Parent and student involvement in individualized education program development for transition-age autistic students
Embargo Date
2022-09-25
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Parents and transition-age students are by law meant to be involved in the special education plan development process. Autistic1 youth and their parents, however, are often not meaningfully involved. The overall aim of the dissertation was to understand parents’ and youth’s experiences of their involvement in Individualized Education Program (IEP) development and their perspectives on ideal involvement for diploma-track autistic youth. The first study utilized data from IEP documents and interviews with parents and autistic youth to understand how their perspectives had been taken into account in the development of the youth’s IEP. Findings illustrated considerable variability in how parents’ and youth’s perspectives were documented and incorporated into students’ special education plans. The second study utilized data from interviews regarding parents’ and autistic youth’s ideal involvement in IEP development, and resulted in an initial conceptual framework that outlines different types of desired involvement, foundational ideal elements, and variable ideal elements of parent and student involvement in IEP planning. Findings from the dissertation have implications for special education practice and support further research inquiries focused on parent and student involvement in IEP development.