BUILDING BETTER RELATIONSHIPS WITH PARENTSCreating productive partnerships for teachers and parents of students with learning difficulties

CONTENTS Introduction......................................................................................................................................4

A whole-school approach................................................................................................................5

Communication pathways...............................................................................................................9Identifying a student who is struggling academically...................................................................9

When parents come to you with concerns...................................................................................9

Receiving the necessary information about the student..............................................................9

School reporting processes........................................................................................................10

When parents engage external professional support...................................................................11

Maintaining relationships with parents..........................................................................................12Regular communication.............................................................................................................12

Typical activities to maintain relationships with parents.............................................................12

Considerations for maintaining relationships with parents.........................................................13

Explaining academic supports to parents..................................................................................13

Needs at different points in the school journey.............................................................................14

Appendix 1: Key terminology........................................................................................................15

The Department of Education and Training would like to thank Dr. Tanya Serry, PhD of La Trobe University for her contribution to this resource.© State of Victoria (Department of Education and Training) 2019

Building Better Relationships with Parents is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the State of Victoria (Department of Education and Training), indicate if changes were made and comply with the other licence terms, see: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International The licence does not apply to:• any images, photographs, trademarks or branding, including the Victorian Government logo and the DET logo; and• content supplied by third parties.Copyright queries may be directed to copyright@edumail.vic.gov.au

INTRODUCTIONThe Literacy and Numeracy Strategy Phase 2 (June 2018) documentation explicitly highlights the importance of building and maintaining “…relationships with families that encourage positive dialogue and establish a sense of partnership around the learner.” (p. 17).

The aim of this resource is to help you work in partnership with parents of your students; with particular reference to those who have Learning Difficulties including Dyslexia. (Note: The term Learning Difficulties has been used to refer to the range of different subtypes of academic learning challenges, including Dyslexia that students may experience).

The resource has been written for classroom teachers and educational support teachers at all year levels from primary to secondary school and is designed for teachers of all levels of experience. The contents align to the Learning Difficulties including Dyslexia strategy that has been undertaken by the DET.

For students to have the best possible chance of progressing and deriving maximal benefit from school, it is vital to work with both the student and their parents. Planning for and supporting a student in isolation from their parents is unlikely to assist the student to reach their full potential. A productive home-school partnership has two key benefits:

An opportunity to adopt an holistic and strengths-based approach by allowing the teacher to fully understand the student’s strengths and interests as well as their family and cultural values.

An opportunity to create synergy between the support and intervention offered at school with the support that can potentially by followed through at home.

In the primary school years, it is easier to build and maintain a home-school partnership than in the secondary school setting. Some schools adopt a process whereby one key staff member acts as the ‘case manager’ to initiate contact with the parents, ensure and review interventions, organise meetings, lead planning and goal setting and monitor a student’s progress.

In the following sections, information is provided on building and maintaining relationships with parents of students with Learning Difficulties including Dyslexia.

It is acknowledged that some students may be in the care of an alternative family member or legal guardian. In addition, some students may live with one or both parents. For the remainder of this resource, the term ‘parents’ will be used to refer to the various care arrangements in place for students.

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A WHOLE-SCHOOL APPROACHA whole-school approach to supporting students with learning difficulties refers to a school system that is consistent in its messaging and processes for these students. The benefits of a whole-school approach are many and in particular, guarantee equitable and transparent supports for all students. More often than not, processes are documented for staff and parents. Examples of adopting a whole-school approach include:

A consistent and prescribed theoretical approach to reading and literacy instruction across all staff at the school

Instructional approaches in interventions that are pedagogically aligned with classroom instructional practices

Documented processes for the steps taken when a student is identified as at-risk with learning

Alignment between academic support staff (such as literacy specialists, SSSOs etc.) and classroom teaching staff

Parent-friendly environment throughout the school Excellent record-keeping for all students

One of the most useful ways to start the process of a whole-school approach is to adopt consistent terminology across the entire school so that all school personnel use the same language.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH PARENTS AS PARTNERS IN SCHOOL LEARNINGSome students who have learning difficulties will have received a formal diagnosis of Specific Learning Disorder1 (according to the DSM-V) while other students will not; even though they are struggling with certain aspects of the academic curriculum. Nonetheless, this section describes approaches and strategies that can assist in building and maintaining productive and collaborative relationships with parents of students who have learning difficulties. There are many benefits from investing in this home-school relationship and these benefits are described in various sections below.

Team Around the LearnerThe Team Around the Learner (TAL) approach is designed to assist students and their parents by bringing together an appropriate team to provide targeted, coordinated and seamless support. The TAL model is shown below with the students and their parents shown at the centre. It is recommended that parents are invited to be part of this team as much as possible to foster positive engagement and a collaborative team effort.

1 Specific learning disorder (often referred to as learning disorder or learning disability is a neurodevelopmental disorder that becomes apparent during the school years. According to the American Psychiatric Association, ‘An estimated 80 percent of those with learning disorders have reading disorder in particular (commonly referred to as dyslexia). One-third of people with learning disabilities are estimated to also have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

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Figure 1: Team Around the Learner Model

Strengths based approach In any interaction with parents of your students, it is important to take a strengths-based approach in your communication. A strengths-based approach considers the student’s characteristics and personal strengths rather than just focusing on deficits (what the student cannot do). Therefore, asking parents to tell you more about their child; hobbies, family members etc., is an important part of any discussion in addition to considering area/s of academic challenge for the student.

Elements of an effective partnershipApart from the inherent value of creating a productive collaboration with parents, educators are required to comply with the Disability Standards for Education 2005 (the Standards). These Standards, which were reviewed in 2015, set out how education can and should be made accessible to students with disabilities. The Standards are Australian law under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1992. The Act seeks to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities.

The important elements of an effective partnership as they relate to the Standards are summarised in Figure 2 below.

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Figure 2: Elements of an effective partnership (see https://docs.education.gov.au/node/35945)

Privacy and confidentiality Information shared with you about a student and/or family circumstances is private. Unless you have the express permission of the parents; ideally in writing, information should remain confidential. To release or disclose information without permission is a breach of the Privacy Act (1998). Click here for further information.

(Matters related to mandatory reporting legislation must be managed accordingly. Click here for further information)

All information about the child and their family must be stored securely and should not be left where others can read it.

Parental distressUniversally, parents typically want their children to thrive at school in all aspects. However, parents of children with learning difficulties are at elevated risk of experiencing significant personal distress themselves. According to recent research, parents of students with learning difficulties are more likely to reveal that the learning difficulty has a negative impact on family life (See Al-Yagon, 2015).

It is important to be mindful that the wellbeing of some of parents you are talking to, may be compromised. For some parents, the opportunity to share their concerns about their child with you may be sufficient whereas for other parents, further resources and time may be required to adequately support them. This may mean referring on if need be according to the process within your school.

Elements of an effective

partnership

Communication:clear, honest

and tactful style, use active listening

Committment: making the partnership

work by being accessible

sensitive and flexiblle

Equality: avoiding a

power imbalance and validating the

views of parentsSkills: being

proactive, open and aiming to

meet individual needs are

essential skills

Trust: be reliable, discreet

and ensuring child safety

Respect: being non-judgmental,

aware of boundaries and

courteous.

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For more information on managing challenging behaviours from parents, see: Managing challenging behaviour from parents

Students’ distressLearning difficulties can impact some students well beyond the academic arena alone. It is beyond the scope of this document to discuss the known risks to students’ emotional and behavioural wellbeing. However, it is now clear that some students with learning difficulties display externalising behaviours secondary to their learning difficulty (such as physical aggression, bullying, poor compliance with rules) and others may display secondary internalising behaviours (such as social withdrawal, being fearful, somatic symptoms that mask distress). (Click here and here to read more).

Recent research has shown that students with learning difficulties are more likely to score worse than able-learners on a Quality of Life measure and further, the Quality of Life scores tend to deteriorate as students with learning difficulties get older (Waber et al., 2018). (Click here to read more).

Taken together, parents and the student/s with learning difficulties are potentially vulnerable in their emotional health and wellbeing.

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COMMUNICATION PATHWAYSIdentifying a student who is struggling academicallyFor some students, you may be the first teacher to notice that a student is struggling in a particular area of the curriculum. It is important to find out if there are expected steps that your school policy sets out for communicating with parents if you have concerns about a student’s academic progress. In any case, once you have conducted various screening and/or progress monitoring assessments, and/or consulted with senior colleagues or specialist staff at your school to confirm your observations, it is important to share your findings with parents at this early stage.

Evidence-based educational practice has informed us that early identification; which typically leads to implementing intervention and/or accommodations, is very important. While this may not always be feasible, it is valuable to start addressing any issues as soon as you can. This is a better approach to waiting and seeing.

It is quite likely that certain parents may feel very concerned, alarmed or surprised when you inform them that you have identified that their child is having some academic difficulties at school. In any case, your openness about the problem, along with a clear explanation that early identification and help is the best way to lay foundations for an ongoing and effective partnership. You may choose to show parents your assessment data or their child’s work samples to help parents understand more about the difficulty. As noted above, it is important to take a strengths-based approach in your communication with parents.

Keep in mind that some parents won’t take in all of the information you provide at the outset and it may be necessary for you to repeat information or break it up into segments. Many of us don’t take in everything when our emotions are heightened. You may also choose to prepare a written summary and/or email version for parents as well.

When parents come to you with concernsIt may be that the parents approach you with concerns about their child’s academic progress rather than the other way around. You may or may not have similar concerns. Nevertheless, it is important to listen respectfully and carefully to this information.

Parents typically engage with their child’s school journey with the interest of the child front and centre. However, some parents may also be influenced by a vast array of their own experiences and observations (such as perceptions about their own success or failure at school, comparing the child to his/her siblings etc.).

Your response will be unique to the individual situation at hand and you may need some time to consider and reflect on information that the parents have shared with you. You may also need to consult with your colleagues and seek out any further information (if available), such as reports and IEPs. Once you have done all of this, a follow-up response is vital. Parents who perceive that they have been dismissed may be less likely to engage in a productive home-school partnership.

Receiving the necessary information about the studentIf the student has previously been identified with learning difficulties, it is essential that you receive a quality handover report from the previous teacher/s and/or early childhood teacher as well as any other data/reports about the student if this is available. A comprehensive handover report will contain detailed information about the student’s academic profile and will usually conclude with a list of recommendations specifically tailored to the individual child. Typically, the report will also contain more descriptive, yet critically important details about the student’s strengths, challenges, interests and friendships. If you believe there are additional reports completed by medical or allied health practitioners, it is advisable to gain access to these as well.

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If your school does not seem to have a process for handover of important student information, you may need to speak to senior staff to have this initiated as part of the standard process. Confidentiality matters must always be considered of course. Further, as with any professional relationship, the privacy of individuals must be respected at all times.

Most parents are likely to be encouraged by the fact that you have actively sought key information about their child. Further, it is likely to be pleasing for parents that they do not have to repeat information about their child that should be readily available. Nevertheless, you may still decide that it is of benefit to you as the teacher to make direct contact with the parents (and if appropriate, with the student as well), prior to the school year commencing. Making contact at this early stage prior to the start of school can be for various purposes and you can determine which one(s) are pertinent to the particular student. Reasons may include:

to introduce yourself and let the parents (and/or student) know that you have been made aware of their child’s academic history

to gauge any particular concerns or requests from the parents (and/or student) to inform the parents (and/or student) about what information has been forwarded to you

via the school to seek any further information such as reports, additional interventions etc. that are

relevant to discuss the preferred mode/s and frequency of communication throughout the year.

School reporting processesStandard reporting processes remain an expected method of communicating information about a student’s achievement and progress at a point in time. (Click here for information about Student reporting requirements). School leaders have flexibility in how the formal reporting process will occur.

For students with an ILP, reporting must be against curriculum area achievement standards (as appropriate) and also individualized according the student’s personalized learning plan. Click here for further information on Reporting for students with a personalised learning and support plan.

This web page contains a link to the Students with disabilities guidelines and on page 15 of that guideline, the section titled: Reporting to parents provides further advice about methods of demonstrating the performance of students with learning difficulties.

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WHEN PARENTS ENGAGE EXTERNAL PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTSome parents seek external professional advice for assessment and /or intervention for their child’s learning difficulties. Parents may have sought this advice with or without your knowledge.

In keeping with the Team Around the Learner model, it is advisable (assuming that parents choose to inform you about any external advice they may have sought beyond school), to be open, receptive and non-judgmental about such information. In this way, you are honouring the parents’ choices while also engaging collaboratively with them.

Some of the more conventional professionals sought out include psychologists, paediatricians, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and educational tutors. There are also a number of external service providers offering interventions that do not have a strong evidence base, such as Growth Mindset or Chiropractic and even some, such as behavioural optometry and wearing Irlen lenses (coloured lenses), that have been demonstrated to have no measurable benefits. For more information see:

Vision-based therapies

Chiropractic therapies

Motor-based therapies

If all parties agree, you may like to invite the external professional to collaborate with you as a possible means of aligning the intervention with your classroom program. If at all possible, you could invite the external professional to attend team meetings about the student

There may be some situations that could warrant you having a sensitive discussion with parents about interventions that do not have an evidence base since these interventions are arguably taking up valuable time and energy when the child could be receiving proven interventions. This is a judgment call that only you can make depending on the circumstances and people involved. It may be prudent to ask a school leader or senior staff member to join you with any sensitive discussion.

You may need to seek advice from senior staff at your school for the following situations:

to build understanding of an assessment report; including the tests used, the scoring systems and/or the recommendations made

you have concerns about interventions that students are engaging in outside school if you know that it is a non evidence-based intervention; especially if this intervention is taking up valuable time that could be used far more productively on valuable interventions.

Click here for a brief summary about the quality of the evidence for some interventions that are on offer in the private sector. These summaries were originally created by staff from Macquarie University Special Education Centre.

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MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS WITH PARENTS Maintaining rapport and trust with parents is beneficial for all stakeholders but particularly for the student. This is likely to best be achieved by setting clear guidelines for how and when communication will occur between you, parents and when needed, other school personnel.

Regular communication Home-school partnerships involve open, ongoing and transparent communication between the teacher/s, the parents and any other key stakeholders (such as your assistant principal, learning support staff, allied health professionals etc.). Transparency is the critical component for home-school partnerships.

As a classroom or homeroom teacher, you are typically the staff member who initiates and maintains the home-school partnership. This should not be an onerous task in an era where the vast majority of people have ready access to email and other forms of electronic communication.

Typical activities to maintain relationships with parentsAlong with the regular interaction that you have with parents of all students, the home-school partnership for students with learning difficulties (see Figure 3 below), typically involves the following:

Formal, face-to-face review and planning meetings with you, the parents, student (as appropriate) and other key stakeholders.

o Stakeholders may be internal staff members but they may also be external service providers

o The frequency of these face-to-face review and planning meetings should be negotiated by the stakeholder team; however, at least one meeting each term is recommended; particularly to discuss a student’s Individual Educational Plan (IEP)

o Meetings may also be conducted via platforms such as ZOOM or Skype. Regular informal (at least fortnightly) communication between the parents and the

classroom or key teacher so as to provide updates on overall progress, description of classroom activities, an honest description of any problems and any noteworthy achievements.

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Figure 3: Communicating with parents of students with learning difficulties

Considerations for maintaining relationships with parents When anticipating and planning for the home-school partnership, here are some important

considerations:

Employing a strengths-based approach at all times,

Aim to pitch your spoken communication style to suit the needs of the parents and check in regularly for understanding

For your written communication, aim for a style that is free of jargon and composed using a Plain English style equivalent to a Year 6 level

It is possible that one or even both parents may have specific learning difficulties as well. For some parents, written communication may not be an effective way to maintain open dialogue.

Some parents may experience significant distress about their child’s learning difficulties while others may feel a sense of shame or even guilt; particularly those who themselves, struggled at school. It is important to listen to these parents without judgment, acknowledge their experiences while gently drawing the discussion back to the student/child

Some parents may need an interpreter to help them understand your written and/or spoken messages. It is important to respectfully enquire about preferred forms of communication for parents whose home language is not English

Some parents are not ready to hear or process what you tell them about their child’s learning difficulties. This means that there may be some resistance; at least initially

It may be advisable for you to take notes and/or let parents know that you will summarise the discussions and forward this summary to all stakeholders; including the parents

o If you ever feel concerned about meeting with parents who may be confronting in some way, please ensure your own safety by adopting steps such as:

o Ensuring a colleague can attend the meeting with you

Ask to meet at an appointed time so that you can ensure that you have a colleague with you.

Above all, keep in mind the elements of an effective partnership shown in Figure 1.

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Explaining academic supports to parents Academic supports are strategies designed to occur in addition to classroom-based instruction. They are typically documented within an Individual Education Plan (IEP) as a way of helping students meet goals set by the team around the student.

Academic supports that you are likely to implement for students with learning difficulties can be broken into two broad categories. These are:

classroom accommodations to assist the student to maximise access to the curriculum content and task requirements. (Click here to read more about classroom accommodations)

interventions (small group or individual) that target specific areas in need.

For many students, both types of academic support may be operating simultaneously and should be coordinated to complement each other. Figure 4 displays overlapping options for academic supports available to students with learning difficulties and for any individual, the IEP will be specifically tailored.

Figure 1: Explaining academic supports to parents: A cyclical approach

NEEDS AT DIFFERENT POINTS IN THE SCHOOL JOURNEYThere are major transition points in a student’s educational journey and it is important that you demonstrate sensitivity to the particular demands these can place on a student and his/her family.

Starting School: This is often when an academic difficulty is first identified. If you are a Foundation teacher, you will know that you need to be very sensitive to the needs and concerns of parents in many areas. At this point, the student may not be particularly aware of their academic difficulties.

Moving into Year Three: This is a crucial time when many at-risk students may experience the ‘mid-primary slump’ in academic performance. This is often the time when the student’s self-

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esteem may decline and/or they may be displaying internalizing or externalizing behaviours. Classroom adjustments and/or interventions should be documented in an IEP and this should be a ‘living’ document that grows and adapts with the student throughout school.

Starting Secondary School: This is a significant transition point for all students. Students with learning difficulties may also have trouble with organisation, and may find the timetable and the array of teachers more challenging than their peers. It is valuable to have a ‘case manager’ such as a Learning Support Coordinator to facilitate ongoing home-school communication.

School staff also need to be aware of the options available for students sitting VCE and initiate discussions early in secondary school. See Specific Learning Disorder Advisory Group recommendations.

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APPENDIX 1: KEY TERMINOLOGYLiteracy Reading The ability to read words and derive meaning from written text

(Jenkins & O'Connor, 2002).

Literacy (conventional) The skills of reading, spelling, and writing. These are learned skills that are taught in formal school-based instruction. Skills include word reading, spelling, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and writing.

Word decoding (word reading)

The ability to apply the grapheme-phoneme correspondences to segment the phonemic and sub-lexical units of a string of phonemes to read words or nonwords.

Word encoding (spelling)

Encoding is the reverse process of decoding. Word encoding is a process of converting a spoken word to a written word.

Reading comprehension

Extracting meaning from written text, which is the ultimate aim of reading. This ability relies on oral language comprehension and decoding as well as understanding conventions of print, punctuation, and text structure.

Reading Fluency The ability to read text accurately and smoothly. This involves reading aloud with natural intonation, rhythm and rate. Mistakes are permissible and variation may be evident with increased text complexity.

Orthography The conventions of a writing system such as spelling, writing and punctuation.

Phonics Phonics is broadly defined as a procedure for teaching about how phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters) match up. This knowledge is used to decode words as well as in spelling.

Analytic phonics A method of reading instruction that uses a whole-to-part approach whereby children are taught to analyse letter-sound relations once the word is identified. Essentially, the student is encouraged to work out what the whole word is; using multi-cueing methods, and then, drill down to consider ‘intra-word’ components (letter/sound relationships, digraphs, morphemes)

Systematic synthetic phonics

A systematic method of reading instruction that teaches children to convert graphemes into phonemes by using a part-to-whole approach. Specifically, this involves for example, pronouncing each letter in a word such as ‘stop’, /s//t//o//p/ and then blending (or synthesising) the phonemes into a recognisable word ("Teaching Reading: Literature Review," 2005).

Learning Difficulties including DyslexiaLearning difficulty An umbrella term that describes the15-20% of students who

experience difficulty with learning for a variety of reasons that are not neuro-biologically based such as hearing impairment, a chronic health conditions or challenging home environment.

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Learning disability Learning problems with learning due to an intrinsic neuro-biological difference. Students with a learning disability typically respond less-well or more slowly to instructional support, and may need specialist educational or clinical support.

Reading difficulty Impaired ability to read words and/or derive meaning from written text relative to peers of similar age, given adequate literacy instruction.

Word reading difficulty Difficulty reading words accurately and/or efficiently to allow for error-free and fluent word reading. This difficulty can arise from poor phonological processing, weak knowledge of grapheme-phoneme correspondences, and/or difficulty forming orthographic representations of words (sight word reading). (See Simple View of Reading). It must be noted that poor word reading ability will result in reading comprehension difficulty.

Specific comprehension difficulty

Difficulty understanding written text despite adequate word reading ability. This difficulty arises from weak oral language competency, particularly in language comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. (See Simple View of Reading).

Mixed reading difficulty Difficulty with both word reading and reading comprehension.

The 'DYS' wordsDyslexia Poor word reading due to difficulties at the level of word decoding.

Poor word reading results in significant secondary consequences for broader reading skills.

Dyscalculia Difficulty processing number facts which result in poor arithmetic calculation capacity.

Dysgraphia Difficulty with written expression: language-based and/or fine-motor problems.

Dysorthographia Poor facility with orthographic conventions required for spelling.

Dyspraxia (Developmental Coordination Disorder)

A motor planning difficulty that may affect motor movements and speech movements.

Support and management

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Response-to-Intervention (RtI)

The RtI model is a three-tiered assessment-intervention framework that promotes early identification of a learning difficulty (of any type) and an evidence-based approach to instruction.

In Tier-1, research-validated instruction is provided to all students along with universal screening to identify children in need of extra support.

Tier-2 involves additional support (e.g., small group sessions targeting specific skill areas) for students who have been assessed as being at-risk.

Students with persistently inadequate responses to the additional support in Tier-2 are given a more intensive Tier-3 intervention. Tier-3 may involve in-depth assessment leading to intensive small group or individual instruction (e.g. Denton et al., 2013).

Individual Education Plan

An Individual Education Plan (IEP) is a living document created to meet the needs of individual students who require a range of supports. This requires collaboration from appropriate stakeholders to develop and measure goals and strategies. These support high expectations for students to reach their potential. The IEP is essential in guiding the educational planning and monitoring of a student’s unique learning needs.

Intervention A tailored program designed to teach the student particular skills in order to meet educational goals. Intervention at Tier-2 and Tier-3 is typically provided at an intensity that would exceed that offered in the classroom at Tier-1.

Classroom adjustments Classroom adjustments refer to modifications implemented to help students with learning difficulties succeed. Examples (non-exhaustive) may include allowing extra time to complete an assessment task or offering an audio version of text.

See:https://dyslexiaida.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/DITC-Handbook.pdf

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