Nowadays, then educational institutions are aimed to cover all aspects of successful schooling of individuals, close attention is paid to the cultural aspect. In fact people are highly diverse in their beliefs, values and attitudes towards events that happen in their life. Thus, being a teacher today requires clear understanding of cultural diversities and obviously ensuring that educational environment and programs assist children to learn and achieve own success. For that purpose Individual Educational programs for child with disability was elaborated. Nora Groce (1998), a medical anthropologist, advocates that from the cross cultural perspective people view disability “in three ways: by its cause, by its effect on valuing attributes, and by the status of the disabled person as an adult.” For instance, Western cultures value uniqueness while Hmong “believe that the sin of an ancestor has caused the disability” (Anderson, 2011).
The general teacher role in the IEP cannot be overestimated as this is a person who provides the IEP teem with background documents and observations to identify child’s individual differences. Preparing for the IEP meeting the teacher should think about the involvement of parents in active participation and treat them as equal partners. As it has been stated above certain cultures describe disability as a sin and it makes clear why parents deny the need for special education for their child and during the meeting can show resistance. Considering parents cultural beliefs, teacher should be ready to provide extensive information for determination of child's eligibility for special education services. The core principle here is to emphasize abilities of the child rather than disabilities. For this purpose it is relevant to begin the meeting by reviewing the strengths of the child. In order to make the process of IEP maximally comfortable for parents, teacher should create collaborative atmosphere. The simplest method, sit besides to the parents to eliminate psychical barriers. In addition, language barriers must be considered and solutions found. Especially, the teacher should avoid professional jargon and use of acronyms. With no doubts, showing the parents what their opinion is essential for decision-making process results in meeting goals achievement. Therefore, use of successful meeting techniques, such as clarification, summarizing, and direct involvement of parents in the conversation by asking their ideas and opinions on the discussed topic are key factors of encouraging parents in active participation.
Overall, the teachers should carefully consider different cultural views on disability. Understanding of nature of diversity will help to prepare relevant strategy for the IEP meeting. Caring attitude to a child’s success and parents' beliefs, active parents’ involvement, implementation of communication techniques are core principles for successful IEP meeting.
References
Anderson, J. (2011). Culture and Disability by Jacqueline Anderson. Thetutorpages. Academis articles. Retrieved from:
HYPERLINK "http://www.thetutorpages.com/articles/academic" http://www.thetutorpages.com/articles/academic
Amatea, E. S. (2009). Building culturally responsive family-school relationships. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education. (IF YOU WANT INCLUDE THE PRINEDBOOK CHECK IF THE DETAILS IS CORRECT. IF ELECTRONIC VERSION-CHANGE THE CITATION.)
Groce, Nora E. (1999). Framing Disability Issues in Local Concepts and Beliefs. Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal, 10 …