Beth Harry

Mapping the Process: An Exemplar of Process and Challenge in Grounded Theory Analysis

This article responds to recent calls for greater clarity and transparency regarding methods in qualitative research. On the basis of a 3-year ethnographic study of the overrepresentation of minorities in special education, the authors address key tenets of grounded theory and attempt to reconcile some of the methodological challenges inherent in naturalistic inquiry. They discuss theoretical considerations and use a visual model to illustrate how they applied grounded theory to this complex and sensitive topic. Emphasizing the social nature of decision making in special education, the authors point to the appropriateness of qualitative methods to the investigation of such issues.

Equity and Advocacy Expectations of Culturally Diverse Families’ Participation in Special Education

The authors contend that the equity and advocacy expectations imbedded in the legal mandate for parent participation in the special education decision-making process directly contradict the hierarchy of professional status and knowledge on which the positivist paradigm of professionalism is based, and are also in conflict with the values held by many families from culturally diverse backgrounds, contributing to low levels of participation and advocacy. They argue the need for professional education to incorporate opportunities for professionals to identify the cultural assumptions imbedded in the field of special education towards more balanced and effective collaboration.

Trends and Issues in Serving Culturally Diverse Families of Children with Disabilities

The emphasis on cultural issues affecting families of children with disabilities is quite new and should be viewed in the context of the way parental roles have been conceptualized by professionals over the past 3 decades. Prior to the 1970s, the emphasis was on psychoanalytic approaches to parents, particularly mothers, an approach that for the most part presented the mother as a victim or patient in severe psychological crisis who needed to go through certain stages of reaction before a point of “acceptance” could be reached. This line of literature focused almost totally on White, middle-class families who could access the kinds of services offered by the psychoanalytic model. While some of the central tenets of that line of thought, such as the notion of the parent’s mourning for an ideal child, seem to be a part of most parents’ experience, the literature had two dominant limitations: the promotion of a pathological view of families of children with disabilities and total omission of the impact of differential cultural beliefs and practices on family reactions. The 1970s saw the advent of the “parent as teacher” approach, which sought to promote positive parental involvement through behavioral training programs. The successes of that approach were reported to be variable, with clear evidence of greater success with middleclass and White families, whose life circumstances, childrearing practices, and personal interaction styles were more consonant with the approaches presented by that model. The advent of P.L. 99-457 in 1986 introduced the current phase, a line of literature that reflects an ideal of the parent as partner or collaborator with professionals. As this ideal evolved into a vision of family-centered practice, issues of diverse family beliefs and practices became a crucial focus.

Cultural Reciprocity in Sociocultural Perspective: Adapting the Normalization Principle for Family Collaboration

The principle of normalization/social role valorization provides a powerful framework for improving the quality of life of individuals with disabilities. However, the principle needs to be adapted to the increasing cultural heterogeneity of the United States. Decisions about the goals of service provision should be informed by two principles: (1) cultural reciprocity, whereby professionals work in a collaborative manner with families, and (2) a sociocultural view of learning and development, which targets social rather than individual processes. Findings from a collaborative action research project with culturally diverse families are used to illustrate how professionals can provide assistance in a familys zone of proximal development, rather than targeting goals that are normative for the mainstream, but not for the family.

Restructuring the Participation of African-American Parents in Special Education

Two traditions have combined to contribute to a form of discourse that is detrimental to the participation of African-American parents in special education procedures: first, a deficit view of African-American families and, second, the deficit view of childrens learning difficulties on which P.L. 94–142 is based. These deficit views, together with the focus by many professional educators on legal compliance rather than collaboration, have cast parents in the role of consent-giver in a grossly asymmetrical form of discourse, with power residing mostly with professionals. Four specific parental roles—including parents in assessment, placement, policymaking, and advocacy—would restore the balance of power in parent-professional discourse. Future research should focus on the documentation of egalitarian participation structures for African-American parents and on action-oriented ethnographic studies.

An Ethnographic Study of Cross-Cultural Communication With Puerto Rican-American Families in the Special Education System

This article uses a subset of data from an ethnographic study to address the challenge of parent-professional interaction in a cross-cultural context. Participants in the study were 12 Spanish-speaking, Puerto Rican-American families from low-income backgrounds whose children were classified as learning disabled or mildly mentally retarded. Parents’ views and experiences were sought through a recursive process of ethnographic interviewing, review of students’ documents, and participant observation of parent-professional conferences and community events. The data revealed that inadequate provision of information regarding the meaning of various events, as well as the school district’s reliance upon formalized, written communication, led to mistrust and withdrawal on the part of parents. A habitual deference to authority, however, tended to disguise parents’ real opinions. The data also showed that changes being implemented in the school district were beginning to have a beneficial effect on parent-professional relationships and to result in exemplary parent conferences. The discussion emphasizes that the structure of parent-professional interaction reflects the hierarchical values and the categorical framing of the concept of disability inherent in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Illustrations from exemplary conferences are used to show how parent participation can be restructured to ensure inclusion of culturally different parents.

The Intersection of Race, Culture, Language, and Disability: Implications for Urban Education.

To date, few researchers have sought to examine the effect of issues of race, culture, language, and disability, let alone to look specifically at the intersection of these issues, as it relates to special education identification, special education service delivery, and students of color’s access to an equitable education. Thus, this article will attempt to help urban education researchers and educators understand (a) why the intersection of race, culture, language, and disability is an urban education issue; (b) how issues of race, culture, language, and disability affect students’ and their families’ quest for an equitable education; (c) how to advocate for and provide culturally responsive services to racially, culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students and their families; and (d) the implications of the intersection of race, culture, and disability for urban education practice, research, and policy.

Developing Cultural Self-Awareness: The First Step in Values Clarification for Early Interventionists

This article presents a discussion of the need for early interventionists to develop awareness of certain cultural assumptions underlying their practice. A wide range of literature on cultural differences is used to identify five areas of potential dissonance between professionals and families from culturally diverse backgrounds: interpretations of the meaning of disability; concepts of family structure and identity; goals of education; parent-child interaction, and communication style. It is argued that awareness of ones own cultural beliefs in these areas is an essential first step in developing effective collaboration with culturally different families.

Cultural Underpinnings of Special Education: Implications for Professional Interactions with Culturally Diverse Families

ABSTRACT This article identifies certain cultural assumptions that underlie special education policy and practice in the United States, and argues that unawareness of cultural relativity contributes to considerable cross-cultural dissonance in working with families from diverse backgrounds. With regard to policy, the article argues that, despite an ideal of parental participation, the medical note on which the law is based frequently results in misunderstanding between professionals and parents who do not share the same value system. Three aspects of such misunderstandings are explored: The way disability is defined, the power accorded to professional expertise, and the commitment to the decontextualized language of objective science. With regard to practice, the article further identifies four areas of parent-professional dissonance: Beliefs about parenting styles, education goals, family and community concerns, and the pragmatics of communication. Explicit awareness of cultural relativity is recommended...

Participatory Research: New Approaches to the Research to Practice Dilemma

The dissemination of research into practice presents an enduring challenge to the social sciences. Despite intervention research focused on individuals with disabilities and their families that reveals clear pathways to improving practice, researchers and practitioners alike express concern regarding limited and slow implementation of the results of research in typical school and community settings. This article reviews three widely disparate literatures concerned with the gap between research and practice, highlighting suggestions for narrowing the gap through the incorporation of elements of practice into the research process. For each of the steps in our research on the social relationships of children and youth, we present examples of participatory research approaches to decision making designed to increase the relevance and validity of findings for everyday practice. We conclude with criteria that might be applied to the design of effective interventions for research validation to increase the likelihood that the results of intervention research will be adopted by school and community constituencies.