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Prospective Parents When Special: 2 We circulate child-minders, traders and prospective parents when special events are taking place, and about functions and events in the school as well as ordinary news.
3 Toddlers are invited to parties, shows and special assemblies. At the Christmas party, they have their own visit from
Father Christmas.
Most schools launch their schemes by choosing the simplest way of getting a large number of parents together, which is to invite them to a special meeting for the purpose (see chapter 4, page 40). We know that big meetings between parents and teachers are often unsatisfactory affairs; teachers may be frustrated because so few parents turn up, or parents disappointed because the meeting does not deal with the issues they really want to know about. But where the theme is children's learning, and especially where parents know that they are being asked to help with it, there is usually a dramatic increase in attendance and in the degree of participation and enthusiasm during the meeting. Teachers often note with pleasure that the proportion of fathers in the audience is also much higher than usual.
Writing specifically about parents who have children with special needs, Blamires et al. ,1997, p. 18) point out:
It is often assumed that when two parents are involved with their child's education they speak with one voice and present a united front there is seldom any recognition of the fact that two people faced with what may be the most life-changing, emotionally demanding events of their lives as parents mav not react in unison and may not have identical perceptions of the problem or its solution. |
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