Involving Parents of Students with Special Needs: 25 Ready-To-Use Strategies - Paperback

by Jill C. Dardig (Author)

"This book makes a great contribution to education. Teachers across specialties would find these strategies helpful for facilitating communication with parents and caregivers."
--Erin Jones, Special Education Teacher
Tea Area Elementary School, SD

"Involving parents on a positive level is essential to educating all students, especially students with special needs. This book helps readers with real-world situations--something that most college courses cannot prepare you for. Easy and user-friendly, this book provides strategies and tools to aid in communicating with parents."
--Laura Peterson, Special Education Teacher
Center School, Stow, MA

Bridge the communication gap with parents of children with special needs!

Research has shown that establishing strong communication links with parents and promoting family involvement can have positive and tangible effects on a student′s success in school.

In this teacher-friendly resource, Jill C. Dardig provides 25 ready-to-use techniques for involving parents in the education of their children. Both general and special education teachers in Grades PreK-12 can use these strategies to reach the parents of students with a wide range of learning needs, including cognitive, emotional/behavioral, social, sensory, and physical disabilities, as well as the parents of typically developing students. Involving Parents of Students With Special Needs anticipates the challenges to parent involvement and provides step-by-step directions, sample materials, and tips for

• Using letters, telephone, email, newsletters, and progress reports to communicate with parents
• Conducting successful parent conferences and in-person meetings
• Connecting parents with needed resources
• Helping parents teach their children at home
• Dealing with home/school conflict situations
• Preparing a parent involvement action plan

This practical guide helps teachers and parents work together to give students with special needs the necessary support to succeed in school.

Author Biography

Dr. Jill C. Dardig is a Professor of Education at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio, where she has been training Intervention Specialists (Ohio′s term for K-12 special education teachers) for the past 30 years. She teaches a variety of courses including "Parent-Teacher Collaboration" and spends a lot of time in schools supervising student teachers and picking the brains of their cooperating teachers for current trends and challenges, new ideas, and creative solutions. In 1999-2001 she was the first recipient of Ohio Dominican′s Booth-Ferris Master Faculty Award.

Dr. Dardig has been active in her state professional organization, and has served as President of the Teacher Education Division of the Ohio Federation Council for Exceptional Children.She worked previously as a curriculum specialist for the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, a special education faculty member at Russell Sage College (NY), a research assistant for the Northeast Regional Media Center for the Deaf (MA), and a parent educator for Project ChangeAbout the Author

Dr. Jill C. Dardig is a Professor of Education at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio, where she has been training Intervention Specialists (Ohio′s term for K-12 special education teachers) for the past 30 years. She teaches a variety of courses including "Parent-Teacher Collaboration" and spends a lot of time in schools supervising student teachers and picking the brains of their cooperating teachers for current trends and challenges, new ideas, and creative solutions. In 1999-2001 she was the first recipient of Ohio Dominican′s Booth-Ferris Master Faculty Award.
Dr. Dardig has been active in her state professional organization, and has served as President of the Teacher Education Division of the Ohio Federation Council for Exceptional Children.
She worked previously as a curriculum specialist for the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, a special education faculty member at Russell Sage College (NY), a research assistant for the Northeast Regional Media Center for the Deaf (MA), and a parent educator for Project Change, an early intervention program also in Massachusetts.
She has written a variety of books and other publications about and for parents.

, an early intervention program also in Massachusetts.She has written a variety of books and other publications about and for parents.