Parental involvement in inclusive education of children with special educational needs

We investigated the involvement in their children’s education at home and at school of 170 parents (148 mothers, 22 fathers) of Lithuanian children with special educational needs. The children, aged 12–16 years, were receiving their schooling in an inclusive educational environment. Participants completed measures of their perceptions of parental involvement with their child’s schoolwork and with teachers, and of teacher involvement with parents. We found that 68.8% of the parents were able to identify their child’s specific learning problem, and that just over half were involved in the education process at home. Further, one-third of the parents perceived that they were equal partners when communicating with teachers, and more highly educated parents devoted more time to communicating with their children than did parents with a lower level of education.