Family Interview

I interviewed the mother of a young student who has Down Syndrome. The student will

just be going into first grade in the fall. As such, the mother, Brenda, has had limited experience

with special education collaboration, but has seven older children so she is very familiar with

educational personnel. After interviewing Brenda, my heart hurt for her and the experience she’s

had thus far with special education. I felt a deep desire to want to improve the system and

overall, utterly discouraged.

I learned that their family has not had a great experience with the school and special

education department so far. Brenda feels like she is constantly fighting an uphill battle just to

have her daughter seen. One challenge that she’s experienced is that she contacted the principal

before the schoolyear had even started, advocating for daughter to be placed in morning

kindergarten. She backed up this request with evidence that her daughter works better in the

mornings and has fewer behavioral issues earlier in the day. Brenda stated that she felt this was

best for her daughter’s success. The principal emailed back stating that they had a lot of other

students to accommodate that had requested before her and that she couldn’t guarantee morning

placement because she wasn’t at the top of the list. Brenda felt like her concerns and emotions

were not validated or addressed. They ended up placing her daughter in afternoon kindergarten,

against her wishes. This started the year off on the wrong foot and automatically had Brenda

feeling defensive and protective of her daughter. Ultimately, she didn’t feel like they were all on

the same side.

A few weeks later, the special education teacher told Brenda that her daughter was no

longer welcome at afternoon kindergarten because she was having behavioral problems. This
was the first time it had ever been brought up to Brenda, so she felt blindsided. She scheduled a

meeting with the principal, counselor, special education teacher, and kindergarten teacher. This

was the first time they all were able to get on the same page. Anytime Brenda would try to

follow up from this meeting or put in her two cents, the teacher would respond saying that her

judgement was far off and that her daughter was significantly behind. This infuriated Brenda

because anytime she would ask for examples of where she needs to improve, the teacher was

hypercritical and nit-picking. She felt that she was the only one in the collaboration that truly had

her daughter’s success at heart.

Hearing Brenda’s story helped me gain great insight into the reality of some of these

parents and families we may work with. I could feel the emotion Brenda spoke with and I know

that she would do anything for her child—all she wanted was for her educators to do the same. I

have a new passion to fight alongside the parents to help their children in any way that we can.

No parent (or student) should have to feel the way that Brenda did. The parents and families

should feel like their children are in good hands and that their school is actively working for their

success and supporting them when needed.

Going forward, I believe that all educators and collaborators should have specific training

on how to speak to parents and families. I also believe that communication should be consistent

and direct, yet uplifting and optimistic. Brenda mentioned that she feels that she is unaware of all

the resources that are available to her daughter and that she doesn’t have time to go look for

them. As such, I want to create a central hub for all these resources for families with disabilities.

I believe this would help a lot of families and cut down on a lot of the stress they experience on a

daily basis. Families of those with disabilities deserve support, just as we give their children!
 Interview Questions

What has your family's role been in collaborating with education personnel?

What challenges have you experienced?

What successes have you experienced?

What supports do you need or wish you had?

What experiences have you had communicating with education personnel?