acknowledge the insight families have and to understand and respect their points of view will lead
to stronger collaborations. As practitioners, more
than in other professions, we are naturally connected to families. However, in today's multicultural society, we may not always be as keen in
truly understanding, recognizing, and validating
cultures different from our own. Being able to establish rapport with families from CLDB is a skill
we can further develop by being aware of our
own beliefs, personal biases, and family values
(Marshall, 2001) through self-study (Chen,
Nimmo, & Fraser, 2009) and by establishing ways
to learn from and about the families with whom
we work. In this article, we explore some of the
factors that research suggests are important to
consider when working with families from CLDB.
We also share a two-part reflection questionnaire
that can be used to strengthen our insight into the
needs of these families.
Factors Affecting and Promoting Family Involvement
The more we can break down barriers that
stand between a family from CLDB and the instructional culture, the stronger collaboration we
will have with families. When interviewing families
from Hispanic backgrounds who had a child with
visual impairment, Correa-Torres and Zebehazy
(2010) found that families wanted to be more involved in the education of their children. However,
logistic barriers such as language, transportation,
and resources sometimes reduced their ability to
do so. Families expressed a desire for support in
understanding the opportunities that were available to them, referring to overwhelming amounts
of written information sent home in English. In addition, some families felt that practitioners did not
understand their culture. Greene, Powers, and
Lopez-Vasquez (2005) found other barriers that
prevented parents from CLDB to be involved in
the education of their children with disabilities,
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