Journal Article

Listen to Me: Parents’ Satisfaction with Special Needs Services in Syria – A Descriptive and Exploratory Study

Stenhoff, Donald M, Mounzer Wissam

2022

Overview

Parents’ involvement in their child’s educational and therapy choices is an important aspect of their therapy. This involvement may be related to their satisfaction with their child’s service providers’ direct child services family-related involvement. Additionally, civil unrest may influence parents’ satisfaction. For example, the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011, has influenced families with children in schools, and specifically children who have disabilities. The purpose of this descriptive and exploratory study was to investigate parents’ perceptions of current services provided in Syria for their children with disabilities, and to identify the services provided to Syrian children with ASD and other developmental disabilities. A total of 466 parents completed the study’s survey, with about half of the participants reporting that their child received early intervention and fewer that their child received other therapies (e.g., speech, behavioral, counseling). Parents also reported feeling unwelcome to contribute to their child’s individualized education program (IEP), and were not satisfied with the services their child received. In addition, some demographic factors, such as place of residence, the child’s current age, the child’s diagnosis, the child’s attending age at school, and which program the child was enrolled in, increased the parents’ satisfaction level. Implications and future research are discussed.HighlightsParents’ involvement can negatively or positively impact parents’ engagement in their children’s education.Receiving services in unordinary circumstances, such as during the civil war, impacts parents’ sense of satisfaction.The programs used acceptable methods and focused on behaviors that are important to families.Parents were dissatisfied with the safety precautions taken at school.Staff should provide a structured environment in order to be able to manage students’ behaviors.

• Publisher: Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Autism Spectrum Disorders / Behavior / Children / Children & youth / Children with disabilities / Civil war / Demography / Developmental disabilities / Disability studies / Early intervention / Education / Educational programs / Families & family life / Family school relationship / Individualized education programs / Individualized Instruction / Individualized Programs / Medical diagnosis / Medical treatment / Parent-child relations / Parents / Parents & parenting / Participation / People with disabilities / Place of Residence / Precautions / Residence / Satisfaction / Schools / Services / Social unrest / Special needs children / Special Needs Students / Speech / Students / Teaching Methods / Therapy / War