Preparing Teachers for Family Centered Services: A Survey of Preservice Curriculum Content

Abstract

A family-centered approach is recommended as best practice in the field of early intervention. However, recent research suggests that some professionals in the field do not always implement family-centered services. This study investigated the content taught to pre-service early intervention/early childhood special education students regarding family-centered services. Eighty-two faculty members from institutions of higher education across the U.S. rated the importance of and the extent to which they taught five categories of content associated with family-centered services. Content associated with Knowledge of Families, IFSP/IEP Skills, and Respecting Diversity were taught significantly more than Communication Skills and Knowledge of Team Work. All five categories of content were taught to at least a moderate degree and each category was rated as moderately important to crucial for students. The categories rated as most important were also taught most extensively.