Family Needs And School Support For Families Of Students With Developmental Disailities:Comparison Of Parents' And Teachers' Perception

Exploring the family needs of students with developmental disabilities(DD)and school support is of vital importance to students' development and family well-being.Based on the past literature,the author compiled Family Needs of Students with Developmental Disabilities and Support Questionnaire.With this questionnaire,author investigated 198 parents of children with developmental disabilities and 144 teachers,and analyzed parental and teachers' perception on family needs and school support as well as the strengths and weaknesses of school support.The main results are as follows:(1)The questionnaire comprises of two versions—parents'report and teachers'report.Exploratory factor analysis(EFA)Confirmatory factor analysis(CFA)were conducted based on the parents' report,and five factors were extracted.The questionnaire was confirmed to have rational model structure and good reliability and validity.Teachers' report doesn't conduct EFA and share the same factor structure and items with parents' report.(2)The levels of family needs and school support are affected by students and family background.For family needs,the severer the students' disability is,the more the rating points for family needs;the older the parents are,the more family needs are reported.Higher household incomes and higher educational level predict lower family needs.Parents with full-time-job report less family needs;families with parents as primary caregivers report less family needs.Families with grandparents as primary caregivers and families with mothers as primary caregiver report higher family needs.For school support,higher household incomes and higher educational level predict less school support.Families with grandparents as primary caregivers expressed higher school support in economic support and emotional support,which is significantly higher than that of families with mother as primary caregivers.(3)Parents' and teachers' perception on family needs are significantly different.In the areas of professional knowledge and skill and emotional needs,teachers' rating is higher than parents',while in other areas no significant difference was found.(4)Parents' and teachers' perception on school support differs significantly.Teachers' rating in the area of total school support,professional knowledge and skill,financial,emotional support,and community inclusion,is significantly higher than parents' rating.While in the area of respite care,no significant difference was found between the two groups.(5)Special education schools' strength in providing family support are emotional support as well as professional knowledge and skills,while its weakness fall in the supporting areas of respite care,financial and community inclusionAccording to the analysis and discussion,conclusions can be drawn as follows:Parents' and teachers' perception on family needs and school support differs significantly.Thus,family and school cooperation is necessary.School support can not meet all aspects of family needs,more social support is needed for special schools.