Importance of Family Involvement in the Individualized Plan

Parents/Families of children with special needs play a very important role in planning for the education of their children and working effectively with teachers and other professionals in creating a meaningful individualized plan. Family involvement in the individualized program process is very important and has many benefits.

• Family involvement increases the teacher's and other professionals' understanding of the child's environment. Parents/families are the experts on their child and the information that they share with the teachers and other professionals are essential to the better understanding of the child's environment as well as development. Teachers and other professionals will gain information on the parents'/families' concerns for enhancing their child's education, priorities, and their vision for their child's future.
• Family involvement adds to the parents'/families' knowledge of the child's educational setting. They gain information on how their child learns in school, the strategies used in the classroom and the level of academic and functional performance of their child.
• Family involvement improves communication between parents/families and the school. Collaboration will be easier and effective in providing services and support for both the child and his/her family when there is a respectful and open communication established and maintained. 
• With improved understanding between home and school, family involvement will increase the likelihood that mutually agreed upon educational goals will be attained to benefit the child. Parents/families can also indicate which objectives they can help teach or reinforce at home.

Parents/families are empowered when they are well-informed of the services and resources available to them and how to access them, and when they know that teachers and other professionals support and truly care about their child and their family. Whatever strategies early interventions use to encourage family involvement, success will most likely depend on the ability of the professionals to develop a sense of trust.

Families have diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and opinions about what is important and how intervention activities should be implemented. Specific interventions must be derived from an understanding of what each family wants for their child. With the family's involvement in the individualized plan, intervention practices will be individualized and specific to the child's and his/her family's unique needs and situation.

Resources:

Cook, R.E., Klein, M.D., & Tessier A. (2008). Adapting Early Childhood Curricula For Children with Special Needs. Pearson Education, Inc: NJ

Smith, S. W. (2001) Involving Parents in the IEP Process. http://www.ericdigest.org/ Retrieved on February 3, 2011