Child Interview Essay

Introduction: Prior to conducting the interviews, I knew this would be a sensitive subject for most families of special needs children. I especially know this because I am a parent of a special needs child, and it is not always easy to discuss the emotional aspects with others. Thankfully, I had established a prior relationship with each participant, and believe that each person felt comfortable discussing the questions candidly with me. Prior to conducting the interview, I assured each participant that their responses would be confidential and only shared to the instructor of the course. I also made sure to work the interview around their schedule and meet them at their convenience. I conducted one of the interviews over the phone, since

The first participant, however did mention so early issues with placement and communication with education professionals. I feel several factors contribute to these issues, one being that the child is older, and has been in the school system longer. Also, the family has moved several times because of placement assignments (military) and thus, the child has had more experiences with different school systems and educational professionals. Lastly, the participant lives out of state and may have felt more comfortable expressing issues openly rather than the other participants who live in the same community as myself, and may have not felt as comfortable discussing negative

Similar to the other interview questions, the answers seemed to vary depending on the age of the child. However, all of the families discussed the issue of “acceptance”, rather it be acceptance for themselves, extended family members, or acceptance from the community and strangers. Other challenges discussed were dealing with family outings, discipline, and the child’s siblings. For the positive aspects, all of the participants discussed how their life “views” had changed for the positive. Other positives discussed were their child’s growth and support and relationships built with other special needs families.

The last question of the interview asked, what in your opinion is the most important thing educators need to know about how a child with special needs affects family dynamics? For this question, each parent discussed the issues of acceptance. One parent expressed that the understanding that each is different, and not treating all children the “same”. Another parent expressed that educators need to understand the family dynamics and how it affects their child. Lastly, all the parents seemed to want educators to understand that they were doing their best job raising their special needs