Transcript Empowerment and Building Reliable Alliances

Chapter Three
Empowerment
Empowerment
• Identifying one’s 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
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
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)
Five Components of Motivation
1. Self-efficacy
2. Perceived control --internal or external
locus
3. Great expectations
4. Energy
5. Persistence in pursing goals
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 one’s spiritual beliefs
• Social support – receiving practical and emotional
assistance from friends and family
• Professional support –reaching out to specialists
with expertise related to issues
Opportunities for Partnerships
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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
Collaboration
• The dynamic process of families and
professionals equally sharing their resources
(motivation and knowledge/skills) in order
to make decisions jointly.
Collective Empowerment
• Synergy
• Creation of renewable resources
• Increased participant satisfaction
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
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
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
Chapter Four
Building Reliable Alliances
Communicating Positively
Nonverbal Communication Skills
Verbal Communication Skills
Influencing Skills
Group Communication
Using Communication Skills in Difficult
Situations
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
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.
Developing the Listening
Environment
4. Be prepared
5. 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.
Specific Listening Techniques
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Clarifying statements
Restating content
Reflecting affect
Silence
Summarizing
Active Listening Skills
1. Attending skills
a. A posture of involvement
b. Appropriate body motion
c. Eye contact
d. Nondistracting environment
Active Listening Skills
2. Following skills
a. Ice breakers/Door openers
b. Minimal encourages
c. Infrequent questions
d. Attentive silence
Active Listening Skills
3. Reflecting skills
a. Paraphrasing
b. Reflecting feelings
c. Reflecting meanings
d. Summative reflections
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
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
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
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
Active Listening Activity
With a partner, take turns playing the role of parent and
educator. Use active listening skills and appropriate,
people first language:
1. 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 don’t
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 child’s behavior
Parent: You are not familiar with attachment disorders
Diagnostic Criteria for AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
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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
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(2) hyperactivity-impulsivity: six (or more) of the following symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity 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
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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/Hyperactivity Disorder, Predominantly Inattentive Type: if Criterion A1 is met but Criterion A2 is not met for the past 6 months
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity 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.
Diagnostic Criteria for Reactive Attachment
Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood
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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
Team Decision-Making
• As either a general ed or special ed teacher,
you may be asked to assess the child and
contribute to the team’s determination of the
child’s eligibility for specialized services
• Do not diagnose the child on your own and
do not prescribe medication!