Deconstructing Decision-Making with Families to Foster Meaningful Partnerships

DEC (2014) recommends early educators collaborate with families in decision-making that incorporates family knowledge, concerns, and priorities (F3, F4, TC2). How early educators facilitate dialogue with families plays a key role in the extent to which families participate in decisions about their child. Understanding how conversations unfold is important to promoting equitable interactions with all families, and particularly families from culturally, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds. Yet nuances of language use are difficult for speakers to recognize in the moment, and educators are likely to need supports to recognize specific ways in which they use language.
 
In alignment with DEC Recommended Practices (2014) and the DEC Family Monograph (2017), this Learning Deck deconstructs decision-making, illustrating how decisions are made through language with examples from real-life interactions between early educators and families. Participants will learn to identify and interpret key aspects of decision-making, focusing on implications for parents’ participation in decisions. The session highlights research-based communication strategies that contribute to more equitable parent participation in decision-making conversations. In doing so, this session supports participants’ understanding of how early educators engage in responsive interactions with families (TC2, F3) that foster shared decisions regarding a child’s goals or individualized plans (F4).
 
Participant Outcomes:
 
Participants will:
Understand ways in which discourse contributes to decision-making by families and early educators in EI/ECSE settings.
Be able to identify key features of EI/ECSE decision-making interactions with families.
Learn a range of communication strategies early educators can apply to foster more equitable parent participation in EI/ECSE decision-making.
 
Presenters: Christine Hancock, PhD, and Greg Cheatham, PhD

Christine Hancock, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Special Education at Wayne State University.  Her scholarship focuses on how early educators and families of young children communicate and collaborate.  She aims to support professionals in facilitating more equitable interactions with all families, resulting in meaningful and mutual decisions. 
 
Greg Cheatham, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Kansas.  His scholarship focuses on the provision of effective, appropriate, and equitable services for young children and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. He has a particular interest in language diversity.