Families’ Views on Embedded Interventions

CONNECT convened a National Family Expert Panel of family leaders from throughout the United States, most of whom have adult or school-age children with disabilities.  These family experts were asked to speak from their own experiences about how embedded interventions worked for their children.  Families’ views on embedded interventions are summarized below.

• Peers can promote learning for their classmates with disabilities, but adults need to guide and monitor these interactions to ensure their effectiveness.
• Environmental modifications can enhance a child’s participation at home, at school, and in the community, with the children themselves offering many good ideas and clues about how to design these interventions.
• Teachers, families, and all team members need to support each other and creatively problem-solve to implement embedded interventions that enhance participation of children with disabilities.
• Many parents want to be active collaborators in making decisions about embedded interventions and do not want to come across as being extremely demanding. They want their commitment and involvement to be valued and useful*.
• Parents have valuable insights about their children and want to work with professionals to reach shared expectations about their children’s capacity to learn and develop.  These expectations need to be considered in planning embedded interventions and in determining their effectiveness.

To read quotes from families on this topic, see the following handouts:

• Handout 1.5 Parents Speak Out: Views on Embedded Interventions
• Handout 1.6 Parents Speak Out: Partnering with Families on Embedded Interventions

After reading and watching the video below, try Activity 1.11a Improve communication with families about embedded interventions.