Although special education advocates have played an essential role in obtaining rights for individuals with disabilities, there is still much unknown about their motivations, challenges, roles, and the meaning they made from their experiences. Research into Saudi parent advocates of children with disabilities and their complex daily life issues…

Given the large proportion of students who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) in special education, there is a great need to understand and learn from the literature and the experiences of Latino immigrant parents of children with disabilities. It is important to conduct qualitative studies, systematic reviews, and quality reviews to…

A considerable body of sociological literature has examined the role that education plays in the ongoing reproduction of class-based inequalities. However, there is a relative lack of research that has focused on the reproduction of inequalities linked to the combined influences of disability and social class. Based on a qualitative study of 19…

Drawing from an ethnographic study with U.S.-born children who had relocated to their parents' hometowns in Mexico, we engaged transborder and dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit) frameworks to understand the compounding, deterritorialized ways undocumentedness and dis/ability shape educational experiences across borders. In this article,…

The aim of this study was to delve into the barriers to learning experienced by 2e students with autism through in-depth interviews with seven 2e students and four professors from a northeastern university. All participants were in a specialized program for 2e students with autism and took classes with the general student population. Results…

A strong relationship between parents and professionals is essential to successful early intervention. Yet, programs struggle to engage families in services. This article describes a successful pilot project to strengthen parent/professional relationships for families with children with disabilities living in a high-poverty urban area. Early…

Family-early educator partnerships are foundational to early childhood and early childhood special education, and collaborative decision-making regarding child and family need is recognized as a critical component of these partnerships. This study investigated how two Part C early intervention home visitors and four parents communicated during…

Purpose: Although researchers have explored parental perspectives of childhood speech and language disorders, most studies have been conducted in English-speaking countries. Little is known about parental experiences across countries, where procedures of language screening and services for language disorders differ. The authors participated in the…

Research suggests that pre-service teachers need better preparation to collaborate successfully with families. In much of the available literature regarding parent perspectives on children with disabilities, participants are predominantly mothers. There are few studies that focus on fathers' perspectives. Therefore, this study involved 36…

Parental involvement is a heavily debated topic in school across America. Schools are often faced with dismal levels of active parent participation and are faced with the task of developing programs to encourage parents to become or remain involved in their children's education. Current literature consistently shows increasingly positive academic…

This book presents an in-depth discussion of how human disability and parental advocacy have been constructed in American society, including recommendations for a more authentically inclusive vision of parental advocacy. The authors provide a cultural-historical view of the conflation of racism, classism, and ableism that has left a deeply…

The emphasis on parents in addressing the needs of children with disabilities is of great importance as education enters the second decade of the 21st century. This involves a movement from parents being passive recipients of decisions being made about their child by those outside of the family (e.g., teachers, service providers) to being…

Families who have children with delays or disabilities are often expected to become advocates for their children. Despite this inherent expectation, there is limited research available focused on advocacy during the early years (birth to three). The purpose of this study was to use qualitative inquiry, specifically semi-structured interviews, to…

The increasingly diverse population in the United States calls for schools to address the breadth of cultural histories students bring with them to the classroom. High school students with disabilities are also diverse in terms of cultural histories, race, ethnicities, religions, and citizenship. These factors intersect as families engage in…

Parental involvement has long been researched and discussed as a positive influence on the educational and social outcomes for students across grade levels. Within our school communities, students who are identified with educational disabilities face increased challenges to decrease the learning gap compared to students without educational…