Knowledge, participation, and needs of Chinese-speaking parents of primary-grade children with disabilities

Parental involvement is crucial in both general and special education. A low level of school participation is commonly found among culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families of children with disabilities. As the number of Chinese-American students with disabilities continues to increase, very little research has focused on how educators can best support Chinese-speaking parents of children with disabilities. This qualitative study attempted to address this issue. Ten Chinese-speaking parents of children with disabilities were the participants of this study. Both structured and open-ended interview questions were used. The results of this study suggested that Chinese-speaking parents of children with disabilities had a high knowledge of their legal rights. High parental participation at IEP meetings and parent-teacher conferences were found with low participation in other school events such as PTA meetings. Only one parent was an active participant in PTA meetings and other school-related events. The remaining nine parents reported numerous barriers to their participation at school, such as lack of time and cultural and language differences between educators and CLD families. Participants in the study offered many useful suggestions which schools could use to better support Chinese-speaking parents and their child, such as providing monthly newsletters and progress reports, arranging home-visits by teachers, organizing PTA meetings or parent support groups especially for parents of children with disabilities, and providing after-school programs for students who required extended instructional time. It was also suggested that schools provide all written documents in the parents' native language.