Scientifically Based Practices - Part II - Page 2

A Role for Parents

When parents suspect their child to have a medical disorder of some sort, they are quick to go to great lengths to learn as much as they can about the nature of the disease and the different treatment approaches that are used to overcome its symptoms and, to the greatest extent possible, provide relief (or even a cure) for their child. Why then do so many parents of children who struggle to learn because of a suspect specific learning disability assume a passive posture and "wait to see" whether some extra help from a teacher or tutor will do the trick? Parents today have ready and easy access to the same information as teachers and other school personnel, and they could (and should) play active roles in determining what approaches are best for their child, not just based on "learning style" or "intuition" but also on their understanding of what research tells us about WHAT WORKS!

I encourage you to read a wonderful (and fun) article that explains the Ingredients of Good Research and the role parents can play as partners with schools in applying the best available research knowledge to ensure school success.

Be a Skeptical Consumer

A healthy dose of skepticism is a good thing when it comes to making decisions about "best practices" in education. For example: Some of the best data we have about effective teaching strategies (say, in the area of reading) have been derived from studies with children in certain age groups. Does this mean that these same strategies will work with children who are older or younger? Does this mean that these techniques are equally effective with content and skill areas other than reading? Does this mean that these approaches should only be used with children and in settings that are identical to those in the research studies? No, no and no. It does, however, pose challenges for parents and educators as they make decisions about what kinds of instruction and support to provide. So what should parents and educators do? They should:

• Document the child's current situation (methods now being used, progress being made, concerns about rate of learning or mastery of content) and identify unmet needs
• Talk about how alternative approaches are similar or different than those now being used, learn more about them from the Web, journals or textbooks, and decide whether they hold promise for accelerating the child's progress in school
• Learn about the kinds of resources (time, funding, training) that need to be available for any new approaches to be successful, and have open and honest discussion about the viability of adopting these approaches, either in whole or in part
• Establish some realistic way of measuring whether, once adopted, these new approaches are indeed facilitating progress

Share Knowledge and Expertise

NCLD has written a number of guides that enable parents and educators to make informed decisions about the implementation of scientifically-based practices as detailed in current law.

A Parent's Guide to Response-to-Intervention (RTI) (PDF)

IDEA includes a provision that allows states and school districts to use high quality, research-based instruction in general and special education to provide services and interventions to students who struggle with learning and may be at risk or suspected of having learning disabilities. NCLD has written this Guide to provide an overview of the RTI process, describe how it is implemented in schools and offer questions that parents can ask.

Parent Guide to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Learn about your expanded parent rights and opportunities under the most recent special education law. The IDEA Parent Guide walks you through the law, in easy-to-understand language, and provides tools you can use to get organized, understand the process and know your rights under the law.

I encourage you to read these guides (download them for free) and share them with friends and colleagues. And remember ... research is not just for researchers!