Preparing Early Interventionists/Early Childhood Special Educators with Knowledge and Practices to Collaborate with Families: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55370/hsdialog.v27i1.1808

Keywords:

Family-professional partnership, Preservice teachers, early intervention, Early childhood special education, inclusion

Abstract

Due to the important impact family-professional collaboration has on child outcomes for infants, toddlers, children, and students with disabilities, research in special education preservice personnel preparation has evaluated the impact of higher education programs and curricula geared towards improving preservice educators’ knowledge and practices regarding family-professional collaboration in inclusive settings. The resulting literature has provided the field with insights as to instructional strategies faculty have implemented to better prepare preservice special educators to collaborate with families. The purpose of this mixed-methods systematic review was to identify and synthesize the current state of knowledge behind these instructional strategies intended to increase preservice educators’ knowledge and practices to collaborate with families. A total of 15 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1968-2024 were included in the study. Findings indicate that various instructional strategies and outcome measures were used to measure preservice educators' knowledge and practices. Implications for future research are described.

Published

2024-11-16