Parent Connectors - Impacts & Results (Short)

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Families and Schools Author

11/08/2019 Added

46 Plays

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Discover the results and impacts of Parent Connectors, a parent-to-parent support program for families with children in middle school receiving special education services for emotional and behavioral challenges. This research was conducted by SECD's Academy for Child and Family Well Being.

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[00:00:01.194](gentle music)
[00:00:20.940]Our research goal with the Parent Connector study
[00:00:23.500]was to examine the effects
[00:00:24.970]of a parent-to-parent support intervention
[00:00:27.910]for kids with emotional and behavior challenges.
[00:00:30.380]Our goal was to see if phone calls
[00:00:32.600]with other parents similar to them
[00:00:34.560]could help these parents to connect to schools,
[00:00:37.160]to reach out to their teachers
[00:00:38.690]and to better understand the mental health services
[00:00:40.760]available to their children.
[00:00:47.380]The Parent Connector study was focused on the caregivers
[00:00:50.480]of middle school students
[00:00:51.610]with emotional and behavioral challenges.
[00:00:53.910]We had 349 parents that were a part of the study.
[00:00:57.490]They would receive a phone call each week
[00:00:59.380]where they were able to talk for about an hour
[00:01:01.190]with another parent trained at Parent Connectors
[00:01:03.480]who was just like them.
[00:01:04.690]They were the parent of a child
[00:01:05.700]with emotional behavior challenges.
[00:01:11.940]The Parent Connector study took place from 2013
[00:01:15.230]and finished up data collection in the summer of 2019.
[00:01:18.300]It took place in cities in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa
[00:01:22.360]in surrounding suburbs and small towns.
[00:01:24.590]We included 13 different school districts
[00:01:27.080]as a part of this study.
[00:01:32.940]Our primary focus was whether caregivers
[00:01:35.270]in the Parent Connectors program
[00:01:37.110]could increase their knowledge of special education services
[00:01:40.020]as well as improve their working relationships with teachers
[00:01:43.120]as well as mental health service providers.
[00:01:45.320]There are many encouraging outcomes in these areas,
[00:01:47.590]such as, families and Parent Connectors were 63%
[00:01:51.540]more likely to feel that their comfort in talking
[00:01:53.600]with educators increased during the intervention.
[00:01:57.010]The families were 28% more likely to feel
[00:01:59.670]that their knowledge
[00:02:00.503]of special education services increased.
[00:02:03.650]They were 50% more likely to report an increase
[00:02:06.520]in their ability to influence the educational services
[00:02:08.313]that their child received.
[00:02:11.090]They were also 66% more likely
[00:02:13.410]to report an increase in their ability
[00:02:15.170]to influence the mental health services
[00:02:16.970]that their child received.
[00:02:18.200]Generally speaking, the families who were invited
[00:02:20.270]to participate in Parent Connectors
[00:02:22.310]were rally satisfied with the services
[00:02:24.940]and 93% of the families said that they would recommend
[00:02:28.120]Parent Connectors to a friend.
[00:02:35.330]I think we were most surprised
[00:02:37.320]that we were able to have these types of gains
[00:02:39.450]working with older kids, middle school students
[00:02:42.340]that had been receiving special education services,
[00:02:44.530]often for three or four years.
[00:02:46.160]To be able to have these kinds of changes,
[00:02:48.550]with these older kids, is really encouraging
[00:02:51.180]for the feel of parent support.
[00:02:57.670]One of the key aspects we learned from this study
[00:03:00.540]is that it's essential to offer weekly supervision
[00:03:04.000]from a licensed mental health professional
[00:03:06.210]for our Parent Connectors, so they can provide the best
[00:03:09.100]and most consistent services to our families as possible.
[00:03:16.440]In the future, we think it would be really helpful
[00:03:19.270]to reach elementary students,
[00:03:21.200]just as they're starting to be identified
[00:03:23.660]for special education services,
[00:03:25.720]to reach their families then,
[00:03:27.370]to help them understand special education services,
[00:03:30.290]how to talk to their teachers
[00:03:32.010]and understand the issues surrounding
[00:03:33.520]emotional and behavioral challenges.
[00:03:35.650]We also think that it would be really helpful
[00:03:38.290]to try this innovative program in rural schools
[00:03:41.380]where parents may feel even more isolated
[00:03:43.840]than some of their urban counterparts.
[00:03:49.160]We really want to thank everyone
[00:03:50.580]that made the Parent Connector study possible,
[00:03:52.970]especially the families that participated,
[00:03:55.290]the teachers in the school districts that were involved,
[00:03:58.310]all of the students at the university
[00:04:00.010]that participated and our staff.
[00:04:01.990]We would also like the thank the
[00:04:03.490]Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences
[00:04:06.980]for it's support.

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Parent Connectors - Impacts & Results (Short)

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