A Critical Case Study of Parental Perceptions Surrounding Formalized Special Education Processes

Parents of children with disabilities may be empowered or disempowered as they attend school meetings focused on eligibility for special education services and the concomitant Individualized Education Plans. To understand the dynamics of such meetings, one must critically examine specific instances of parental perceptions surrounding the discourses that occur during the formalized special education process; these discourses can serve to privilege, empower, disempower, alienate and marginalize, or unite and value. This understanding can arguably help administrators and teachers improve information delivery and lessen instances of alienation, marginalization, and power inequities parents may encounter. In this dissertation proposal, I present a qualitative, exploratory, grounded theory, multiple case study using critical discourse analysis and selected critical disability theory methodology to explore the special education process through the voice and perceptions of up to twenty parents who have children with disabilities in a large metropolitan area within the Southwestern United States. I will utilize multiple case design, open-ended, semi-structured interviews, a survey, and member-checking to provide trustworthiness, authenticity, and credibility. I address hegemonic discourses that function to disempower parents and their children with disabilities as well as discourses that serve to unite and value parents and their children. I utilize grounded theory as a standpoint for data analysis. I will be utilizing some of the tools of critical ethnography as my primary, short-term goal of this project is to empower parents of children with disabilities. My secondary goals include a) to inform at least one administrator and staff; b), to provide training on this topic at a district-level training and at state and national education-related conferences; c), to develop a rubric and matrix that teachers and administrators could use during special education process interactions with parents to track and chart discourse instance types during IEP meetings; and d), develop statewide implementation of training for elimination or reduction of discourse types and actions that serve to privilege school staff and marginalize, disempower, and alienate parents and their children with disabilities by extension during the special education process