Parent advocacy is often critical for families of individuals with disabilities. Prior research has suggested that parent advocacy occurs across three levels: individual, peer, and systemic. Yet, little empirical research has identified the correlates of advocacy for each level. For this study, we examined the survey responses of 246 parents of…

This article presents findings from a qualitative study exploring parents' struggles over their children's education. Drawing on affective practice theory (Wetherell 2012) and feminist care ethics (Fisher and Tronto 1990), we offer insights into the affective practices of care driving parents' educational activism. We detail how parents' activism…

Racially minoritized parents often experience significant systemic barriers when accessing and navigating transition planning for their young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Despite the benefits of transition-focused parent interventions, only a few studies have developed or adapted these interventions for racially…

Early childhood (EC) education is increasingly becoming an inclusive environment where children with and without disabilities can learn and participate in shared daily activities and routines. Parental advocacy and engagement are pivotal factors in enhancing the quality of inclusion for children with special needs, meeting their unique…

Research demonstrates a connection between parent perspectives and children's decisions to pursue careers in STEM (e.g. Albritton et al., 2020; Fouad et al., 2016). However, there is limited research on parents' impact on CS education advocacy. Through one-on-one parent interviews, this study found that parents engage in educational advocacy, but…

Family-school engagement is integral to the success of students with autism. However, limited research has examined the conceptualization of family-school engagement from the perspective of parents of children with autism. With this in mind, we conducted focus groups with 22 parents of school-age children (ages 3-21) with autism from a…

Individualized education plans (IEPs) are to serve as a guideline for the supports and services a student with a disability needs to have access to the general education curriculum. State departments of education monitor the compliance of these programs within the public schools. This study found the materials that state departments use to inform…