Chapter Three

1
Chapter Three

• Empowerment

2
Empowerment

• Identifying ones most important needs and
  preferences and then taking steps to satisfy
  them.
• The ability to get what one wants and needs
• Depends on the context
• Collective empowerment-empowerment of self and
  others
• Professionals should work to enable families to
  be empowered

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Empowerment Framework

• Family resources families are motivated and
  have knowledge/skills
• Professional resources professionals are
  motivated and have knowledge/skills
• Educational context resources schools and
  professionals take advantage of opportunities for
  partnerships and undertake obligations for
  reliable alliances

4
Coping Process

• Involves not denial but a vigorous determination
  to get the most and the best out of whatever is
  now possible (Cousins, 1989)
• Cope comes from an old French word meaning to
  strike (a blow) and I still feel like coping the
  next well-meaning person who says it to me.
  (Boyce, 1992)

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Five Components of Motivation

1. Self-efficacy
2. Perceived control --internal or external locus
3. Great expectations
4. Energy
5. Persistence in pursing goals

6
Life Management Skills

• Passive appraisal setting aside worries about a
  problem
• Reframing changing the way one thinks about a
  situation in order to emphasize positive rather
  than negative aspects
• Spiritual support deriving comfort and guidance
  from ones spiritual beliefs
• Social support receiving practical and
  emotional assistance from friends and family
• Professional support reaching out to specialists
  with expertise related to issues

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Opportunities for Partnerships

• Communicating among reliable allies
• Attending to families basic needs
• Referring and evaluating for special education
• Individualizing for appropriate education
• Extending learning in the home and community
• Attending and volunteering at school
• Advocating for systems improvement

8
Collaboration

• The dynamic process of families and professionals
  equally sharing their resources (motivation and
  knowledge/skills) in order to make decisions
  jointly.

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Collective Empowerment

• Synergy
• Creation of renewable resources
• Increased participant satisfaction

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Synergy

• Involves combined actions
• Occurs only when at least two people act in
  concert with each other in mutually compatible
  ways and for mutually compatible purposes

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Creation of New and Renewable Resources

• Impacted by belief systems
• Some believe that resources are scarce
• Erroneous assumption that if a parent gains
  power, educator will lose power
• Assumption there is a fixed amount of power
  (prevailing perspective in Western cultures)
• Some non-Western cultures regard resources as
  abundant rather than limited

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Increased Satisfaction

• Outcome of Collective Empowerment
• Less Frustration and sense that needs can be met
  at present and are capable of being meet in the
  future
• Related to having a group of allies on whom one
  can rely, to aid in problem-solving and making
  hopes come to fruition

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Chapter Four

• Building Reliable Alliances

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Communicating Positively

• Nonverbal Communication Skills
• Verbal Communication Skills
• Influencing Skills
• Group Communication
• Using Communication Skills in Difficult
  Situations

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Listening

• Involves
• -- A complex psychological procedure involving
  interpreting and understanding the significance
  of sensory experience
• Listen comes from
• -- hlystan (hearing)
• -- hlosnian (wait in suspense)
• Listening is
• -- A combination of hearing what the other person
  says and a suspenseful waiting
• -- Intense psychological involvement with others

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Developing the Listening Environment

• 1. Acknowledge parents and family members as
  collaborators and active participants.
• 2. Strive to achieve relationship parity with
  parents and family members.
• 3. Strive to understand the parents frame of
  reference.

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Developing the Listening Environment

• 4. Be prepared
• Arrange a private, professional setting for the
• conference.
• 6. Arrange for appropriate furniture.
• 7. Identify anxiety-reduction measures.
• 8. Maintain a natural demeanor in the
  conference.
• 9. Use eye contact.
• 10. Be sensitive to the emotions of parents.

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Specific Listening Techniques

• 1. Clarifying statements
• 2. Restating content
• 3. Reflecting affect
• 4. Silence
• 5. Summarizing

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Active Listening Skills

• 1. Attending skills
• a. A posture of involvement
• b. Appropriate body motion
• c. Eye contact
• d. Nondistracting environment

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Active Listening Skills

• 2. Following skills
• a. Ice breakers/Door openers
• b. Minimal encourages
• c. Infrequent questions
• d. Attentive silence

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Active Listening Skills

• 3. Reflecting skills
• a. Paraphrasing
• b. Reflecting feelings
• c. Reflecting meanings
• d. Summative reflections

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Cultural Awareness

• Be sensitive to possible differences in regard to
• Time promptness and allocation
• Nonverbals
• Space acceptable closeness/distance
• Eye contact
• Silence turn-taking
• Verbals
• Language

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Appropriate Language

• Avoid
• Saying defect --disability is preferred
• Generalizing, Kids like this.
• Referring to child/family as a case
• Using abbreviations, such as MR, BD, LD...
• Using confusing terminology
• Check in for understanding

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Use People First Language

• A child with a disability should be referred to
  as a person first, rather than his/her
  shortcomings
• -- Child with a learning disability not LD
  child
• -- Required in APA style
• A child has a disability and should not be
  referred to as being a disability
• -- Child has ADHD not child is ADHD
• Call people what they want to be called
• -- Exceptions to people first
• Deaf community, blind and individual preferences

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Labels

• Identification of the disability or a label
• Allows child to receive services
• Facilitates communication among professionals
• IDEA permits children to receive services with a
  classification of developmental delay up to age
  nine
• Some states require disability label earlier

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Active Listening Activity

• With a partner, take turns playing the role of
  parent and educator. Use active listening skills
  and appropriate, people first language
• Teacher You suspect that a 5 y.o. might have
  ADHD, with adverse effects on academic
  achievement, and are seeking parental permission
  to have the child evaluated
• Parent You think that your child is rather
  active but are reluctant to permit an evaluation
  because you dont want your child labeled or put
  on medication
• 2. Teacher You suspect that a 2 y.o. has an
  attachment disorder that is severely impacting
  the childs behavior
• Parent You are not familiar with attachment
  disorders

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Diagnostic Criteria for Attention-Deficit/Hyperact
ivity Disorder

• A. Either (1) or (2) (1) inattention six (or
  more) of the following symptoms of inattention
  have persisted for at least 6 months to a degree
  that is maladaptive and inconsistent with
  developmental level (a) often fails to give
  close attention to details or makes careless
  mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other
  activities (b) often has difficulty sustaining
  attention in tasks or play activities (c) often
  does not seem to listen when spoken to
  directly (d) often does not follow through on
  instructions and fails to finish school work,
  chores, or duties in the workplace (not due to
  oppositional behavior or failure to understand
  instructions) (e) often has difficulty
  organizing tasks and activities (f) often
  avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in
  tasks that require sustained mental effort (such
  as schoolwork or homework) (g) often loses
  things necessary for tasks or activities (e.g.,
  toys, school assignments, pencils, books, or
  tools) (h) is often easily distracted by
  extraneous stimuli (i) is often forgetful in
  daily activities 
• (2) hyperactivity-impulsivity six (or more) of
  the following symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivit
  y have persisted for at least 6 months to a
  degree that is maladaptive and inconsistent with
  developmental level
• Hyperactivity (a) often fidgets with hands or
  feet or squirms in seat (b) often leaves seat in
  classroom or in other situations in which
  remaining seated is expected (c) often runs
  about or climbs excessively in situations in
  which it is inappropriate (in adolescents or
  adults, may be limited to subjective feelings of
  restlessness) (d) often has difficulty playing
  or engaging in leisure activities quietly (e) is
  often "on the go" or often acts as if "driven by
  a motor" (f) often talks excessively
• Impulsivity(g) often blurts out answers before
  questions have been completed (h) often has
  difficulty awaiting turn (i) often interrupts or
  intrudes on others (e.g., butts into
  conversations or games) 
• B. Some hyperactive-impulsive or inattentive
  symptoms that caused impairment were present
  before age 7 years. 
• C. Some impairment from the symptoms is present
  in two or more settings (e.g., at school or
  work and at home). 
• D. There must be clear evidence of clinically
  significant impairment in social, academic, or
  occupational functioning. 
• E. The symptoms do not occur exclusively during
  the course of a Pervasive Developmental Disorder,
  Schizophrenia, or other Psychotic Disorder and
  are not better accounted for by another mental
  disorder (e.g., Mood Disorder, Anxiety Disorder,
  Dissociative Disorders, or a Personality
  Disorder). 
• Types 
• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder,
  Combined Type if both Criteria A1 and A2 are met
  for the past 6 months Attention-Deficit/Hyperacti
  vity Disorder, Predominantly Inattentive Type if
  Criterion A1 is met but Criterion A2 is not met
  for the past 6 monthsAttention-Deficit/Hyperactiv
  ity Disorder, Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive
  Type if Criterion A2 is met but Criterion A1 is
  not met for the past 6 months Coding note For
  individuals (especially adolescents and adults)
  who currently have symptoms that no longer meet
  full criteria, "In Partial Remission" should be
  specified.

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Diagnostic Criteria for Reactive Attachment
Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood

• A. Markedly disturbed and developmentally
  inappropriate social relatedness in most
  contexts, beginning before age 5 years, as
  evidenced by either (1) or (2)(1) persistent
  failure to initiate or respond in a
  developmentally appropriate fashion to most
  social interactions, as manifest by excessively
  inhibited, hypervigilant, or highly ambivalent
  and contradictory responses (e.g., the child may
  respond to caregivers with a mixture of approach,
  avoidance, and resistance to comforting, or may
  exhibit frozen watchfulness) (2) diffuse
  attachments as manifest by indiscriminate
  sociability with marked inability to exhibit
  appropriate selective attachments (e.g.,
  excessive familiarity with relative strangers or
  lack of selectivity in choice of attachment
  figures) 
• B. The disturbance in Criterion A is not
  accounted for solely by developmental delay (as
  in Mental Retardation) and does not meet criteria
  for a Pervasive Developmental Disorder. 
• C. Pathogenic care as evidenced by at least one
  of the following (1) persistent disregard of
  the child's basic emotional needs for comfort,
  stimulation, and affection (2) persistent
  disregard of the child's basic physical
  needs (3) repeated changes of primary caregiver
  that prevent formation of stable attachments
  (e.g., frequent changes in foster care) 
• D. There is a presumption that the care in
  Criterion C is responsible for the disturbed
  behavior in Criterion A (e.g., the disturbances
  in Criterion A began following the pathogenic
  care in Criterion C). 
• Types 
• Inhibited Type if Criterion A1 predominates in
  the clinical presentation Disinhibited Type if
  Criterion A2 predominates in the clinical
  presentation

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Team Decision-Making

• As either a general ed or special ed teacher, you
  may be asked to assess the child and contribute
  to the teams determination of the childs
  eligibility for specialized services
• Do not diagnose the child on your own and do not
  prescribe medication!