Adopted and Disabled: Parent Perspectives on Internationally Adopted Students' Experiences With Schooling

• In Event: 47.034 - Parenting Influence on Child Development

Abstract

Internationally adopted youth (IAY), and especially those with disabilities, face myriad challenges in development and adjustment to school, yet they are all but absent from the education literature. This qualitative study explored the experiences of 41 IAY with disabilities and their parents, in accessing the developmental supports they and their families require for adaptive development. We used a series of coding processes and Bronfenbrenner’s (2005) bioecological systems theory to analyze the resources parents reported utilizing to support their children’s development, with a focus on the participants’ experiences in educational systems. We found that interactions at the mesosystem were perceived by parents as particularly influential in supporting or undermining their children’s development.

Authors

• Alyssa Emery, Iowa State University

• Naima Khandaker, The Ohio State University

• Robin Sayers, University of Maryland

• Jacqueline von Spiegel, The Ohio State University

• Lynley H. Anderman, The Ohio State University