stuck at the idea of traditional schools and dont open their minds in exploring progressive schools. Another problem is the shortage of time, how can someone actively engage in their childs education when time is lacking. There are many issues associated in parent engagement such as a divorced/death in the family, financial status of the family as well as the failure to communicate effectively with the teachers and school these issues may not be seen by the teachers and school that may hinder parent engagement. According to Wanat (1998) as cited in the research of Pushor (2007), schools must understand that lack of participation by parents does not necessarily mean they are neglecting their responsibilities. They simply may not have the time, resources, or knows how to help out. Parents should keep themselves involve in their childs education including those whose children receive special education services so that parents can strengthen their childs confidence and eagerness to learn not just in school but also in home. Statement of the Problem This study will answer the following questions: 1. In what ways do parents engage themselves in the education of their children with special needs? 2. How often parents engage themselves in the education of their children with special needs in terms of: a. students attendance in school, b. completion of homework, c. grades and d. parents attendance in IEP/PTA meeting? 3. What is the level of self-efficacy of parents as measured by the Parental Self-Efficacy Scale in terms of their efficacy to influence: a. school-related performance, b. school system and c. activities by their child outside the school? 4. What program can be proposed to help parents sustain and strengthen their engagement in the education of children with special needs? Review of Related Literature and Study One of the most effective means of ensuring academic success is to engage parents in their childrens education especially for children with special needs that demands a higher rate of parent engagement compared to regular children. The definition of parent engagement has been evolving through the years, Pushor and Ruitenberg (2005, pp. 12-13) defined parent

engagement as an integral and essential part of education brought into the act because of care and commitment. Also, he mentioned that engagement also implies giving parents an equal opportunity to be involve and work together alongside with relevant educators in their childs education to share their knowledge and work for a common goal. Moreover, Constantino (2003, p.5) define parent engagement as the interaction between schools and families and the degree to which families are involved in the educational lives of their children. Given this evolving definitions by many researches, parental engagement gives teachers a chance to know their students better to help of both parents and the child. Teachers will also be aware on how to handle and communicate with their students with special needs which leads to a higher probability to attain academic success. Recent researches shows that the key factors influencing parents decision to participate in their childrens schooling includes parents knowledge, skills and attitudes; parents social networks; and their socioeconomic status (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005;Walker et al., 2005). In the same study conducted by Hoover-Dempsey (2005) he mentioned that parental engagement might be influence by four sources. First is the direct experience their personal experience of having their parents engage in their education which lead to their own success. Second is vicarious experience of others who made themselves involve in their childs education and succeeded through engaging themselves in their childs education. Third is through verbal persuasion of others it maybe a teacher, another parent or other professionals who share their success especially when the person who is encouraging a parent is with the same situation the parent is experiencing currently. Lastly, the eagerness to be engaged in the education of the children through the influence of the parents personal emotions. Parental self-efficacy is in a way a big help in terms of helping their child succeed in school and should be encourage to get engaged because they are the best person to help their child succeed and develop their potentials. In addition there are many ways on which parents might get their personal sense of efficacy to help their child according to the study of HooverDempsey (2005) the four sources might include the direct experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and emotional arousal or eagerness to help their child. These four sources should be utilized to help each parent and encourage them to be engaged in their childs education that would be a big help in developing each childs potential. Many researches have proven that parent engagement is very effective in ensuring academic growth to students with special needs. Since special education is a collaborative effort coming from many professionals, parent engagement would be the most appropriate tool in ensuring academic success that would be beneficial for both students and parents. Methodology The study used the descriptive method of research. This method is basically a technique or quantitative description of the knowledge and attitudes about parent engagement in relation to the academic achievement of children with special needs. This involves the collection of data that will provide an account or description of individuals, groups or situations. Instruments we use to obtain data in correlation studies include questionnaires. There is no

experimental manipulation or indeed any random selection to groups. The study includes 40 parents of children with special needs around Public Elementary Schools in Metro Manila. The researchers used a researcher-made instrument consisting of four parts which includes personal information, parental activity checklist, parent engagement scale and parental selfefficacy scale. The researcher-made instrument was validated by three experts with Masters in Special education. The researcher personally distributed the survey. Results Based on the data the researchers gathered, the study shows that Attending IEP/PTA meetings have the largest percentage (85%) and Reviewing his/her lessons is the lowest percentage (40%) when it comes to engagement meaning parent get involved through attending IEP/PTA meetings. Given the result of the study parents are more likely to see attending in PTA/IEP Meetings as the easiest way on how parents can engage to their childs education. The 38% of the respondents say that they been participating in school activities for 3 years and above meaning parents can sustain what they have started to do and parents are dedicated to support and help their children. Meanwhile, majority (83%) of the respondents have child with 0-5 absences meaning parents can minimize and control their childs absences which is a good sign that parents really influence their childs perception about school. The result shows that parents always engaged themselves in the education of their children in terms of monitoring their attendance in school. The most often parents do is preparing their childs snacks before going to school and the least is monitoring their childs absences with the interpretation of frequently. Majority of the parents frequently help and make sure that their child is able to complete his homework in time. Parents always assist their child in doing his/her homework and parents frequently used planner for monitoring his/her childs homework. Parents frequently participate in maintaining their childs progress/grades. Parents always provide his/her childs needs regarding activities at school and frequently have sufficient time to review his/her childs lesson during the day having the lowest score. P arents are always attending PTA/IEP meetings because they find it vital to their childrens education and parents view IEP/PTA meeting as an opportunity to discuss his/her childs needs that would be relevant to his/her childs education. The level of self-efficacy of parents are measured through the use of a scale which is divided into three subdomains based on the result conveyed from the data gathered parents are capable of influencing school-related performance through various ways of making sure that their children are highly supervised. Parents are also capable of influencing school system and they strongly believe that in order to make their child progress schools must have a structured and strong foundation in implementing school activities that would help their child to learn better. Meanwhile, parents believe that they are capable of influencing their childs activities outside the school by setting limits and monitoring their activities. To sum it up, most of the parents believe that they are capable of influencing their childs perfo rmance at school and even outside the school that leads to a higher sense of efficacy and increase academic

growth of their children with special needs meaning parents are very careful in selecting and supervising their childs activity and school-related task. Conclusion Based on the result of the study parents involve themselves by attending in IEP/PTA meetings as being the most frequent way of getting involve in their childs activity. Parents might different ways of getting themselves involved in their childs education depending on their prior knowledge and experienced way back when they were studying. Parents are getting themselves engaged by helping their child at their homework, picking their child after school, preparing his/her meals, communicating with his/her parents, volunteering in different activities at school and a combination of two or more of these ways. Parent engagement has proven to be effective on minimizing their childs absences, completion of homework, frequent attendance in school and increase of academic progress. More than half of the respondents said that they always participate in different activities involving their childs education meaning parents are able to give their time and effort in supporting their childs learning. Based on the results conveyed in the study, parents are proven to be dedicated to their engagement based on the result of the survey which indicated that most of the respondents had been participating for 3 years and above which means that parents continue to be engage because of their strong believe on parent engagement. Results of the study shows that more than half of the parents who answered the questionnaire are always participating in their childs completion of homework, making sure that their child attended school, attending IEP/PTA meeting and monitoring their childs progress which means that parents have a higher rate of concern when it terms of maintaining and monitoring their childs progress at school. Since parents are always participating in their childs activities at school it shows that parents positively and actively engaged in their childs education. Parental self-efficacy is also measured in the study wherein it shows that parents are capable of influencing their childs performance at school, school sy stem and activities outside the school meaning they strongly believe that they can influence school related performance and school system by exerting effort and engaging in their own preferred ways.

Recommendation On the account of the foregoing findings and conclusion the following recommendation are therefore proposed:
RESEARCH FINDINGS Parents are fairly capable in terms of making their childs learns and accomplishes school-related tasks PROPOSED PROGRAM TITLE A bridge to Success: leading to an open-mind RATIONALE OBJECTIVES SPECIFIC COURSE OF ACTIONS Administrators will conduct a seminar and invite parents of children with special needs Seminar is about the essence of parents participation in the education of their children with special needs Parents will be encourage to share their experience regarding helping their child in their school-related task After the sharing made by the parents, teacher will teach parents some strategies that would help parents in terms of helping their child at school work and reviewing their childs lesson

Parents play an essential role in developing their childs capabilities and abilities to be able to cope up with the society. This program is proposed to (1) help parents sustain and have a deeper understanding about their childs education (2) encourage parents to view education as a vital part of their childs life.

Parents are Letting your Parents know their not engaged voice be child better as well as in the heard their strengths and planning and weaknesses and they implementati were the most reliable on of different source in terms of activities that conveying information would be about the child. In the implemented implementation of to their child activities regarding their child it is best to include parents in the planning and implementation. Letting your voice be heard goal is to (1) engage parents in the planning of the activities about their child (2) encourage parents to participate in the implementation of different activities

To strengthen parent engagement in their childs education To encourage parents to establish homeschool collaboration through reviewing their childs lesson and tutoring their child at home to be able to sustain their childs learning To share their knowledge about their childs interest To encourage parents to suggest activities that they think will be appropriate to their child To encourage parents to participate in the activities of their child to establish a strong parentchild relationship

Administrators will organize a parental meeting to convey the opinions of parents and to engage them in the planning and implementation of different activities Teachers will facilitate the meeting Parents will suggest different activities that they think will be appropriate to their child Teachers will validate if the suggested activities will be appropriate or not If parents does not have any suggestion, teachers will be the one to suggest then parents will be ask if they agree with the activity or not After the parents and teachers have decided the activity that would be implemented regarding the child, parents will be encourage to be involve in the activity either at the school or in home.

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