2016 Gatlinburg Conference Poster
PS-4
Title: The Effectiveness of an Advocacy Program for Latino Families of Children with Autism
Authors: Meghan Burke, Sandra Magana
Introduction: Although the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) embeds many rights for families, parents often
struggle to advocate for their children. Latino families of children with disabilities may especially struggle to advocate as special
education documents are not translated (Shapiro et al., 2004) and most translators do not effectively communicate everything
that is said at individualized education program (IEP) meetings (Hughes et al., 2002). Latino families of children with autism
spectrum disorder (ASD, versus other types of disabilities) may encounter even greater difficulties in advocacy, as they are more
likely to lack information about autism and related services (Mercadante et al., 2009). The purpose of this study was to adapt and
test the effectiveness of an advocacy program for Latino families of children with ASD.
Method: We conducted a quasi-experimental control design comparing parents who participated in the advocacy program (n =
18) to parents who did not participate in the advocacy program (n = 11). The advocacy program was comprised of 36 hours of
instruction to empower participants to advocate for their own children as well as other families. There were no significant
demographic or pre-survey differences between the groups. Using ANCOVAs, we controlled for pre-survey scores and compared
the intervention and control groups with respect to: empowerment (Koren et al.,1992), the quality of the family-school
partnership (Summers et al., 2005), special education knowledge (Burke et al., in press), and number of services received
(Summers et al., 2007).
Results: After the program, the intervention (versus control) participants demonstrated significantly greater special education
knowledge, F (1, 28) = 37.42, p < .001. Also, participants in the intervention (versus control) group demonstrated significantly
greater empowerment with respect to the family, F (1, 28) = 13.85, p < .001; the Service System, F (1, 28) = 8.18, p = .01; and
Political/Community, F (1, 28) = 5.82, p = .02. With marginal significance, intervention (versus control) group participants
reported better family-school partnerships on the Family-Focused subscale of the Family-Professional Partnership Scale, F (1, 28)
= 3.61, p = .06. There were no significant differences with respect to the number of services or scores on the Child-Focused
Subscale of the Family-Professional Partnership Scale.
Discussion: This pilot study indicates that advocacy programs may be helpful for Latino families of children with ASD; future
research should include randomized control trials and larger samples to determine the effectiveness of advocacy programs.
Practitioners should also consider advocacy programs for the Latino families that they serve.
References/Citations:
• Burke, M.M., Goldman, S.E., Hart, M., & Hodapp, R.M. (in press). Evaluating the efficacy of a special education advocacy
training program. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities.
• Hughes, M.T., Valle-Riestra, D.M., & Arguelles, M.E. (2002). Experiences of Latino families with their child's special
education program. Multicultural Perspectives, 4, 11-17.
• Koren, P.E., Dechillo, N., & Friesen, B.J. (1992). Measuring empowerment in families whose children have emotional
disabilities: A brief questionnaire. Rehabilitation Psychology, 37, 305-321.
• Mercadente, M.T., Evans-Lacko, S., & Paula, C.S. (2009). Perspectives of intellectual disability in Latin American
countries: Epidemiology, policy, and services for children and adults. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 22, 469-474.
• Shapiro, J., Monzo, L.D., Rueda, R., Gomez, J.A., & Blacher, J. (2004). Alienated advocacy: Perspectives of Latina mothers
of young adults with developmental disabilities on service systems. Mental Retardation, 42, 37-54.
• Summers, J.A., Hoffman, L., Marquis, J., Turnbull, A.P., Poston, D., & Nelson, L.L. (2005). Measuring the quality of familyprofessional partnerships in special education services. Exceptional Children, 72, 65-83.
2016 Gatlinburg Conference Poster
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Summers, J.A., Marquis, J., Mannan, H., Turnbull, A.P., Fleming, K., Poston, D.J., Wang, M., & Kupzyk, K. (2007).
Relationship of perceived adequacy of services, family-professional partnerships, and family quality of life in earlychildhood service programmes. International Journal of Disability, Development, and Education, 54, 319-338.