Call to Parents

[Guest guest]

I am a graduate student in Early Childhood Special Education at the

University of Northern Colorado. This past school year I worked

with a great teacher in an early childhood special education

classroom. I feel like I have the best job in the world and am so

privileged to be able to work with preschool children. For the

summer I am continuing to take classes toward my master's degree.

One of the classes I am taking is " Parent and Professional

Partnerships. " As part of this class I would like to better

understand parents of children with special needs so that in the

future I can be more sensitive and supportive of them and their

families. I am really asking you parents to help educate me. I

would like to understand your wisdom and your frustrations.

Please realize that any information you may choose to share with me

will be kept confidential and that I am most grateful to you for

your kind support of my efforts in this area.

Specifically, I am interested in the following questions in addition

to any information you parents are willing to share:

· What type of support, if any, did you receive initially?

Did you seek additional support and if so, from where or whom (i.e.

legal, family, friends, online)? What support did you find was the

most helpful?

· What is the best relationship/experience you've had with a

service provider? What was the role of the service provider (i.e.

doctor, teacher, early interventionist)? What made this experience

a positive one?

· What is the worst relationship/experience you've had with a

service provider? What was the role of the service provider (i.e.

doctor, teacher, early interventionist)? What made this experience

a negative one?

· When you were first told that your child had special needs,

what type of information would have been the most helpful?

· What advice would you give to a new professional like myself

in the field of early childhood special education?

· Is their additional information you would like to share?

Thanks for your input and time.