1

Parent Interview

Sean Laughlin

University of Kansas

SPED 898

Dr. Brasseur-Hock

June 29, 2020

 2

Parent Interview

Introduction

For my final artifact, I chose the Family Interview in SPED 854. This

assignment was to interview a parent of a student in my classroom. I chose Jim

Pode, a grandfather of one of my students because I know that him and his

grandson, Dustin have had a roller coaster ride throughout Dustin's time in school.

This interview allowed Jim to reflect on Dustin's time in school as well as give

recommendations for special education departments.

Purpose

Interviewing parents is to get a better understanding of the parents

perspectives of having a special education student. Parents often feel like their voice

is not heard when involving their child's education, so this interview allowed them

that opportunity. Parent’s involvement is a huge part of improving their student, so

having parents who are willing to give input is valuable.

Revisions

When revising this assignment, I first started with simply going through and

making grammatical changes because I received a 41/50, I knew I would not need to

start the assignment over again. I then looked at the comments from Dr. Elford

which recommended more quotes from the parent as well as shorter sentences

which I made changes to both.

 3

What was learned

Looking back at this assignment, it brought back the memories of having this

student in class as well as the memories of the frustration his grandfather had with

how the school system was "helping" Dustin. Dustin did not finish at 21 like the

original plan. He graduated at 19 because he did not understand why the other

students in class were graduating at 18 and he had to continue going and he shut

down and refused to attend school. I still think about him often and how I hope I as

an educator can prevent students like Dustin getting in a position where they refuse

to go to school. This assignment also taught me that the parents are the most

important factor in the child's life and the school system needs to understand that

decisions made at school impact the parents life too.