Deserving Immigrants and Good Advocate Mothers: Immigrant Mothers’ Negotiations of Special Education Systems for Children with Disabilities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazli Kibria ◽  
Walter Suarez Becerra
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Education Systems ◽  
Raising Children ◽  
Immigrant Mothers ◽  
The Face ◽  
Mothers Of Color ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Constant Source

Abstract Drawing on observational data and 30 in-depth interviews, we examine how immigrant mothers of color from diverse class, ethnic, and racial backgrounds negotiate public special education services for their children with severe intellectual disabilities. Special education systems in the United States emphasize parental involvement and oversight in the process of developing appropriate service packages for children. The intersection of these expectations with ideologies of intensive mothering generate an idealized vision of the mothers of children with disabilities as engaging in vigorous, selfless, and skillful advocacy in special education systems. The “Good Advocate Mother” becomes an ideational foil for “immigrant deservingness” by offering a yardstick of expectations against which to evaluate the commitment and merit of immigrant mothers raising children with disabilities. The Good Advocate Mother is a source of empowerment for immigrant mothers. The narrative legitimates their quest to obtain the best services for their children in the face of political currents that call immigrant entitlements to public services into question. The Good Advocate Mother is a constant source of challenge for immigrant mothers for whom the pressures of advocating well for their children intersect with those of establishing themselves as deserving immigrants.

Parenting Across Two Worlds: Low-Income Latina Immigrants’ Adaptation to Motherhood in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 711-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen K. Vesely ◽  
Bethany L. Letiecq ◽  
Rachael D. Goodman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
The United States ◽  
Latina Immigrants ◽  
Immigrant Mothers ◽  
Cultural Expectations ◽  
Gendered Roles ◽  
Community Supports ◽  
Depth Interviews

This study explored how low-income documented and undocumented Latina immigrant mothers negotiate motherhood and adapt to life in new cultural and structural contexts. Grounded in ecocultural theory, we analyzed data from 21 in-depth interviews with Latina immigrant mothers to surface how their experiences of motherhood in the United States were shaped by their country of origin experiences and their situatedness in the United States. We documented emergent tensions related to their immigration context, often driven by changes in their legal status as they crossed borders, changes in family and community supports, and differing cultural expectations of their gendered roles as caregivers and family members. These tensions forced mothers to renegotiate and adjust their perceptions, identities, and roles as women, mothers, partners, and members of larger, often transnational kin and community networks. Implications of these tensions and identity and role shifts in the context of immigrant family life in the United States are discussed.

Early identification for special education: Implications for research and development in the Pacific Rim

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Cook ◽  
Michael Gerber ◽  
Li-Yu Hong ◽  
Hasheem Mannan ◽  
Weng-jing Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Early Identification ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pacific Rim ◽  
Education Systems ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
National Investment

Early identification and intervention for children with disabilities can significantly improve longer term outcomes, but in developing nations like many in the Pacific Rim, such programs and practices can be expensive and must compete against other needs. We argue that early identification and intervention by schools leads not only to life improvements for children with disabilities and their families but also to substantial additions to a nation's human capital. Therefore, national investment in special education and prevention systems that provide the earliest possible identification and effective interventions can not only offset the lifetime family and social costs of disabilities, but also can add importantly to general well-being. Moreover, new knowledge and technologies relevant to applied problems in early identification are rapidly emerging, potentially increasing the precision and lowering the costs involved. The bottleneck, however, is the inadequate supply of highly skilled professionals in the special and general education systems – from university doctoral training down to typical classroom teaching. Based on extant literature, we articulate some development principles to help developing education systems in choosing how they may best invest in early identification and intervention.

Disproportionality in Special Education: A Synthesis of International Research and Trends

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 163-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
North Cooc ◽  
Elisheba W. Kiru
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Special Education ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Student Groups ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Special Education Identification

Access to schooling and special education services remains a challenge for many children with disabilities around the world. In the United States, much attention has focused on disproportionality—the over- and underrepresentation of student groups within special education. In this study, to contextualize and better understand the scope and factors associated with disproportionality in the United States and abroad, we synthesized literature on special education disproportionality in international contexts and identified trends across student groups and countries, including the ways in which scholars have examined this topic. Results show that studies focused mainly on the overrepresentation of ethnic minority, immigrant, and Indigenous populations in European or English-speaking nations. Nearly all studies emphasized structural inequalities in society over cultural barriers as mechanisms contributing to disproportionality. Policy recommendations, however, were more likely to focus on improving the special education identification process. The review has implications for research, practice, and policy to improve education for children with disabilities in the United States and abroad.

Perceived Experiences of Korean Immigrant Mothers Raising Children With Disabilities in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 104365962110629
Author(s):  
Anna Lee ◽  
Vicky J.-H. Yeh ◽  
Kathleen A. Knafl ◽  
Marcia Van Riper
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Korean Immigrant ◽  
Raising Children ◽  
Immigrant Mothers ◽  
Korean Mothers ◽  
Family Demands ◽  
Perceived Experiences ◽  
Korean Immigrant Mothers

Introduction: The challenges of acculturation that immigrant families experience could intensify if they have a child with a disability. This qualitative descriptive study aimed to describe the experiences of Korean mothers raising children with a disability in the United States. Methodology: Semi-structured interviews were conducted based on the Resilience Model of Family Stress, Adjustment, and Adaptation. Directed content analysis was used. Results: Six Korean mothers participated in the interview and 16 codes were identified in relation to the five concepts of the Resilience Model, namely family demands, family resources, family appraisal, family problem-solving and coping, and family adaptation. Overall, mothers thought their families were well-functioning and viewed their quality of life positively within the context of immigration despite experiencing various family demands. Discussion: Findings of this study showed the resilience of Korean immigrant mothers and revealed the importance of understanding and considering unique cultural differences when providing care to this population.

scholarly journals Early Childhood Special Education: Insights from Educators and Families

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Tejero Hughes ◽  
Diana Martinez Valle-Riestra
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Early Childhood Special Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Urban City ◽  
Young Children With Disabilities ◽  
Teachers And Parents

Programs and services designed to meet the needs of young children with disabilities have increased substantially in recent years, often times without evaluating how effective the programs and services are at meeting the needs of children and families. This study sought to investigate how principals, teachers, and parents perceived how Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) programs across 31 schools in a large, urban city in the United States (US) meet the needs of young children and their families. Thirty principals, 45 teachers, and 301 families participated in the investigation. Overall, all stakeholders identified the programs’ structure, personnel, and home to school connections as strengths. They also believed that ECSE programs were an appropriate place for young children with disabilities. Families and teachers indicated satisfaction with the frequency of communication; however, both families and principals still wanted to see an increase in communication between home and school. Areas needing improvement included critical elements needed in ECSE programs related to human resources, increased funding, and appropriate adult-child ratios. Implications for practice are discussed.

scholarly journals Racial Safety and Cultural Maintenance: The Childcare Concerns of Employed Mothers of Color

1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynet Uttal
Keyword(s):  
Mexican American ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Maintenance ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Employed Mothers ◽  
Mothers Of Color ◽  
Ethnic Group Membership ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Depth Interviews

When employed mothers of color transfer the care of their children to childcare providers, their needs and concerns reflect their status as members of historically subordinated racial ethnic groups in the United States. This paper introduces two new concepts—racial safety and cultural maintenance—to show how racial ethnic group membership and traditional cultural practices and values are critical concerns that influence the decisions and choices that employed mothers of color make about who will provide care for their children in their absence. This analysis is based on in-depth interviews with Mexican American, African American and Guamanian American employed mothers of infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children.

scholarly journals PROBLEMS OF PARENTS CARING FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 268
Author(s):  
Maryna Lekholetova ◽  
Tetiana Liakh ◽  
Nataliia Zaveryko
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
Medical Problems ◽  
Raising Children ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Access Problems ◽  
Educational Potential ◽  
Depth Interviews

The development of integrated social services for parents raising children with disabilities is one of the priorities of social policy in Ukraine. The purpose of this article is to identify the typical problems of parents raising children with disabilities. Based on the in-depth interviews conducted by parents raising children with disabilities in two regions of Ukraine (n=60), groups of typical problems they face (discrimination, medical problems, imperfection of regulatory support, information problems, access problems, problems of early diagnosis / early intervention, psychological problems, risk of institutionalization, financial and economic problems) and their analysis. In-depth interviews identified issues that could provide brief guidance on social work with families raising children with disabilities.The authors draw attention to the urgent and structural changes needed to improve the access of parents of children with disabilities to quality social services and to improve the quality of their social and pedagogical support, including enhancing the educational potential of such parents.  

Resettlement Education Case Managers’ Roles Supporting Refugee Families With Children With Disabilities

2021 ◽  
pp. 002246692110188
Author(s):  
Nicole B. Adams ◽  
Rosa Milagros Santos
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Case Managers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Education Literature ◽  
Refugee Families ◽  
Special Education Process ◽  
Families With Children ◽  
Education Process

Refugees have been resettling in the United States for decades, but there has been little attention in the special education literature to this population. The existing literature notes numerous systemic barriers refugee families and professionals encounter but has not investigated the roles of professionals in refugee resettlement agencies in supporting families who have children with disabilities. In this study, we used semi-structured interviews to explore resettlement education case managers’ (ECMs) roles and experiences assisting refugee families to access special education. Our findings revealed that ECMs provided intensive support to newly resettled families by educating them on the special education process, connecting them with supports, and sharing information about disability characteristics. Implications for research and practice are also provided.

Speech-Language Pathology in the Peace Corps: Necessity and Sustainability

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
Melissa A. Pierce
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Special Education ◽  
Peace Corps ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
The United States ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Language Pathology

In countries other than the United States, the study and practice of speech-language pathology is little known or nonexistent. Recognition of professionals in the field is minimal. Speech-language pathologists in countries where speech-language pathology is a widely recognized and respected profession often seek to share their expertise in places where little support is available for individuals with communication disorders. The Peace Corps offers a unique, long-term volunteer opportunity to people with a variety of backgrounds, including speech-language pathologists. Though Peace Corps programs do not specifically focus on speech-language pathology, many are easily adapted to the profession because they support populations of people with disabilities. This article describes how the needs of local children with communication disorders are readily addressed by a Special Education Peace Corps volunteer.

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