Not Quite Happily Ever After

• All family situations are not fairy tales….

Many at home scenarios can cause undesirable situations that affect the

student’s abilities in school and their services

• Homelessness

• Teen Parents

• Legal or Criminal Issues

• Work Related Factors

• Education

• All these factors can make it difficult for a child to effectively receive their services in school and also difficult to communicate with parents who may have other worries in their life.

Fear, uncertainty, hunger,

instability, and parents who may

be worried about

survival…these are the issues

educators face with the,

“1,168,354 students enrolled in

American preschools and K-12

schools were homeless in 2012.

The number is a 10 percent

increase from the previous year,

and a nearly 75 percent

increase since the recession

began.”

The future does not hold an end to homelessness. In fact as current trends continue, instructors can expect to see a rising struggle with these students.

•

Recognize the needs of the

individual child.

Communicate with the

caregiver. Remember to

refer to additional

resources for the child. An

educational crises may not

be an immediate focus for

the family, make sure you

share any concerns with

anyone who can help the

child. Guardians, school

counselors, and principals

can be excellent resources.

"If we wish to

prevent another

generation of

children from

becoming homeless

adults, we must

meet their basic

needs and ensure a

stable, supportive

school

environment.”

Teenagers…every single one of them….a little fact that is conveniently forgotten…

Children with teen parents face a myriad of possible problems:

Lack of parental knowledge

Lack of support in the home

Possible unstable home life

Many times single parent household

Lack of financial support

Lack of parental education

Lack of parental support system that is needed to extend to the child

Teen Parents

Only 77% of children born to teen parents will receive a high school diploma compared to 89% of children born to older parent

23,600 or 5% of children born to teen mothers will end up in foster care, partly due to higher rates of abuse

Consistent contraceptive use is less likely among children of teen parents, who are more likely to be sexually active by age 14. As a result, these children are at higher risk of becoming teen parents themselves

Recognize the needs of the individual child.

Communicate with the caregiver. Remember to refer

to additional resources for the child. An educational

crises may not be an immediate focus for the family,

make sure you share any concerns with anyone who

can help the child. Guardians, school counselors, and

principals can be excellent resources.

Remember, no matter what grade level you may be

teaching, children born to teen parents have needs

that extend through their own teen years. They

have high risk of becoming teen parents themselves

and of incompletion of high school.

Legal or Criminal Issues do not just impact the adults in the family, children are greatly affected by incarcerated

parents or siblings, as well as those with other legal

problems.

Everyone has a skeleton or two in their family

tree…but sometimes they can interfere with a

student’s ability to focus on education.

Separation due to a parent’s

incarceration can be as

painful as other forms of

parental loss and can be even

more complicated because of

the stigma, ambiguity, and

lack of social support and

compassion that

accompanies it

More than 2.7 million children

in the U.S. have an

incarcerated parent and

approximately

10 million children have

experienced parental

incarceration at some point in

their lives

International human

rights advocates have

called parental

incarceration "the

greatest threat to child

well-being in the U.S."

A national study conducted in

1998 estimated that of parents

arrested, 67% were handcuffed

in front of their children, 27%

reported weapons drawn in front

of their children, 4.3% reported a

physical struggle, and 3.2%

reported the use of pepper spray

A misperception exists that

children of incarcerated

parents are more likely to be

incarcerated than their peers,

and are predisposed to

criminal activity. There is no

basis for this in existing

research

Recognize the needs of the individual child.

Communicate with the caregiver. Remember to refer

to additional resources for the child. An educational

crises may not be an immediate focus for the family,

make sure you share any concerns with anyone who

can help the child. Guardians, school counselors, and

principals can be excellent resources.

There are many different work

issues a family can face….

-Lack of a job

-Interruption of employment

-Change of Income

-Parents numerous jobs

-Stress carry over to home

-Lack of time for the family

Students whose teachers reported higher

levels of parental involvement were more

likely to graduate high school or earn a

GED than peers whose parents were not

so involved, and those who did not

graduate were more likely to have

completed a higher grade in high school.

The more years a parent was involved,

the greater was this association with

educational attainment

Parents Matter to All Children

The greater the fathers’ involvement

was, the lower the level of adolescents’

behavioral problems, both in terms of

aggression and antisocial behavior and

negative feelings such as anxiety,

depression, and low selfesteem.

Fathers’ involvement was measured by

the frequency with which fathers

discussed important decisions with and

listened to their adolescents, whether

fathers knew who their adolescents

were with when not at home, and

whether fathers missed events or

activities that were important to their

adolescents. Other measures included

as adolescents’ reports of closeness to

their fathers, whether their fathers

spent sufficient time with them, and

how well they shared and

communicated with one another.

On average, youths whose fathers

engage in leisure and educational

activities with them achieve better

grades than peers whose fathers

spend less time with them. Pre-teens

whose fathers spent leisure time away

from the home (picnics, movies, sports,

etc.) with them, shared meals with them,

helped with homework or reading, and

engaged in other home activities with

them earned better grades in school, on

average, than peers whose fathers spent

less time with them. Similarly, teens

whose fathers engaged in activities in the

home and outdoors, spent leisure time,

and talked with them earned better

grades, on average, than teens whose

fathers spent less time with them

Recognize the needs of the

individual child. Communicate with

the caregiver. Remember to refer to

additional resources for the child.

An educational crises may not be an

immediate focus for the family, make

sure you share any concerns with

anyone who can help the child.

Guardians, school counselors, and

principals can be excellent

resources.

Remember, financial situations may not

be the only factor in a work related

family issue. If a parent is

absentee…no matter where they are,

they can cause adverse reactions on

their child’s education. Educational

issues are typically associated with

lower socioeconomic issues, but

children are at risk with parent’s whose

jobs, or lack thereof, interferes with

their education.

Education can actually interfere with

education…There are numerous

factors. The first and most obvious,

a lack of valued education in the

home. If a student’s family does not

value education, the student

themselves will not value it either.

Parents may seem uninterested in

“school issues” if they do not feel the

education is important. This can

cause a life-long hindrance to the

child, as they struggle to find the

balance between home and school.

•Earn higher grades and test scores, and enroll in higher-

level programs

•Be promoted, pass their classes, and earn credits

•Attend school regularly

•Have better social skills, show improved behavior, and

adapt well to school

•Graduate and go on to postsecondary education

Students with Parents

who

Value Education

Parents may value education, but

not understand their

roles…schools can help parents

learn what they can do to help

and why it is important to the

success of their child.

Teachers may need to offer

additional support to teach

special needs parents what they

can do at home to help their

child. There is a lot of learning

that occurs at home!

The entire IEP process may be

a challenge for some parents.

The teacher may need to

educate the parents about their

rights and abilities for planning

and executing an IEP.

A Special Education Teacher once shared the story with me of a

student she had on her caseload. This student had two

cardiothoracic surgeons for parents, and three brilliant siblings.

This child barely qualified for services, and only with strong pushing

by the parents, who did not understand why their athletic child, was

simply not an “A” student like his siblings…. Here, the high

education of his family made the student seem inadequate. While

rare, cases like this, where strengths of the student should be

encouraged, may help the parents realize where their expectations

for the child should lie. As a teacher, it would not be my place to tell

parents what they should/should not do. But I can encourage the

student to expand their skill strengths, while helping them in areas

that have begun to struggle in.

Recognize the needs of the individual

child. Communicate with the caregiver.

Remember to refer to additional resources

for the child. An educational crises may

not be an immediate focus for the family,

make sure you share any concerns with

anyone who can help the child.

Guardians, school counselors, and

principals can be excellent resources.

Recognize the needs of the individual child. Communicate with the caregiver. Remember to

refer to additional resources for the child. An educational crises may not be an immediate

focus for the family, make sure you share any concerns with anyone who can help the child.

Guardians, school counselors, and principals can be excellent resources.

Are you beginning to see a theme?

Each Child is an Individual….

• NO matter what their back story…

• Their socioeconomic background….

• Their family situation….

• Rich or Poor…. Involved Parents…Parents that Ignore…

• Busy Lifestyles…. Nothing fun to do….

• Each child has one thing in common…. Their reason for being in your classroom

• How do we look at room of students….each one so different yet the same? How do we help that many kids? It seems like an overwhelming task for one teacher!

Recognize the needs of the individual

child. Communicate with the caregiver.

Remember to refer to additional

resources for the child. An educational

crises may not be an immediate focus for

the family, make sure you share any

concerns with anyone who can help the

child. Guardians, school counselors, and

principals can be excellent resources.

Not every child will be in

crisis. Not every child will

need personal intervention.

As teachers we need to be

ready to recognize that do

need us!

When we recognize struggles, we can help students find their

happily every education after….

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/25/number-of-homeless-students-has-soared-since-the-recession-began

http://www.healthyteennetwork.org

http://www.osborneny.org/images/uploads/printMedia/Initiative%20CIP%20Stats_Fact%20Sheet.pdf

http://www.familyfacts.org/briefs/40/parental-involvement-and-childrens-well-being

http://www.nea.org/tools/17360.htm