Families play a large and important role in their child’s education and even more so for students with disabilities. As a teacher, your understanding of a family’s unique circumstances and knowledge of how to be supportive through the family life cycle stages will go far in developing partnerships with them.

Create an 8- to 10-slide presentation, with detailed speaker notes (minimum of 50 words per slide), that addresses each of the topics below in the context of teachers working with families of students with disabilities. Summarize how the information you can glean from each topic can help inform your teaching strategy.

• Family characteristics
  • Whole family
  • Individual members
  • Unique circumstances
• Cultural and socioeconomic influences
• Family systems theory
• Family functions and the impact of disability on the following:
  • Family members
  • • Parents
  • • Siblings
  • • Extended family
  • Family functions
  • • Emotional needs
  • • Economics
  • • Social needs
• Family life cycle stages