Multimodal Narratives of Silenced Parents of Children With Reactive Attachment Disorder

• In Event: 45.061 - An Examination of the Effect of Teacher Beliefs and Student Academic Performance on At-Risk Populations

Abstract

In this presentation, we discuss the findings of a narrative inquiry into the school experiences of adoptive and/or foster parents with children with reactive attachment disorder (RAD). The major finding of this study is that the caregivers of students with this emotional and behavioral disorder feel as though they have been silenced by schools. The data highlights how the social, emotional, and academic needs of children with RAD often do not align with the components of educational accountability that are currently in place. Further, we discuss how educational accountability for students with special needs might need to be re–imagined in in order to attend to the lived and told narratives of silenced parents on school landscapes.

Authors

• Candace M. Schlein, University of Missouri - Kansas City

• Raol J. Taft, University of Missouri - Kansas City