Many youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face challenges accessing needed services as they transition to adulthood. The present study describes the development, feasibility and acceptability of a new intervention designed to teach parents of transition-aged youth with ASD about the adult service system and the most effective ways to access…

Although expected to be equal partners in the special education process, parents of children with disabilities often struggle to participate in individualized education program (IEP) meetings. Specifically, Latino parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face systemic barriers occluding their participation and advocacy in IEP…

Within special education policy and practice, parents are expected to advocate for their children to receive appropriate special education and related services. However, the majority of parents report feeling disempowered to advocate; families from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds may feel especially disempowered. Federally…

Internationally, parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities have historically engaged in advocacy leading to compulsory education for their children. However, few parents have reported civic engagement. Although empowerment is related to parent advocacy, it is unclear whether empowerment relates to civic engagement. Thus,…

Rapidly becoming the largest ethnic group of American students, compared to White students with disabilities, Latino students with disabilities receive less services and their parents are more likely to struggle to receive services. Yet, it is unclear how Latino families advocate for their children with disabilities including how cultural values…

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…

Many siblings anticipate fulfilling caregiving roles for their brothers and sisters with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Given these roles and the importance of supported decision making, it is crucial to understand how individuals with IDD and their siblings make decisions. Using dyadic interviews, we examined the perspectives…

Background: As adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have longer lives, parents may remain caregivers into old age. In addition, it is unknown who will fulfil caregiving roles after parents are no longer able to be caregivers. In the current study, we explored the nature (e.g. number of hours of caregiving) and correlates…

Parents of children with (versus without) intellectual and developmental disabilities report greater stress; such stress may be exacerbated by dissatisfaction with school services, poor parent-school partnerships, and the need for parent advocacy. Increasingly, mindfulness interventions have been used to reduce parent stress. However, it is…

Since its initial passage in 1975, parent involvement had been a cornerstone of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). However, parents face many barriers in voicing their concerns to professionals. One way for parents to share their insights and create systemic change is during an IDEA reauthorization. Yet, although the public is…

Background: Parents often face many barriers when taking care of their offspring with disabilities. In childhood, support needs vary with families of children with Down syndrome often reporting less caregiving challenges. However, it is unclear whether support needs vary in adulthood. This study compared parents of adults with Down syndrome (DS),…

This study examined who provides informal (or unpaid) supports to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Participants included 657 adult siblings of people with disabilities who responded to a national survey about informal supports in the areas of recreation, employment, and housing. Results indicated that most people with…

Compared to families of students with other types of disabilities, families of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are significantly more likely to enact their procedural safeguards such as mediation and due process. However, we do not know which school, child, and parent characteristics are associated with the enactment of safeguards.…