VIDBE-Q Volume 66 Issue 4
identifying challenges that educators may face. The research indicated that students
felt emotionally supported and benefited from having both their teachers and
family members actively involved in their education. Parents and were found to
benefit by sharing and learning strategies, such as behavior supports, as well as
information about what is being taught in the classroom. This home and school
collaboration led to instruction that was designed to meet the specific needs and
abilities of the child in the classroom. Josilowski reported challenges, such as lack
of interest from parents and a lack of time in a teachers already busy schedule to
establish a home and school collaboration.
There is a need for more research that examines the home and school
collaboration of students with visual impairments and deafblindness and their
families. Below are some strategies to support educators with engaging families to
strengthen and/or develop home and school collaborations.
Involving Families
Strategy 1: Ask Families for Ideas and Feedback.
The best place to start is talking with families and getting to know more
about their interests and needs. One of the major findings from the Pancsofar et al.
(2020) article was that many fathers of children with deafblindness identified that
they did not have a lot of knowledge on how to communicate with their child and
they needed more information to support their child with school. As educators, we
