Perceptions About Culturally Appropriate Practices: A Survey of Early Intervention Professionals

With recent demographic changes, early intervention professionals are likely to interact with an increasing number of culturally diverse families. Despite the ethnic diversity among families, the staffing patterns of early intervention (EI) programs remain predominantly European-American and monolingual. A challenge for the next decade will be to diversify the population of early intervention service providers and to provide professional development opportunities that assist providers in understanding the ways in which cultural differences may influence service access and delivery. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which EI professionals consider cultural factors important and the extent to which providers' practice reflects recommendations for providing culturally appropriate practices. Recommendations have been drawn from the early intervention/early childhood special education literature. Additionally, the study examined the characteristics of EI professionals and the challenges and barriers they have faced in providing culturally appropriate services. Professionals in frequent contact with families of young children in EI programs in a mid-western metropolitan area were recruited as participants in this study which utilized mail surveys. Results show that while professionals considered recommendations for providing culturally appropriate services important, they were not able to implement them frequently due to multiple barriers. Respondents described nature of barriers, and strategies they used, to provide effective EI services. It appears that professional need multi-dimensional institutional support to provide high quality services to culturally diverse families.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Lee, Hwa

Contributors dc:contributor

• Tess Bennett
• Ostrosky, Michaelene M.

• Social Work

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI9953073

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/80362