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Running On Empty: Exploring Parent Perceptions Of Special Education Processes, Aliyyah Datoo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Though educational legislation in Ontario promotes parental involvement in special education, collaboration between educators and families from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds must be improved. Thus, this qualitative study explored the lived realities of five immigrant Indian and Pakistani families of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) as they navigated Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings. Via semi-structured interviews, the study details how these parents understood, perceived, and experienced their roles in a collaborative relationship between special education and school personnel and themselves, before, during, and after the IEP meeting. The analysis was informed by four theoretical frameworks: Hoover-Dempsey and …