A Study on Parental Participation in The Literacy Learning Process of The Children with Special Learning Disability

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine parental participation in the literacy learning process of students with special learning disability, based on the views of parents and teachers. This study is designed as phenomenological research. During the data collection process of the research, teacher and parent interviews were conducted. Descriptive analysis was performed using the MAXQDA qualitative data analysis program. As a result of the study, parents state that children with special learning disability have negative experiences due to the difficulties and unwillingness of the child in learning academic skills during the literacy education process. On the other hand, teachers stated that they could not get the support they expected from the family due to the insufficient teacher-parent communication and cooperation in the literacy education process of the child, and the inadequate and incorrect information that the families have. In addition, teachers stated that they need to cooperate with families and have the family help their children doing homework and repeat the studies with their children at home. Parents, on the other hand, stated that to be able to participate in their children's education, they need to acquire knowledge and skills about special learning disability, sound-based sentence methods and teaching principles. Although all of the teachers emphasized the need for family participation in the literacy education process and for families to receive education on this issue, they stated that they have not provided any training to the parents before.