Thursday February 2, 2017 at 10:00 a.m.
Neville Scarfe Building, 2125 Main Mall, Room 308A
Supervisor: Dr. Laurie Ford (ECPS)
Supervisory Committee: Dr. Jo-Ann Archibald (EDST)
External Examiner: Dr. Janet Jamieson (ECPS)
Title: Indigenous Parents of Students with Special Needs In Education: The Lived Experience
ABSTRACT
Parents of students with special needs may experience various stressors in association with their interaction with the education system. The process of having a child assessed and assigned a designation of special needs can be stressful because meeting with multiple professionals can be intimidating for some parents, the process can be confusing, terminology used may be unfamiliar, and the feelings they may experience realizing their child is having challenges may be upsetting. In addition, following the designation, navigation of special education services can be challenging for parents. Parents of Indigenous students with special needs may experience additional stressors when interacting with the school system. There is an incompatibility between traditional Indigenous cultural values and the values of mainstream education, there are constructs that exist in special education that may not exist in the same way for Indigenous people, and some parents believe assessment is attempted assimilation. In addition, many Indigenous parents have previous involvement with residential schools. The residential school experience was impactful for many that attended. All students who attended experienced loss of language and culture, and many also experienced abuse. These factors may impact how Indigenous parents perceive the current education system. In the present study, the experiences of Indigenous parents of students with special needs in education were explored. The aim was to better understand the experience of Indigenous parents regarding the processes that lead to their child’s designation and their navigation of services in the school during the initial years following the designation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents from Lower Mainland British Columbia. Six broad themes emerged following data analysis using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Findings indicate some commonalities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous parent experiences. In addition, experiences identified which are specific to Indigenous parents and supported by previous studies include: the construct of special needs may not exist in traditional Indigenous culture or language, there may be significant cultural differences between home and school environments, and having a family member who attended residential school may impact the current view of schools for children and their parents.