Parental Involvement in the IEP for Israeli Students with Disabilities

The book describes a qualitative phenomenological study conducted in Israel to achieve an understanding of the perceptions and experiences of Israeli parents of students with severe disabilities about the involvement of parents in the IEP process. Data collection involved two sequential stages. The first part of the process started with interviewing parents whose children study in special education schools in the Tel Aviv area in Israel. In the second part of the process, special education teachers involved in IEP processes participated in a focus group and shared their perceptions about the themes revealed in parents responses. Through analysis of parents responses, five main themes became apparent: a child-centered focus, parents self-efficacy, parent-teacher communication, parent-teacher collaboration, and trust. The main conclusion of the research described in this book is that parental involvement and effective parent-teacher collaboration in the IEPs of students with severe disabilities is founded on relationships of trust and positive communication between families and schools.

Dr. Orly Hebel is a speech therapist and family counselor. She gained her EDd in 2011 and is the Head of the Special Education Department in the Levinsky College.She develops educational programs to enhance teachers' collaboration with families and teachers' self-efficacy in the inclusion and participation of students with disabilities in schools.