Turbulence Navigating Language Programs: Servicios de Educación Especial in English-Only

• In Event: "Hasta La Raíz": Rooting Justice-Centered Dual Language Bilingual Education in Illinois

Abstract

This paper traces the experiences of parents with bilingual children receiving special education services. As the Latinx Spanish-speaking and emergent bilingual populations grow nationwide, there is more urgency to offer language education programs inclusive of all students. In Illinois, the legislation includes two types of language programs: Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) and Transitional Programs of Instruction (TPI), also known as English as a Second Language (ESL). Public schools also offer Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) programs. Still, DLBE programs exist in select schools and frequently exclude children with special needs, and Latinx emergent bilinguals with special needs in particular (Martínez-Álvarez, 2019).

The theoretical frames of bilingual education typology and the family language policy framework (Spolsky, 2012) were used to examine parents' experiences navigating language programs and their children's special education services. Interview methods and phenomenological data analysis were used to interpret the thirty interviews completed in the Chicagoland area. The focus of this proposal is six parents with children receiving special education services. Each semi-structured interview took 30 to 105 minutes and was conducted over Zoom or via phone.

All six parents expressed a common gap between their educational goals for their children to be bilingual and biliterate (Stritikus & Garcia, 2016) and what most schools offer to special education students. The experiences ignited them to become more involved in the school’s educational system. Parents expressed that the abrupt change from being in the TBE program to receiving their Individualized Education Program (IEP) in English-only, or moving them out of bilingual services impacted their children’s learning dramatically. The bilingual program and special education services were not complementing each other. Eventually, some of their children lost the ability to speak Spanish and communicate with their families. Mothers felt uninformed about making the right decisions for their children and cited the need for more clarity about their children's IEP goals, so they could support their children. However, school staff often ignored their concerns and sometimes pressured them to place their child in English-only classrooms, making them feel guilty if they doubted their advice. The mothers wished bilingual programs, particularly the DLBE program, had been accessible to all their children.

Implications of this study include the need for special education educators to become more familiar with current bilingual theory and provide support in the home language. Parents should not have to choose between special education and bilingual services; students deserve and need both. Special education programs seemed to disregard providing any language support that is a given right for emergent bilinguals. The changes in their children's language education greatly affected their family language policies at home. The lack of parent-child communication shatters a unique bond by creating a language barrier. Bilingual and special education services need to work more in tandem. Likewise, teachers must collaborate with and not against parents. Even when parents advocate for their children and have a right to keep them in the program they desire, school staff seem to have the upper hand in making the final decisions.

Author

• Norma Monsivais Diers, University of Illinois at Chicago