
ERIC Number: ED379839
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1994
Pages: 333
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Understanding Family Uniqueness through Cultural Diversity. Project Ta-kos.
Luera, Margarita
This training manual for early childhood special education service providers aims to develop an understanding of the roles culture plays in interpersonal dynamics, how adults blend to form unique family life ways, and how families arrive at appropriate early intervention techniques and activities for their special needs children. Participants explore what each family brings from the past and adapts from the present. The training creates an awareness of how to determine a goodness-of-fit between the intervention plan, the family's life ways, and the child's needs. The training is based on a continuum of growth toward an awareness of the role culture plays, explored in the following six stages: (1) self-awareness of the role culture plays in one's own life; (2) cultural exclusiveness (exploring the negative and positive aspects of one's culture from an insider's view); (3) consciousness raising (realization that there may be life ways other than one's own); (4) heightened awareness (viewing culture from an outsider's perspective for its structure and function); (5) overemphasis (outsiders' views of a culture as having life ways better than one's own); and (6) balance and integration (belief that there are many cultural ways that are correct). The training workshops involve discussion, mini-lecture, large and small group activities, self-awareness activities, ethnographic observation skills, ethnographic interviewing skills, and audiovisual aids. Numerous handouts, overhead transparency originals, and supplemental materials are provided. (Contains 40 references.) (JDD)
Descriptors: Consciousness Raising, Cultural Awareness, Cultural Background, Cultural Differences, Cultural Influences, Disabilities, Early Childhood Education, Early Intervention, Ethnography, Family (Sociological Unit), Interpersonal Relationship, Life Style, Professional Development, Self Concept, Sociocultural Patterns, Training, Workshops
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers; Practitioners; Counselors; Administrators
Language: English
Sponsor: Special Education Programs (ED/OSERS), Washington, DC. Early Education Program for Children with Disabilities.
Authoring Institution: Alta Mira Specialized Family Services, Inc. Albuquerque, NM.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A
Note: For related documents, see EC 303 710-715.