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- All Subjects: Parent-teacher relationships
- Creators: Gay, Catherine
- Creators: Blanchard, Jay
Description
ABSTRACT Epilepsy is a neurological condition that sometimes pervades all domains of an affected child's life. At school, three specific threats to the wellbeing of children with epilepsy exist: (1) seizure-related injuries, (2) academic problems, and (3) stigmatization. Unfortunately, educators frequently fail to take into account educationally-relevant epilepsy information when making important decisions. One possible explanation for this is that parents are not sharing such information with teachers. This study surveyed 16 parents of children with epilepsy in order to determine the rate at which they disclosed the epilepsy diagnoses to their children's teachers, as well as the difficulty with which they made the decision to disclose or withhold such information. In addition, the relationships between such disclosure and parent-participants' perceptions of the risks of epilepsy-related injuries, academic struggles, and stigmatization at school were examined. Results indicate that all participants disclosed their children's epilepsy diagnoses to their children's teachers, and most (69%) reported that making this decision was "very easy." There were no statistically significant associations between disclosure and any of three parental perception variables (perceptions of the threats of injury, academic problems, and stigmatization at school). Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.
ContributorsBush, Vanessa (Author) / Wodrich, David L (Committee member) / Blanchard, Jay (Committee member) / Gorin, Joanna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Children with epilepsy represent a unique group of students who may require accommodations in school to be optimally successful. Therefore, it is important for teachers to understand the possible academic consequences epilepsy can have on a child. An important step in providing this information about epilepsy to teachers is understanding where they would prefer to acquire this information. The current study examined differences between teachers of differing ages, school levels and special education teaching status in their preferences for gaining information from parents and the internet. Contrary to expectations, older teachers (those 56 years of age and older) were no less likely that younger teachers to prefer information from the internet. As predicted, elementary school teachers were more likely than high school teachers to prefer information from parents. However, interestingly middle school teachers were also more likely to prefer information from parents than high school teachers. Lastly, contrary to hypothesized results, special education teachers were no more likely to prefer information from parents than non-special education colleagues. Limitations of this study, implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.
ContributorsGay, Catherine (Author) / Wodrich, David (Thesis advisor) / Levy, Roy (Committee member) / Hart, Juliet (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Epilepsy is the most common chronic neurological condition in children and can have a significant negative impact on education. The current study aimed to examine factors that may influence the likelihood that a teacher will contact the parents of a student with epilepsy for information regarding the disorder and its impact within the school environment. Specific variables of interest included teacher knowledge about epilepsy and confidence when teaching at student with epilepsy, parent perceived knowledge about epilepsy, and parent socio-economic status. Variables were assessed through the previously developed Teacher Epilepsy Knowledge and Confidence Scales (TEKCS) as well as case vignettes. Overall findings suggest that teachers provided with a letter from a parent of a student with epilepsy are highly likely to contact the parent for more information regardless of the above mentioned factors. Additional supplemental analyses replicated previous findings indicating that special education teachers and teachers currently teaching a student with epilepsy possess more knowledge and confidence than general education teachers and those teachers who are not currently instructing a student with epilepsy. In addition, this study also examined the specific types of information teachers sought from parents. Study limitations, implications for practice, and future research directions are discussed.
ContributorsGay, Catherine (Author) / Hart, Juliet (Thesis advisor) / Wodrich, David (Committee member) / Caterino, Linda (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013