Journal
EXCEPTIONALITY
Volume 24, Issue 3, Pages 137-150Publisher
ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/09362835.2015.1064412
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Funding
- Administration on Community Living, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research [H133P110004]
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [P30 HD15052]
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center's Nicholas Hobbs Society
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Although parents often advocate for the best educational services for their children with disabilities, few studies examine parents' advocacy activities; identify parent-school relationship, parent, and student correlates of advocacy; or describe the conditions of advocacy. Responding to a national, web-based survey, 1087 parents of students with disabilities completed a 163-item questionnaire. A seven-item Special Education Rights and Advocacy Scale converged on a single factor. Higher levels of advocacy were found among parents who enacted their procedural safeguards, reported less satisfactory partnerships with schools, and were less satisfied with educational services. Parents engaging in the highest levels of advocacy described negative experiences, with schools refusing services, acting disingenuously, lacking trained personnel, and communicating poorly. Conversely (and with some exceptions), parents engaging in lesser amounts of advocacy reported positive experiences, were satisfied, and felt that their IEP teams were collaborative. High levels of parental advocacy may be a reaction to poor relationships with and behaviors by the school. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.
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