Welcome to PEATC Next Steps Parent Survey

This is a real workspace created to allow more interactive dispersion and use of the PEATC Next Steps Parent Survey information. The document can be read in full by using this link ParentsAsInvolvedPartnersinTransition.pdf 

Parents as Involved Partners in Transition:

The Results of a Parent Involvement Survey **

By Cathy Healy

Introduction

This article summarizes the findings of our most recent survey of parents of transition age youth with disabilities. The goals of the survey are to identify school–based strategies parents indicate help them to be more involved in their children’s secondary transition planning and to report the present challenges that prevent their involvement.  

For more than thirty years the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center (PEATC) has listened to the concerns of parents of children with disabilities as they seek educational services for their children. In working with parents PEATC operates under three assumptions; parents love and care about their children; parents are at different levels of awareness and understanding of the daily and life long implications the disabling conditions have on their children; parents want their children to achieve lives that are full and meaningful. PEATC strives to ensure families are armed with knowledge and skills to adequately work in partnership with the array of professionals they encounter throughout their children’s lifespan.

Readers of this report are encouraged to interpret these data with caution due to the relatively small sample size of respondents and the inherent risks in generalizing from this sample to the population of parents of transition age youth with disabilities.   The online PEATC survey was conducted from December 2008 through March 1, 2009.

As of March 1, 2009, 120 persons had participated in the survey. Seventy – five percent of the respondents are from VA while 15 percent reside in 12 other states across the nation. All 13 disability categories and Section 504 eligible students are represented with the highest return being from families who have youth with Autism (22%), followed by Multiple Disabilities (18%), and OHI (16%). Families reported living in suburbia (47%); city (23%); rural (17%). In terms of race and ethnicity; 72% are Caucasian, 15% did not share their ethnicity, 8% are African American; and 5% are Hispanic.

Seven of the fourteen survey questions specifically relate to transition experiences while the remaining seven are designed to gather demographic information. Survey questions were posed in such a way as to elicit multiple responses. Additional write-in comments were invited providing a rich data source of parental experiences.