Collaboration with Parents of Exceptional Children - Case Study Example

The Case Study Jim was the only son to Bill and Rachel. Jim was studying in the Primary grade and Jim was an average student in studies. When I started teaching Jim, I had noticed that Jim was very shy in classroom and would like to stay at the back bench. Jim had the answers but was not confident enough to say out a loud in classroom and I had found it to be a case of being afraid of failing in class. Jim was getting nervous when standing in front of crowd and loves to run away from the crowd. The bigger the crowd is, the more nervous Jim would become. I had tried m ore experiment in the form of giving a presentation for Jim for class next day and I had noticed that Jim had become more nervous after getting the assignment and Jim presentation was loaded with nervousness as the child was getting more nervous. The child was afraid to try out new things and would always like to get the same things again and again. (David J. Wilmes, Cyril A. Reilly,1988,")The child was slow in learning things and had a battered confidence and that was getting on to his nerves. There were problems in looking at eyes and speaking from the Jim point of view and Jim had all the qualities to become a good professional inn later years. Jim was creative and Jim loved playing football. Jim was different in the football field as he was a good team player but was not interested in scoring goals but making others score goals. Jim was more interested in playing as a back in the football field and was not interested in making the attack go forward. Jim has been afraid of coming to school on school bus on the fear that the bus would be accident prone and Jim had been afraid of going near water for fear of being drowned. Taking this as a special case I had interviewed Jim and had found startling facts that Jim has been bought up by overprotective parents and they were not giving the freedom to Jim to do anything. The child has been curbed to do things all by oneself and that has affected the self esteem and the self confidence of the child. It has been a case of child falling more when the parent has been close by and that has meant that the child has become afraid of trying out new things. Jim sense of worth has been determined by parents and in this case sadly it has been negative. There has to be a positive reassurance which was sadly missing in the case of Jim and that has been affecting the life of the person. Jim has been fearful of dealing with difficulties that has been faced and that has meant that the confidence need to be restored back from the home and that would mean that the persons would be in a mindset of dangerous place to live in. The teachers dealing with parents I wanted to start with assertive manner with Jim’s parents. As the school tour was fast approaching I am sure that the parents of Jim would not be interested in sending Jim to the tour and I understood that this would be the first occasion to change the way the parents of Jim behave. Jim’s parents came and as expected they were not willing to face the issues straight on. I started in a patient manner about what I felt positive for Jim and then slowly waded into an area which I felt like would be creating a conflict situations and I felt that I would be prepared for everything. As a teacher I was driving home the point that the parents determine the behavior of the students (Bos, C. and Vaugn, S. 1994) and that means the social confident students would be determined by the parents. Being an introvert does not mean that the child is not capable of facing the world but being absent in confidence means that the child would become a failure in life. Jims parents were angry at times and that has made me unnerved .It was difficult to change my nervousness but I had the presence of maintain strong eye contact with angry or aggressive parents. This could be termed as counterintuitive; as looking away was what the angry person wants us to do.( Suzanne Capek Tingley,2006) The kid should be given an alternative style of management in the sense that the kid should be given an opportunity to listen rather than being lectured and the kids would be learning by doing and it is easy to become protective but there should be a way of not being overprotective. That means the Jim should be taking a new view rather than staying on the belief that parents would be doing the things they want. The kids should be able to take major decisions from an early age and that would mean that the parents should be able to give that confidence to the kids.( Lawrence Balter,2000) The parents were not ready to acknowledge and they were stressing that everything has been allright.The self image that Jim has been portraying has been that of defeatist and negative and that has meant that the child has been unable to make sensible decision. This was interrupted by the parents as baseless and they had accused me of foul playing and this accusation was taken in a calm manner by the parents. The reaction from the parents were noisy but the calm behavior from my side meant that the parents were forced to listen to my decision, I had urged the parents to change the way the world has been viewed and that meant change of viewing problems as not problems but as an opportunity. The ethical issues The main thing that I was able to remember was that parents could be wrong but they still remain as the parents of the child and it is the duty of teacher to be secretive rather than taking the issue with everyone in the class. (Williams, J. and Snipper, G. 1990) There should be secretive and proper listening to the problems by the parents and there should be honest understanding of parents. Meeting the parents has helped me to understand more about the problems faced by Jim and I have been making sure that I am not over critical of Jim’s parents but was trying to lend a supporting hand to both of them. In short the approach was more of ethical and psychological rather than insulting others. ( Wolfendale, S. 1992) There has to be clear self talk as that would be projecting a positive attitude on the minds of the parents which would be transformed back to the child Jim. There could be talks like anything can be hurled to me like sticks but no words would never hurt me would be projecting a skin that is tough to be penetretated.( Masud Hoghughi,1992)These type of affirmation would be giving the confidence back to the students and there would be an action plan that has to be build for the students from the point of the Jim .There has to be many small steps that has to be taken to ensure that the actions would be successful and this would be needing the support of the parents and it is the duty of the parents to make sure that the children are on the right track.( Friel, J. 1995) The parents should be able to understand that it is them who should be the role models for Jim and that should not be forgotten and this is the base for getting the best for the children. A parents emotional approach has to be well defined because too much psychological barrier would be creating a pressure on the minds of the children.( Fine, M. 1991) The other main ethical issues that has been raised with Jims parents were that I had tried to remain non sarcastic with them and even arguments that were raised by Jims parents were kept as secrets and they were shown the best way to communicate with them.( Fletcher, T. and Bos, C. 1999) Jim’s parents were given the contact phone number and address of my home and they were warmly welcomed to have a night dinner with me and that was strictly confidential. This was done to increase the rapport with Jim, parents and the school as that would also instill the confidence that was needed in the minds of Jim’s parents.( Donald, D., Lazarus, S. and Lolwana, P. 1997) Jim was facing the problem of the different levels of potential and ability of the learners in the same group, the communication problems that has been created by difference in the attitude and disciplinary problems they experienced in the class and these was discussed amicably with the parents.( Louis Kaplan,2000) Reference Masud Hoghughi,1992,"Home and family problems",Assessing child and adolescent disorders: a practice manual,pp.209-249 Lawrence Balter,2000,"Entries",Parenthood in America: A-M American family Volume 2 of Parenthood in America: An Encyclopedia,pp.100-125 David J. Wilmes, Cyril A. Reilly,1988,"communiation skills",Parenting for prevention: how to raise a child to say no to alcohol and other drugs : for parents, teachers, and other concerned adults,pp.177-203 Louis Kaplan,2000,Tensions in Parent-Teacher Relationships The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 51, No. 4 , pp. 190-195 Suzanne Capek Tingley,2006,"dealing with difficult parents",How to Handle Difficult Parents: A Teacher's Survival Guide,pp.140-144 Bos, C. and Vaugn, S. (1994). Strategies for teaching students with learning and behaviour problems,Taking the stress out of teaching,pp.75-100. Donald, D., Lazarus, S. and Lolwana, P. 1997. Educational psychology in social context. Challenges of developing social issues and special needs in schools,pp.25-30. Fine, M. 1991. Collaboration with parents of exceptional children,Promoting learner development,pp.38 Fletcher, T. and Bos, C. 1999. Helping individuals with disabilities and their families,New and junior faculty,pp.80-100 Friel, J. 1995. Children and parents with special needs. Assessment, law and practice,pp.12-16 Wolfendale, S. 1992. Primary schools and special needs,Research methods for eduacation systems,pp.20-30 Williams, J. and Snipper, G. 1990. Literacy and bilingualism,A sociology of special education,pp.70-80. Read More